Lady Badgers beat #12 Michigan 78-70

On Senior Day, Wisconsin’s women honored their three departing seniors with the biggest victory of the season, defeating the #12-ranked Michigan women 78-70.

This is just another example of how head coach Maria Moseley has impacted the program in her second year here and the right trajectory that the Lady Badgers are on.

Lady Badgers 3 seniors

One of the most difficult things to do in sports is to be a multi-year starter, only to be sidelined by an injury your senior year.

Yet, that is exactly what senior center Sara Stapelton did. A starter for the previous 2 seasons, Stapelton has only played in eight games this season and hasn’t started any. She got her first start of the season today, played three minutes, and picked up an assist before freshman starter Serah Williams entered the game.

Senior guard Julie Pospislilova has been the Lady Badgers’ leading scorer all season, and today was no different.

She scored 25 points on 10-16 shooting, hitting all three of her 3-point attempts and sinking both free throws. She also had six rebounds, 5 assists, and two blocked shots in 36 minutes of play.

A truly fitting end to a fantastic player!

Both Pospislilova and her backcourt mate, senior Avery LaBarbera, have provided leadership and guidance to a squad laden with underclassmen.

On the court today, LaBarbera scored 12 points, led the team in rebounding with eight boards, dished out five assists.

Lady Badgers showing definite improvement

On the offensive side of the ball, Wisconsin entered the game shooting 42.7%. In the convincing win today, they shot 26-53 (49.1%) from the field, but a blistering 9-17 (52.9%) from 3-point range.

Five different Wisconsin players registered at least one made 3-point attempt, highlighted by Pospisilova’s perfect 3-3 game.

Another sign of a strong offensive game plan is the number of assists to made field goals. Normally the Lady Badgers average 15.1 assists to 25.7 made field goals.

Today, that ratio was 21-26, which shows the offense was flowing well and the plays were being executed properly.

One of Wisconsin’s strengths all season (in direct contrast to the men’s team) has been successful free-throw shooting, as they made 76% on the season.

On Sunday, that success rate was even higher, to the tune of 17-19 (89.5%).

What’s up next for the Lady Badgers

The significance of this win cannot be understated. It moved Wisconsin up to 10th place in the conference, giving them a bye on the first day of the Big Ten tournament.

The brackets were revealed just a short time ago and Wisconsin’s first game will be against Purdue on Thursday, March 2nd at 5:30 p.m. (CST)

These two teams played the first day of the new year, with Purdue winning 73-61.

However, this most definitely is not the same Lady Badgers team that played that day.

I’ll have a more in-depth preview in a couple of days.

For now, Lady Badgers, soak up this big win. You certainly earned it!