The Wisconsin women’s basketball team (5-3 overall) hosted Marquette (4-3) in a nail-biter Wednesday night, topping the Golden Eagles 71-68. Wisconsin came in off a big home win against Alabama, but the Golden Eagles entered hot on a two-game win streak themselves.
At the start of the game the Badgers scored 15 unanswered points after Marquette senior forward Sarina Simmons scored the first two points of the game. The Badgers worked the perimeter well in the first half, especially in the early stages of the game, where nine of their first 15 points came off 3-pointers.
“I give Wisconsin a lot of credit for the way they jumped all over us at the start of the game,” said Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell. “The eight 3s they had in the first half really got them in rhythm.”
The Badgers were led in 3-pointers by freshman guard Nicole Bauman, who went 4-of-5 from outside the arc en route to a career-high 16 points and five steals.
Wisconsin head coach Bobbie Kelsey relied on Bauman to make two crucial free throws in the last 14 seconds of the game to bump Wisconsin’s one-point lead to 71-68.
“I told [Bauman] she had to step up tonight, she is no longer a freshman, she stopped being a freshman four games ago,” Kelsey said.
The free throws were after Kelsey received a technical for leaving the bench and throwing her glasses following a foul called on senior guard Tiera Stephen. When Simmons broke for a lay-up, Stephen went to block the shot and received the foul.
Fans at the Kohl Center challenged the officiating Wednesday night. One overly verbal fan was even ejected from the game.
Animosity was not only in the stands, as the players themselves shared their complaints with the officials and, perhaps because of their displeasure with the officiating, took some aggression out on the opposing team. Senior forward Cassie Rochel took a good tumble after being bumped down from a lay-up.
Rochel injured her knee early in the first and was assisted to the locker room but returned with 9:33 left in first half. The Lakeville, Minn., native didn’t seem to be phased by the knee at all and went on to score 10 points and grab seven rebounds. She dove for and grabbed jump balls three times in the second half.
Kelsey wants a healthy team, but both she and Rochel recognize just how deep Wisconsin’s bench is this year. Senior guard Taylor Wurtz was out with a back injury and freshman guard Dakota Whyte sat with an injured knee Wednesday.
“Walking out of the gym I had no worries the freshmen and other players on the bench are ready to step up whenever,” Rochel said.
It is unknown if either Wurtz or Whyte will be playing in Wisconsin’s next meeting at the Kohl Center Monday night against Florida Atlantic.
