Women’s Basketball Weekly

As we aim to give you the most comprehensive coverage of ALL Badgers athletics we’ve decided to dedicate a weekly feature to the site, Women’s Basketball Weekly and that starts today on the eve of the Badgers playing tonight.  So, let’s start by taking a look at where we stand with the Badgers Women’s Basketball team. 

Wisconsin enters the games in the week ahead with a 5-12 overall record and a 1-4 conference record.  Their one win is over a winless (in conference) Illinois team.  Things have been getting much better as of late for this team though, as they narrowly lost, 75-69, to 15th ranked Nebraska at the Kohl Center.  It was a frustrating loss as the Badgers held a 66-65 lead with 4:03 left to play but the Huskers stepped up their D and only allowed Wisconsin to score 3 points the rest of the game, pairing that with some hot shooting to take down the Badgers upset attempt.  

Leading the Wisconsin effort was the standout duo of Taylor Wurtz and Anya Covington.  Wurtz scored 20 points and Covington had her 5th career double double with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists.  Morgain Paige also chipped in nicely with 14 points of her own in the losing effort.  

Nebraska was led by Lindsey Moore’s 28 points in the victory.

This Week in Badgers Women’s Basketball: 

1/19 – @ Iowa (7pm CT heard on WIBA 1310 in Madison or through uwbadgers.com)

– Iowa is currently 10-8 (2-3 conf.) and has been lead by leading scorer and underrated Jamie Printy.  She is averaging 17.7 points per game, which is 5th best in the Big Ten, and is the key to the uptempo style the Hawkeyes run.  

They do like to get going fast and are averaging 72.9 points a game as a team, 4th highest in the conference.  Contrast that with a Wisconsin team that’s averaging only 58.6 points a game as a team (last in conference) and you’ve got the potential for a blowout.  If the Badgers want to win this game they need to control the pace and make Iowa slow the game down. 

1/22 – vs. Northwestern (2pmCT heard on the The Big 1070 in Madison or through uwbadgers.com)

– Northwestern is 12-6 (2-3 conf.) and could be the best chance for a Badgers victory this weekend.  They play the game at a similar tempo as Wisconsin and as a team they only have a +1.1 scoring margin.  The Wildcats are led by Kendall Hackney, who’s just above Wurtz at 7th in the conference, who averages 16.3 points a game.  

Northwestern is coming off just a 1 point victory over winless Illinois before taking on Michigan tonight and then Wisconsin in their weekend battle.  Don’t think this team is just a one woman show though as Hackney is joined in the double digit scoring category as Morgan Jones (14.7), Dannielle Diamant (12.6), and Brittany Orban (12.2) are equally important to stop for a Badgers victory at home. 

Wisconsin must also focus on a team that turns the ball over on a rather frequent basis, averaging 17.9 turnovers a game which is 4th highest in the Big Ten this season.  But Wisconsin must also avoid their own turnovers, as they’re right behind the Wildcats, averaging 17.6 turnovers a game themselves.

Weekly Predictions: 

The games ahead of the Wisconsin Women’s Basketball team this week offer good tests to see just how competitive this team can really be in conference play as both teams are beatable.  It will be hugely important especially coming off a hard fought loss against a very good Nebraska team.  

I see Wisconsin losing on the road to Iowa (77-62) but getting a home win over the Wildcats on Sunday (65-61) as I just don’t see Wisconsin being consistent enough to pull out tough road wins at this point.  

Hope you enjoyed this look at the Badgers Women’s Basketball program and I hope to bring you more of these updates on a weekly basis, usually on Wednesday afternoons in the future, so mark your calendars Badgers Women’s Basketball fans.