Same song, third verse. For the third time in the last four games, the Badgers (1-6 Big Ten, 6-12 overall) have found themselves down by a significant margin entering the fourth quarter. Again, despite their opponents holding sizable leads, the Badgers found a way to fight back and give themselves a chance at the end, only to come up a little short. Against Minnesota (5-3, 13-6), the Badgers were trailing by 20 entering the fourth, and despite cutting the lead to within 10, UW ultimately lost 84-77 Saturday at the Kohl Center.
While the narrative of this game resembled many of the Badgers’ recent Big Ten contests, there was a different feel to it. Even though the Badgers have been forced into putting together comebacks in nearly every matchup, the way the team battled the Golden Gophers felt much different.
With six and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, senior guard Nicole Bauman hit back-to-back 3-point shots, cutting the Minnesota lead to only 11. As the shot made its way through the basket, the soft sound of the ball reaching the netting was juxtaposed by a resounding scream from the crowd. For the rest of the game almost everyone in the stands was on their feet, and the Kohl Center was as loud is it has been all season.
Whether the Badgers responded to the noise or just started moving the ball better may be up for debate, but it was clear to anyone watching that this Badger comeback attempt was filled with an energy and swagger the team has been trying to find all season.
“We showed what we can do when we play together and we have some people out there that are going to fight,” head coach Bobbie Kelsey said. “That last group is the one I’m most interested in.”
Kelsey was referring to the lineup that sparked the Badgers’ urgent comeback. Bauman, Dakota Whyte and Tessa Cichy, along with redshirt freshman guard Roichelle Marble and redshirt junior forward Avyanna Young seemed to take control of the game late, and pushed the ball up the court with pace and efficiency in an excited attempt to tie the game.
“You have to put a group in there that wants to work and wants to play hard,” Bauman said.
Kelsey attributed a lot of this group’s success to people doing their jobs, whether or not they were scoring. Once the team started finding their roles, the team consequently starting scoring.
“There’s more you can do out there besides scoring,” Kelsey said, expecting her players to be doing a multitude of different things while on the floor.
For example, Kelsey was very happy with the fire that Marble brings to the group when she is on the court.
“Shelly gives us a lot of energy,” Kelsey said. “She did finish at the rim. She did hit a three. She did play great defense.”
Similarly, Kelsey alluded to how important Cichy is to the team even when she is not scoring. Specifically, Cichy did not shoot the ball well tonight, but for the first time since her extended absence, she was aggressive and forced the defense to collapse, while also collecting five offensive rebounds.
“I was just trying to focus on my defense tonight,” Cichy said. “My shots will hopefully start falling.”
While Marble was providing energy and Cichy was contributing defensively, the team needed someone to knock down consistent shots, and Bauman provided that piece of the puzzle. Bauman finished the night with 25 points, and hit 7-of-8 3-pointers, including three in the fourth quarter alone.
“I was feeling it. When I was open I shot it,” Bauman put it simply. “My teammates did a good job of getting me the ball at the end when I was open.”
Going forward, Kelsey will look to frequently utilize the group of five that ended the game together.
“You have to have attitude and you have to have a hunger. You need to be in attack mode,” Kelsey said. “I liked the fight in this last group, I really did.”
