Coming off a loss at home on Wednesday, the Badgers look to bounce back with a win as they host Ohio State Saturday Saturday in their annual Play4Kay, Think Pink game. The game is an event to raise awareness for Breast Cancer in which fans are encouraged to wear pink to show their support for the cause. There is free student admission and one dollar tickets for the public. Additionally, students will receive free pizza and refreshments as part of the Student Day promotion.
Ohio State (7-3, 18-5) enters its only matchup of the regular season against UW (2-9, 9-15)
coming off two significant wins.
Ohio State’s key players have proven themselves a force to be reckoned with, as a handful of Buckeyes approach some huge milestones. Team leader Kelsey Mitchell will serve as the biggest threat to UW, as she can rack up points from anywhere. The senior guard is the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer for both male and female with over 3,000 career points, and is only four assists away from reaching the 500 mark.
Accordingly, UW plans to center its game plan around defending the well-rounded athlete who averages an impressive 24.9 points per game.
“She loves to push in transition and get to the basket and drive on us,” freshman forward Courtney Fredrickson said. “So hopefully [we] keep her in front and do the best we can to limit her attacking the basket.”
In addition to concentrating on Mitchell, UW must also turn its attention to redshirt senior forward Stephanie Mavunga, another player who has surpassed the 1,000-point mark, and who is just 19 blocks short of 300 for her career. Mavunga not only functions as an offensive threat, but she also has proven dominant on the glass, racking up over 1,000 career rebounds as well.
Behind Mitchell, Mavunga and redshirt senior guard Linnae Harper, OSU boasts the highest scoring trio in the country, averaging 56.0 points per game.
Though Ohio State has many prolific weapons, UW has some offensive talent as well. Specifically, senior guard Cayla McMorris, who leads the Badgers offensively, is less than 10 points away from reaching 1,000 career points. Furthermore, Fredrickson continues to change games as she recorded her fifth career double-double at Wednesday’s game, scoring 18 points along with 14 rebounds, a new career high.
Looking towards Saturday’s game, UW must not only defend the dominant OSU trio, but it likely must also rebound the Buckeyes. During the Minnesota game, UW was able to out rebound the Gophers, which was a factor in in forcing Minnesota into one of its lower scoring games this season.
Tipoff for Saturday’s Play4Kay game is 12:00 p.m.
