After falling 58-48 to No. 18 Purdue in a Valentine’s Day match-up, the Badger women’s basketball team (3-9 Big Ten, 11-14 overall) heads to Champaign, Ill., to take on Illinois (7-4, 14-9) Monday night. This is the second game between the two teams in just over two weeks, with Illinois beating the Badgers 64-56 at the Kohl Center Feb. 3.
The Badgers will be looking to bounce back after their loss Thursday night, where Purdue held junior guard Morgan Paige, UW’s leading scorer, to a mere 4 points, her lowest offensive output of the season. The second half proved to be the downfall for the Badgers, consisting of poor execution and the inability to close out with a win, according to head coach Bobbie Kelsey.
“We didn’t execute as well down the stretch as we did the first half,” Kelsey said after UW’s loss to the Boilermakers. “I thought we played a great first half, but unfortunately the game is not done in the first half. If it was 20 minutes, we would have won that one, but it’s not. We have to learn to close out games.”
Illinois, who leads the all-time series against Wisconsin, 33-31, is coming off a 76-66 win over Minnesota, powered by Fighting Illini junior guard Amber Moore’s game-high 25 points. Also playing strong recently for the Fighting Illini are sophomore guard Alexis Smith, who ranks third in the Big Ten in assists per game (5.6), senior guard Adrienne GodBold, who ranks third in scoring (19.0) and second in steals (3.5) in conference games games, and senior forward Karisma Penn, who leads the Big Ten in steals (3.8).
If the Badgers want to avoid getting swept by Illinois for the season, then they will have to eliminate the foul trouble that caused them to lose their momentum against Purdue. Sophomore forward Jacki Gulczynski had three fouls but remained in the game and, after committing her fourth, UW was unable to regain an offensive surge. In Bobbie Kelsey’s eyes that can’t happen again.
“We depend on Jacki a lot and she knows she has to stay in that game,” Kelsey said. “Maybe next time I will take her out [after three fouls], because now she has to build that trust back that I know she can do that without fouling.”
Freshman guard Nicole Bauman ended the game with 14 points, and junior forward Cassie Rochel had a career-high 7 blocks.
Tip-off against Illinois is set for 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
