No. 34 — Jolene Anderson, Women’s Basketball
If you don’t pay attention to Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball, chances are you don’t know this name. That’s a shame because you missed one of the greatest careers of any Badger basketball player, man or woman, in history.
Anderson is the only women’s player to end her career with over 2,000 points and she ended her playing days in 2008 with 2,138 points. Not only is that a record for the women’s basketball program, but Anderson is the all-time leading scorer among both the men’s and women’s programs.
Hard to top that kind of production in a four-year career.
Throughout her career, Andersen never averaged less than 17.3 points per game and averaged over 19 points per game in the final two years of her UW career. While those numbers are impressive, what is most telling is that in the 123 career games played, Anderson scored in double figures in 118 of them.
In her final year, Anderson was named the 2008 Big Ten Player of the Year after averaging 19.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the field. It all added up to her being named 2008 Francis Pomeroy Naismith National Player of the Year.
She was a second round WNBA draft pick of the Connecticut Sun, and has had a long career playing overseas as well.
What made Anderson so dangerous was her ability to get her own shot, but also making opposing teams respect her ability to dish the ball as well. She may have been the single best player taking opponents off the dribble in Wisconsin history.
When you’re a national player of the year and the all-time leading scorer between men and women…you’ve pretty much said it all.
Full 50 Greatest Badgers List:
No. 50 – Randy Jablonic
No. 49 – Alex Rigsby
No. 48 — Michael Lihrman
No. 47 — Howard “Cub” Buck
No. 46 — Don Davey
No. 45 — Pat O’Dea
No. 44 — Curtis Joseph
No. 43 — Dean Anderson
No. 42 — Ivy Martin
No. 41 — Ron Vander Kelen
No. 40 — Carly Piper
No. 39 — J.J. Watt
No. 38 — Joe Pavelski
No. 37 — Barb Franke
No. 36 — Dick Cable
No. 35 — Sam Dekker
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