The Parana Club of Brazil, a veteran squad led by standout center Victoria Bullet, defeated the Badgers, 90-70, in an exhibition game watched by 3,104 spectators at the UW Field House.

Bullet, a 32-year-old WNBA player, and Vedrana Grgin, a forward from Croatia, led the smooth-operating, always-moving Parana offense with 25 points apiece.

Grgin also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, while Bullet had seven rebounds and a game-high six blocked shots. Guard Helen Cristina dos Santos Luz added seven assists and 23 points, including making five 3-point shots.

Parana, which won all eight of the games on its tour of the Midwest, is one of the best teams UW will face all season, Albright said.

That fact left Albright feeling positive about her team entering the regular-season opener against Southern Illinois Friday night in Lincoln, Neb. She said she'd prefer to play a strong team such as Parana in an exhibition, and didn't believe the 20-point defeat would damage the Badgers' confidence.

"Oh, no," said Albright, whose team defeated Athletes in Action, 76-66, in UW's other exhibition game. "I'd rather have two games like this. We have got plenty of confidence. I loved being in that locker room (after the game). They were listening to everything we were talking about."

Badgers sophomore forward Jessie Stomski, who led the team with 21 points and nine rebounds, agreed.

"As an exhibition game, my personal opinion is I would rather play this type of team and lose than play a team and kill them," Stomski said. "This shows the weaknesses we have to work on."

One weakness that cropped up was also a nemesis last season. The Badgers committed 25 turnovers, including 15 in a first half that saw Parana lead, 42-32, at halftime.

Guard-forward Tamara Moore had six turnovers to offset her six assists. Stomski and forward LaTonya Sims, who had to work against the physical Grgin, each committed four turnovers.

"Obviously, the glaring error that we had tonight was turnovers," Albright said. "We had 25 of them. I don't know that I've ever thought turnovers were acceptable, but they were a very good defensive team. They put a lot of pressure on our guards."

The Badgers shot a respectable 49.2 percent from the field, but were only 1-for-10 from 3-point range and 7-for-13 from the free-throw line.

Guard Kelley Paulus added 13 points for the Badgers. Sims had 11 points and freshman center Nina Smith, who said she had never played against as good an all-around player as Bullet, contributed 10 points and six rebounds.

"Just look at how experienced they were and that we know we will have four or five more teams who will be that good, and, hopefully, we can learn from our mistakes and carry that to the games we play," Sims said.

The Badgers could learn from Parana, which moved and cut without the ball on offense. In addition, Albright will look for her guards to make better entry passes to the low-post players, who need to improve their inside positioning to receive those passes.

Still, Albright was less concerned with her team's offense than with the Badgers' defense, which too often left shooters open and allowed Parana to shoot 50.7 percent from the field.

"Their point guard drilled us," Albright said of Santos Luz.

The Badgers led early. They went on a 9-0 run to take a 20-11 first-half lead.

Sims, who took her turn coming off the bench in Albright's early season starting rotation, hit two jumpers and Paulus sank a 3-point shot from the left side during the flurry.

But the Brazilian team scored the next 15 points and led, 26-20, with 7 minutes, 51 seconds left in the first half. Santos Luz scored the first seven of those points, and Bullet then added four.

Bullet and Santos Luz led Parana with 15 and 12 points, respectively, in the first half. Stomski led UW with eight points in the first 20 minutes.