We last visited the St. Thomas women on opening night when they lost 94-59 at Drake. Last night the Wisconsin Badgers came to St. Paul and “stomped” the Tommies, according to Madison, Wisconsin’s WMTV. (St. Thomas’ report said the Tommies “hung tough;” “perspective is everything,” right?) It was the Tommies’ 3rd largest loss (having also lost to Iowa State 85-44), leaving them at 5-6 and with one more non-conference game against D3 WI-Stevens Point at home on Saturday, December 16, before opening Summit League play, again at home, on December 29 against North Dakota.
Meanwhile, the “new look” Wisconsin Badgers improved to 6-4, but 0-1 in the Big 10 and 1-3 against Power 5 opponents. The new look consists of head coach Marisa Moseley, a former assistant at Minnesota and Connecticut and head coach at BU (45-29 in 3 years), now in her 3rd year at Wisconsin; 6-4 sophomore post Serah Williams, who is averaging 16 pts and 9 reb on 48% shooting this year after 13-5 as a frosh; and 5-8 freshman guard D’Yanis Jimenez, who is averaging 11 ppg on 44% shooting. The new look also includes St. Paul’s (Como high school) sophomore guard Ronnie Porter, who is “running wild,” according to one Badger fan, scoring 11 ppg with an amazing 7 reb, 4 assists and 3 steals, all at 5-foot-4. The sum total of the new look is a new optimism around the Badgers usually floundering program.
The Badgers took control early last night, going from a 16-14 deficit at 2:22 of the 1st to a 36-19 lead at 5:26 of the 2nd, or a 22-3 run over about 6 minutes. The Tommies got just 6 shots off during those 6 minutes, missing 5, while turning it over 7 times. For the night, the Tommies turned it over 22 times and the Badgers scored 16 points off turnovers. 7 of those 22 turnovers came on steals by Porter (4) and Jimenez. Jimenez finished with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Meanwhile, Wisconsin also had a 16-10 edge in offensive boards, a 21-15 edge in 2nd chance points and a solid 38-22 edge in points in the paint. The 6-4 Williams had 21 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks and the 6-0 senior Brooke Schramek finished with 15 points. The amazing Porter managed must 5 points on 2-of-8 shooting but dazzled with 6 rebounds, 5 assists and those 4 steals.
St. Thomas was led, as usual, by 6-2 junior post Jo Langbehn with 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Guards Jade Hill and Amber Scalia added 13 each on combined 7-of-18 shooting (5-of-11 3s). After the big 3, 7 other Tommies managed just 13 points on 5-of-23 shooting, but they did add 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
So while the “new look” Badgers are 6-4 and 25-45 over the 1st 2+ years of the Moseley era, the Tommies are 5-6 and 25-44 over the 1st 2+ years of the D1 era. Their journeys have not been at all dissimilar; maybe the 2 teams are more alike than they might have appeared last night.