FATIGUED UW ABLE TO SURVIVE

Madison Capital Times

Nov 29, 1999

After watching her team squander a 25-point lead in the second half, University

of Wisconsin women's basketball coach Jane Albright knew the Badgers had

"hit a wall ... both mentally and physically" here Sunday against Northeastern

University.

But somehow, the Badgers (3-1) overcame fatigue and the loss of two starters

to escape with an 81-80 double-overtime victory over the Huskies in the

Coca-Cola Classic.

Junior forward LaTonya Sims scored the winning basket with 8 seconds left

in the second OT. Minutes earlier, she had hit a tough fade-away shot Sims

to force a 70-70 tie with 3.2 seconds left in the first overtime.

"I'm proud of our heart and that we found a way to win this," Albright

said. "Key people stepped up and did what they needed to do."

The No. 25 Badgers were playing their second game in less than 24 hours,

having sustained a 63-61 loss to No. 8 Rutgers on Saturday night. Northeastern

(2-3) had Saturday off.

The UW played without starting guard Kelley Paulus, who suffered a concussion

against Rutgers. And freshman center Nina Smith fouled out with 11 minutes,

36 seconds left in regulation after scoring just six points and grabbing

one rebound.

Sophomore forward Jessie Stomski scored 24 points - 12 in the overtimes

- and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Badgers. Sims added 22 points and 6 rebounds,

while sophomore guard Tamara Moore added 12 points and 12 rebounds.

But it was sophomore guard Kyle Black, who came off the bench to score

6 points and pull down 5 rebounds, who saved the Badgers in regulation.

Huskies point guard Tesha Tinsley banked in a 3-point shot off the glass

to give Northeastern a 59-56 lead with 13 seconds left. But Black banked

in a 3-pointer of her own with a half-second left to force the first overtime.

"I knew we needed a 3-pointer," Black said. "I was open, so I took the

shot and prayed it went in. I couldn't believe I made it, because I thought

it was the ugliest shot I ever took."

The Badgers fell behind quickly in the first overtime. But Tinsley missed

a free throw with 16 seconds left and Sims scored to tie the game.

In the second OT, Moore made the first of two free throws with 15.7 seconds

left to cut the Huskies' lead to 80-79. But Stomski tapped the rebound

of Moore's missed free throw back out. After a wild scramble on the floor,

Moore gained possession and called timeout.

Sims in-bounded the ball to Stomski, got it back and drove right for the

winning basket.

"What I was worried about the most, and it really bit us, was Sims," said

Huskies coach Joy Malchodi. "She's a 6-foot-3 wing . . . but she's going

to shoot over whoever I put on her because I don't have a 6-foot-3 wing.

She's very tough to guard."

Northeastern had a chance to win, but Moore deflected away a pass into

the high post as time ran out.

The Badgers held the Huskies to 25 percent shooting in the first half and

took a 35-16 lead. The UW increased its lead to 43-18 early in the second

half. But the Huskies, who have four starters back from last year's America

East Conference championship team, fought back with a 36-9 spurt to tie

the game, 54-54.

"One of the hardest things you have to do is ask your team to play a Final

Four-type team (Rutgers), and the next day play a team that won its conference,"

Albright said. "It was a really big win for us, and we might not know how

big until later in the year.

"It would have been really easy to throw it in. I think we had a lot of

poise. It certainly wasn't a lack of effort. We shot 28 percent in the

second half - that alone tells anybody we were tired."

The Badgers play at UW-Green Bay Wednesday before returning to Madison

for their regular-season home debut against Tennessee next Sunday. Tipoff

at the Kohl Center will be at 1:30 p.m.

WISCONSIN min fg fga ft fta reb pf a pt Moore 40 3 10 6 8 12 4 3 12 Stomski

44 7 13 10 12 10 4 1 24 N. Smith 14 3 6 0 0 1 5 0 6 Pate 27 1 2 0 0 1 3

4 2 Sims 40 9 23 3 4 6 3 1 22 C. Smith 10 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 2 Hefte 10 1 2

0 2 2 0 1 2 Black 26 2 5 0 0 5 0 3 6 Bird 16 2 4 0 0 3 1 0 4 Konieczny

23 0 1 1 2 5 3 1 1 Totals 200 29 68 20 28 52 25 14 81

NORTHWESTERN min fg fga ft fta reb pf a pt Hanewald 19 0 5 0 0 3 4 1 0

Lawrence 45 8 17 11 13 11 3 0 27 Glinton 37 5 12 0 0 6 5 1 10 Tinsley 47

9 21 5 10 5 0 7 25 Almengot 43 5 9 3 3 2 0 2 13 Kenny 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Harris 11 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 Caruso 41 0 5 0 0 2 2 2 0 Newsome 5 0 0 0 0 3

2 0 0 Totals 200 29 72 19 26 38 18 14 80

Rebounding totals include team rebounds Wisconsin 35241111 - 81 Northeastern

16431110 - 80

Three-point goals - Wisconsin 3-6 (Sims 1-2, Black 2-3, Hefte 0- 1), Northeastern

3-14 (Hanewald 0-1, Tinsley 2-5, Almengot 0-2, Harris 1-1, Caruso 0-4).

Field-goal percentages - Wisconsin .426, Northeastern .403. Free-throw

percentages - Wisconsin .714, Northeastern .731. Turnovers - Wisconsin

26, Northeastern 19.