Wisconsin 76 Athletes in Action 66
Wisconsin defeated a decent AIA team in a game that was clearly an exhibition.
The Badgers return all five starters from last season's team and add a lot of people's choice as the nation's top recruit, Nina Smith. Since the NCAA refused to allow Jane Albright to have five starters, one of the players is going to sit. Albright has decided that each of the six will start five of the first six games and then she will make a decision on the starting lineup.
The first game was Nina Smith's turn to sit. It may be a while before that happens again.
Albright uses her exhibition games to give players minutes. The 11 players who are competing for minutes got a chance to play against opposition. She mixed up her combinations a lot to give players an opportunity to play with all the other players. This resulted in some very interesting units on the floor.
The Badgers returning starting unit started out strong, jumping to an 11-2 lead 4 minutes in.
Nina and her almost unbelievable hype entered the game with five minutes gone. Within a minute she had treated the crowd of 7,248 to an offensive foul, the not-exactly quick Jenny Noll going around her for a basket and a rebound bouncing off her hands. To say she was nervous would be a Nina-sized understatement.
But she started to breathe and scored 9 points in her first 6 minutes in a Badger uniform.
After AIA cut the lead to 2, the Badgers slowly pulled away until they led by 13 at the half. Albright started the opening five to start the second half and they pushed the lead to 24 with 14 minutes to play. Then two things happened. Jane substituted liberally and AIA started hitting threes.
Throughout the game the Badgers post defense ranged from decent to good. The perimeter defense was shaky at times, especially when Tamara Moore was not in the game. Wisconsin was hurt by AIA's quickness and their lack of defensive execution on the perimeter.
Ann Lemire led AIA on a run that brought them back into the game. Wisconsin was helped enormously by Jessie Stomski's grabbing about every rebound in site and the fact the Badgers did not turn the ball over against AIA's press. They didn't press much, but probably would have done it more had they had more success.
After AIA cut the lead to 4 with 1:57 to go, Moore hit 4 free throws and LaTonya Sims hit 2 and Wisconsin won by 10.
It was a good exhibition for the Badgers. At times they looked like a good team. At other times they proved that they have plenty of room for improvement.
Wisconsin was led by sophs Moore and Stomski. Moore had 20 points, 4, rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and some awesome defense. Stomski had a couple of shots rim out but she had 10 points to go with 14 rebounds. She also showed that the 99 model of Stomski is quicker, sleeker and faster.
Nina Smith finished with 13 points in 21 minutes. She showed off some unreal post moves. She showed she's got a ways to go. She only grabbed 2 rebounds and her defense got weaker the farther she got from the basket. She needs to relax and get some experience--any Big 10 fan could have told her that it's not necessary to guard Jenny Noll 28 feet from the basket. But she does just pretty much go where she wants to around the basket. My favorite moment was when three AIA players were leaning on her and she just kept pushing the pile till she got where she wanted.
Lemire led AIA with 14.
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