The Wisconsin women's basketball team (7-2 Big Ten, 12-9 overall) hosts No. 11 Michigan State (6-2, 18-3) Thursday night at the Kohl Center. UW is currently tied with Penn State for first place in the Big Ten Conference for the first time since the 1994-'95 season.
The Badgers and the Spartans last met eaerlier this season, with Michigan State beating Wisconsin 62-43— but the Badgers were without senior forward Lin Zastrow for that contest.
Senior guard Alyssa Karel and Zastrow led the team in the Badgers' last game against Northwestern, each scoring 17 points. Senior leadership has been key for the Badgers, with the team and coaches constantly emphasizing that the team will go where the seniors take lead.
Another key to success for the Badgers is their ball-handling rate of turnovers per game. In the contest against Northwestern, Wisconsin turned the ball over just 12 times.
""You practice it, you want to make sure that you keep your turnovers low,"" head coach Lisa Stone said.
Since the last meeting between Michigan State and Wisconsin, the Badgers have overcome injuries and will have Zastrow on defense as a force against the Spartans in the paint. In their last meeting, the Spartans scored 38 points in the paint. The Badgers were also out-rebounded 46-21.
""What's happened since then is our team has become a little bit more of a second-half team,"" Stone said. ""Probably most noteworthy is being down 16 against Minnesota, and coming back in that game and really putting things together.""
Michigan State boasts a pair of significant threats in Kalisha Keane and red-shirt junior LyKendra Johnson, who average 15.8 and 10.9 points per game, respectively.
The Badger defense will be a tough test for the Spartans, however. Wisconsin leads the Big Ten in scoring defense, allowing just 57 points per game and field goal percentage (.427). The Spartans, meanwhile, are averaging over 68 points per game.
Additionally, while Stone would hardly ever let the attention sift away from the team, the coach is on the brink of a significant milestone tonight. With a defeat of Michigan State, Stone would win her 500th career game.
To get there, however, the Badgers will need strong poise on the court.
""Staying hungry, and staying humble and staying focused on the game plan is our next task, not getting wrapped up with where things are at,"" Stone said. ""This conference is crazy and a lot of things can happen.""
