Wisconsin and Marquette don't much like each other on the men's side of things and after a 70-64 win at home by the Badgers on Saturday the rivalry is now back in the hands of the good guys.
On the Women's side, coach Bobbie Kelsey become prophetic earlier this week, pointing out the close nature of the games between the two in-state foes.
"The women's side is not as heated as the men," said Kelsey at her weekly press conference. "You always want to beat Marquette just because they're right down the road and they're in your backyard. And in your state."
"We want it to be as heated as the men's. I think they gear up to play us and we do them. The games have been really close the last two years. They beat us by, I think, two my first year, and we beat them by, I think, two or something last year. It's been a little back and forth."
Prophetic, considering it was a last-second layup by Morgan Paige that won it for Wisconsin at Marquette on Saturday night.
MORGAN PAIGE! A layup at the buzzer wins it for the #Badgers! UW defeats Marquette 62-60!
— UW Womens Basketball (@BadgerWBB) December 8, 2013
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The Badger guard poured in 16 points in the win and the team improved to 6-2 on the young season.
Paige led the way for Wisconsin in the scoring department, but she wasn't the only one in double digits as the Badgers had four players score 10-plus points. Michala Johnson (14), Taylor Wurtz (13) and Dakota Whyte (12) all joined Paige in the winning effort.
It was tough-sledding for both teams in the scoring department, as Wisconsin shot just 39.3 percent from the field and Marquette was held to just 34.7 percent themselves.
With the win the Badgers completed a sweep of two big conference opponents, taking down Boston College earlier in the week in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Those wins reverse a trend of losses to big conference schools, as Wisconsin lost twice to ACC competition earlier in the year. It dropped a game against Alabama and then against Vanderbilt last week.
The challenges for this team won't stop any time soon as UW will host Gonzaga and then head out to Seattle to take on Washington this next week.
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