Tennessee 85  Wisconsin 52

There is an inherent difference between good and elite teams.  The difference is lodged squarely between the ears.

25 minutes into the game, Wisconsin's LaTonya grabbed an offensive rebound, spun and put the ball in.  Her subsequent free throw game Wisconsin a three point lead.  The Badgers were flying emotionally.  The crowd of 11,861 was screaming.  It was the time the home team goes on a run and the visitors blink.  Most of the time.

Tennessee glanced at the scoreboard, saw they were behind, stifled a collective yawn and ratcheted their game up a couple of notches.  Wisconsin managed to hang with them for another five minutes, but then it was the home team that collapsed.  With ten minutes to play, Tennessee led by five.  Over the last ten minutes, they outscored the Badgers 30 to 13 to give coach Pat Summitt a comfortable 700th career win.

For the first 25 minutes, Wisconsin scrapped and clawed to stay near the Lady Vols.  Tennessee used its athleticism to dominate the boards and their quickness to disrupt the Badgers' offense.

The one thing the Lady Vols didn't do was shoot the ball well.  Wisconsin played strong defense and held Tennessee to 39% shooting in the first half.  The Badgers meanwhile got 11 fewer shots than the Lady Vols, but made the most of them, shooting 52% for the first half.

Tennessee led for much of the first half, but Wisconsin did not let them get away.  Post players Jessie Stomski and Nina Smith hit 7 of their 9 first half shots, while guard Kelley Paulus was huge off the bench, scoring 10 first half points.

To start the second half, Wisconsin again pulled the Orange bunch back.  A Kristen Clement free throw gave Tennessee a 7 point lead, 41-34.  Wisconsin then had their best run of the game. 

Seven straight points by Nina Smith and Sims' old fashioned three point play gave Bucky a 44-41 lead with 15:33 to play.  But the Badgers couldn't hold on.

Or rather, Semeka Randall took the game over.  Over the last 15 minutes of the game, she had 6 steals and 15 points and was simply everywhere on the court.

The Tennessee transition kicked into high gear.  Lady Vol post players frequently beat the slower Badger posts down the floor for easy baskets.  Gwen Jackson was especially effective in running the floor.

And the Badgers collapsed.  Playing Tennessee is like playing a three-headed monster.  Only instead of three heads, every person in those dull orange uniforms seems to have three hands. To play against them requires 40 minutes of focused, intense play.  Wisconsin wasn't up to that task.  They cracked. 

When they saw Wisconsin weaken, Tennessee moved in for the kill.  While they still didn't shoot the ball well, they did everything else right.  That's why they were the one elite team playing on the Kohl Center floor.

Nina Smith played her best game to date in a Badger uniform.  She had 16 points and 6 boards.  More than that, she is learning at a remarkable rate.  When she got the ball in the low blocks, she was close to unstoppable.  Jessie Stomski added 12 points and 7 rebounds, while LaTonya Sims had 14 points and 8 boards. 

The Badgers turned the ball over an ungodly 28 times.  They were out-rebounded 48 to 34.  The result was that Wisconsin got 25 fewer shots than the Lady Vols. 

Semeka Randall led Tennessee with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 7 steals and tons of intensity.  Gwen Jackson ran the floor beautifully and hit for 17 points.  Tennessee had 17 steals and only 13 turnovers.  They played what Pat Summitt called their best game of the year.  Badger fans were thrilled with that.