MADISON – A 12-point first quarter deficit couldn’t keep down the Wisconsin women’s basketball team. Neither did a close call during the final seconds.
The Badgers scored their most impressive win of the young season Sunday Nov. 16 with a 76-72 victory over UW-Green Bay at the Kohl Center.
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The matchup was the first meeting between the teams since Dec. 14, 2022 and the Badgers’ first victory over the Phoenix since Dec. 15, 2016. Green Bay, the preseason favorite to win the Horizon League in a poll of conference’s coaches, had a four-game winning streak against the Badgers.
Graduate guard Destiny Howell led Wisconsin (4-1) in scoring for the second time, posting 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Junior guards Breauna Ware and Kyrah Daniels added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Redshirt sophomore forward Meghan Schultz, a New Berlin West graduate, scored 22 points for Green Bay (4-1). Senior guard Kamy Peppler added 15.
The Phoenix trailed by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter. The deficit was nine with 2 minutes 13 seconds to play but it scored six straight points during the next 90 seconds cut UW’s lead to 75-72 with 42 seconds to go.
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Green Bay set up a shot for guard Julianna Ouimette to tie, but the Phoenix redshirt freshman couldn’t connect on a 3-point attempt from the wing with 7 seconds left.
Howell hit the first of two free throws with 4 seconds left to seal the win.
“I have a lot of respect for Green Bay’s program. They’ve been awfully good for a lot of years and just a well-oiled machine,” Wisconsin coach Robin Pingeton said. “We knew it would be a battle tonight. I’m proud of the way our girls competed. … We had to fight, you know, coming back from behind.”
Here are three takeaways from the win.
Breuana Ware leads strong showing for UW bench
The Badgers owned a 29-8 edge in bench points. Ware set the tone, though her play was just as much an example of the impact a player can have without scoring.
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She hit just one of four shots in the second quarter but seemed to have more impact because of her floor game. She finished that quarter with three rebounds, two steals and one assist and the Badgers outscored Green Bay by 10 points the 6:53 she played that quarter.
Many of those plays didn’t lead to points, but they helped raise UW’s energy as it used some full court pressure to change the flow of the game.
Most of her points came in the fourth quarter when she bounced off defenders to finish a couple of drives, sank three straight free throws after drawing a foul on a 3-point attempt and assisted 3s by Howell and graduate Shay Bollin early in the quarter.
“She’s a pretty passionate young lady, plays with a lot of emotion,” Pingeton said. “She did a great job getting to the free throw line and converting. Defensively, I felt like she had some good deflections. I thought really, really good game for us tonight. I was really proud of the way she responded.”
Fourth quarter efficiency was key for Badgers
Wisconsin was at its best offensively in the fourth quarter when it scored eight of its first 10 possessions to turn a 51-50 lead a 71-61 advantage with 5:15 to play.
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Pingeton tightened her bench during that quarter, going primarily with six players: Daniels, Ware, Bollin, senior Ronnie Porter, junior Kyrah Daniels and junior Laci Steele.
Wisconsin hit nine of 16 shots (56.3%) in the quarter.
“I think we were just moving the ball well, capitalizing on times that they were guarding us a certain way and just starting to adjust to the flow of the game a lot better in the fourth quarter,” Howell said. “We had some quarters to understand what they were doing, and I think that just came down to us executing.”
Destiny Howell continues to shine
Howell continues to show the versatility of her game as she finished a couple of post-up situations in addition to her usual 3-pointers and mid-range drives.
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Her showing Sunday raised her season average to 15.2 points per game and with a .475 shooting percentage that is ahead of her best season at Howard.
“I just think her calmness, her poise is really, really important for our team,” Pingeton said. “Rarely does she get sped up. I think she’s a young lady that’s got an opportunity to really have a special season for us.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 3 takeaways from Wisconsin women’s basketball’s win over UW-Green Bay
