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Wisconsin Women’s Basketball: 3 Takeaways From Loss to Penn State

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Marissa Mosley and the Wisconsin women’s basketball team (6-14, 2-7 Big Ten), needing to get back in the win column, had their hands full with the Penn State Nittany Lions on Sunday afternoon.

Despite 18-point efforts from graduate transfer Avery LaBarbera and senior Julie Pospisilova — UW couldn’t hold onto its three-point lead going into the fourth quarter and wound up dropping their third straight game in Big Ten play 74-69 on the road to PSU.

Here are my takeaways from the Wisconsin women’s basketball game. 

The Defense Came Up Short 

As mentioned, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team took a three-point lead into the fourth quarter, but it didn’t take long before the tank ran out of gas. 

The Badgers rode their starting lineup as long as they could, but in the end, fatigue set in, and the defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed. This led to Penn State out-scoring UW 27-19 on 80% shooting from the floor in the fourth quarter. 

Penn State’s Taniyah Thompson took over the game in the final stanza, scoring 15 of her game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-6 shooting.  

Ultimately, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team’s lack of depth did them in.

Turnovers Too Much to Overcome 

If I had told you before the game that the Wisconsin women’s basketball team would shoot 49% from the floor and 40.9% from beyond the arc, you’d probably assume UW won, right? 

Well, tonight, you’d be wrong. 

Penn State applied full-court pressure from the jump and forced the Wisconsin women’s basketball team to turn the ball over an alarming 25 times. The Nittany Lions did an excellent job of trapping UW and getting into passing lanes, leaving the Badgers flustered and searching for answers.  

This one wouldn’t have been particularly close if it wasn’t for the Wisconsin’s hot shooting from three.

Avery LaBarbera Was Lights Out From Beyond the Arc

Speaking of hot shooting from three…Wisconsin Badgers starting point guard Avery LaBarbera was money from beyond the arc. 

The senior PG finished with a team-high 18 points, seven rebounds, and six assists on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc in 39 minutes. 

She played calm, cool, and collected throughout + proved to be a steadying presence in an otherwise reckless game. 

Tip of the cap, Avery.

What’s Next for Wisconsin Women’s Basketball

Wisconsin (6-14) returns to the court on January 25 when the Badgers take on Valparaiso at the Kohl Center. 

Editors Note: BadgerNotes will be on hand to cover the game in person. 


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Dillon Graff is a Substack Newsletter Best Selling Author and the Owner of BadgerNotes.com, your go-to source for in-depth coverage of the Wisconsin Badgers. His work has been featured in top media publications like USA Today, Bleacher Report, Verbal Commits, B5Q, Saturday Blitz, and Fansided.

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