For the majority of Saturday afternoon, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team (2-10 Big Ten, 9-16 overall) made it a competitive game against the No 18 Ohio State women’s basketball team (8-3, 19-5) in front of a season-high 6,623 Kohl Center crowd. The Buckeyes’ fortitude and senior leadership proved to be too much for the Badgers in the fourth quarter, however, as they pulled away to seal their 68-55 victory.
OSU’s start was instrumental in their eventual victory.
“I was really happy on how we started [the first quarter] we were really controlling the game and really had a chance to continue to stretch the lead out,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said. “However, we quit playing hard and quit playing with focus, and Wisconsin made us play hard. They played hard throughout like they always do and that was a bad stretch for us.”
Although the OSU offense was sporadic throughout the night, redshirt senior Stephanie Mavunga was the embodiment of consistency as she had 14 points in the first half and managed to contribute a modest seven points in the second half.
Buckeye senior guard Kelsey Mitchell showed why she’s one of the best players in the conference as well as country midway through the third quarter as when the Badgers took the lead with 6:59 left in the third quarter Mitchell responded by scoring four of OSU’s next six points to give the Buckeyes a five point lead. She would finish the night with 16 points — pedestrian by her standards — as UW’s defense efforts throughout kept her in check.
“I thought she [Mitchell] moved around well in the second half,” Mcguff said. “We got her in the middle of the zone quite a bit and they were doing a good job at pressuring her on the perimeter so we moved her around to different scoring spots on the floor.”
Redshirt senior guard Linnae Harper also had a significant impact on the game as she recorded a double-double in the second half as she scored ten points and grabbed ten rebounds. She finished the night with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Badgers’ first quarter performance had fans thinking it might be a blowout game as they shot an atrocious 21 percent from the field. Wisconsin’s shooting prayers were answered in the second quarter, however, as they shot 57 percent from the field.
"I thought in the first quarter we played in fear — in fear of the aggressiveness of Ohio State and what they could do. I thought that Cayla [McMorris] made it her mission that we were not going to back down anymore,” Wisconsin head coach Jonathan Tsipis said. “Her getting a career-high seven assists and understanding how we got to that area in the second quarter to outscore them, she was a part of that.
The story of the night besides the Play4Kay game was senior winger Cayla McMorris eclipsing the 1000 career point threshold. She scored it in traditional McMorris fashion as she went right and drove down the lane and converted an uncontested layup.
“It just feels great, it’s truly a blessing and I couldn’t have done it without my Badger family,” McMorris said.
McMorris finished the game with her fourth double-double of the season, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
Junior forward Marsha Howard continued her impressive scoring form of late as she scored a team-high 20 points in her fourth 20-plus point game this season.
After playing against the top two scoring offenses in the Big Ten in back-to-back games, the Badgers have held their own by holding the Minnesota Golden Gophers to their third lowest point and Ohio State to their second lowest point total of conference play. As conference play has progressed, the Badgers’ defense seems to have gained confidence and a certain level of stoutness.
UW is the last team to have their bye week in the conference as it will enjoy a much needed eight-day break. Wisconsin will next go on the road to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers (8-2, 17-6) next Sunday. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Ne.
