MADISON,Wis. ó With the Big Ten title well out of reach, Minnesotaís womenís basketball team now has to figure out how to win again.
The 17th-ranked Gophers (17-8, 9-5 Big Ten) dropped their fourth-straight game and had their five-game win streak over Wisconsin snapped in a 67-61 loss to the Badgers on Sunday in Madison, Wis., at the Kohl Center in front of an announced 14,697.
ìThey did a good job going at some of the things weíre not really good at defensively,” Minnesota coach Pam Borton said. ìThis is a great win for their program and they wanted it a little bit more than us.”
Early on, the game had the potential of a blow-out, as the Gophers jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead and led by as many as 14 points in the first half.
But Minnesota was held scoreless for the last five minutes and the Badgers went on a 12-0 run to pull within two points at halftime.
ìOur team did not fold due to a slow start,” Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. ìIt looked like it could have gone a whole different direction but our team fought back Ö They came out with a will to win.”
Junior forward Jamie Broback at times appeared to be the Gophersí only offensive answer, scoring nine-straight points in less than three minutes in the first half.
But, after scoring 15 first-half points, Broback picked up her fourth personal foul midway through the second half and spent almost 10 minutes on the bench before returning with 3:43 to play.
ìWe canít have Jamie sitting on the bench for very long,” Borton said. ìShe is a consistent offensive player and threat on the floor and obviously one of our go-to players.
ìJamieís got to find a way to keep herself on the floor.”
Joining Broback on the bench in foul trouble was sophomore Natasha Williams, who picked up her fourth foul in the opening minutes of the second half.
ìTo have both Natasha and Jamie, our two starting post players, on the bench with four fouls obviously hurt us on both ends of the floor,” Borton said. ìI thought we gave up a lot from our post players defensively when they were on the bench.”
Wisconsin (11-16, 5-10 Big Ten) took its first lead of the game at 51-50 with 8:29 remaining on a Danielle Ward basket in the post.
Broback tied the game at 61 with 1:20 remaining when she made a layup and was fouled.
But she missed the ensuing free throw, and the Badgers scored on the next possession to take the lead for good.
Borton made her second change to the starting lineup in the past two games when she brought in junior Kelly Roysland and moved senior guard April Calhoun to the bench.
Calhoun had started 20 consecutive games this season, but struggled of late and only played seven minutes Sunday.
Roysland scored 13 points, while Broback had a game-high 21 points.
The Badgers had four players in double figures, led by Janese Banks with 18.
ìThe most important things,” senior guard Shannon Bolden said, ìis that we stay together as a team and think back to the beginning of the season, the middle of the season, when we were playing so strong. Weíve got to learn from these last four games.”
