Finding a rhythm is the hardest part of early-season basketball. The Badgers, however, were dancing to their own beat Thursday night in a win over Boston College.
Wisconsin and BC (3-5 overall) battled back and forth the entire night at the Kohl Center, though the Badgers ultimately came out victorious, beating the Eagles 74-59 in the 2013 Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
Wisconsin (5-2) was coming off an 81-69 loss in the championship game of the Vanderbilt Thanksgiving Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., over the weekend, but managed to get its fourth win in the annual cross-conference challenge since its beginning in 2006.
“We’re very excited about this win. We have a tough stretch here coming up and we needed this first win to really get us going,” head coach Bobbie Kelsey said. “We came out on the good side of the fight this time and we’re very proud of the whole team.”
The game started off sloppy, with both teams turning the ball over three times in the first four minutes, but redshirt junior forward Michala Johnson got the Badgers going, scoring the first six points for UW. The rest of the first half was back and forth, with the lead changing sides three times and neither team going ahead by more than four points.
The Eagles came out strong from the break, going on an 11-2 run with all of their buckets coming from within the paint.
The Badgers were in need of a spark, and senior guard Taylor Wurtz provided just that, cutting into the lead by hitting three baskets in a row.
Sophomore guard Tessa Cichy came in strong off the bench, hitting her first four shots and giving Wisconsin the extra boost it needed.
“[Cichy] brought a lot of fight, a lot of just energy. Tessa is a very smart player, she understands what to look for and she uses her brain more so than the physical part of her game. We needed that lift, especially off the bench,” Kelsey said. “You never know when it’s going to be your night and Tessa had a great night tonight, and we needed it.”
Senior guard Morgan Paige then took over on offense for the Badgers, scoring 10 straight points for Wisconsin. The momentum put the Badgers up by 12, a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
Even Boston College head coach Erik Johnson had to acknowledge the Badgers’ performance Thursday, and their high potential for the rest of the season.
“The credit really has to go to Wisconsin,” he said. “They defended us well, they made our shooters really have to work, they adjusted their defense, they had a good game plan. I’m impressed—they’re going to have a really good season.”
