Dec. 11, 2001
Box Score
MADISON - Jesse Stomski helped No. 15 Wisconsin (8-1) with 27 points and 11 rebounds to defeat UWM, 80-61, at the Kohl Center Tuesday night. Maria Viall led UWM (4-5) with 17 points and eight rebounds.
UW's Tamara Moore almost recorded a triple double, scoring 11 points while tallying 10 rebounds and eight assists. Forward Kyle Black and reserve Ebba Gebisa also added 15 points each for Wisconsin, who shot 44.6 from the floor and took the 46-36 advantage on the boards. The Panthers shot 36.2 percent on the game, including 5-of-16 from the arc.
"They're good, very good, and just hard to stop," UWM coach Sandy Botham said of Wisconsin, who recently knocked off No. 9 North Carolina State and have outscored its opponents by an average of 15 points. "They just have so many different weapons from the inside game to the outside game - Kyle Black, Tamara Moore. We knew we would have our hands full. We got down big and thought fell into their trap. They threw a lot of stuff at us and sort of took us out of our rhythm."
Angela Wenzel came off the bench to score eight points for UWM, while Holly Tamm pitched in seven points and four rebounds. The Panthers connected on 14-of-19 from the free-throw line, compared to UW's 17-of-30 effort.
"I was proud of our kids effort," Botham said. "They showed a lot of heart to cut it down to 10 points with about seven minutes left. We just didn't execute down the stretch."
Down by as many as 20 points midway in the second half, UWM charged back to pull within 10 with seven minutes 43 seconds remaining. Eight consecutive Panther points included Stefanie Kaufmann's layup and a three pointer from reserve Elizabeth Chudy, who finished with six points. Viall and reserve point Malika Willoughby added a pair of free throws each to trail UW, 62-52.The Panthers would get no closer to the Badgers after that and soon fell to a 16-5 run with 3 minutes to go.
"In the second half, Milwaukee really made a run at it," UW coach Jane Albright said. "They got about three transition buckets in a row, and I think they cut it to 10 points. But I felt we knuckled down and played some really good defense then and were able to come away with a big win."
Wisconsin tallied 20 assists and 15 turnovers, while Milwaukee made 14 assists and 19 turnovers. The Badgers tallied 10 steals, while the Panthers swiped six on the game.
"We had a season low in turnovers, and anytime you can have 20 assists in 40 minutes of play means that you're doing a good job of passing the ball around," Albright said.
Tied at 12 points a piece in the first half, UW went on a 14-3 run to break open the game. The Badgers gave different looks in that stretch, opening up at the post and also hitting it from long range. The Panthers pulled with 10 on several occasions, but cut the deficit to nine points following an open three pointer by Wenzel with under four minutes remaining in the half.
Milwaukee made several turnovers down the stretch, allowing the Badgers more time on offensive to outscore UWM by nine points. Black ended UW's run with consecutive three pointers, but Milwaukee's Teri Huff came off the bench to score a jumper to trail the Badgers by 16 points at the half.
UW's prowess on the boards in the first half definitely helped the Badgers take over. Milwaukee was outrebounded, 25-12, in the half and by 10 boards overall.
