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Wisconsin Women’s Basketball WNIT Preview: Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles

The Wisconsin women’s basketball program will begin its WNIT run against Southern Indiana on Monday.

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Marisa Moseley Wisconsin Women’s Basketball Head Coach
Photo: Courtesy of UW Athletics

With the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team in the postseason for the first time in over a decade, we thought it would be best if we gave their second round game a little preview.

Here is everything we learned about Southern Indiana women’s hoops in the last few days!

Breaking Down Wisconsin Women’s Basketball vs. USI

Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (24-6), Ohio Valley, 138th (Her Hoops Stats rank)

  • 71.4 points per game; 65th nationally
  • 64.0 opp. points per game; 164th
  • +7.5 margin per game; 70th
  • Opp. average win%: 39.7%; 353rd
  • Simple RPI: 51.3%; 147th

So, the Screaming Eagles have a gaudy record, enter this game winners of 11 in a row and 20 of their last 21, and seem like a team who should’ve been in the NCAA Tournament. And, well, if you thought that you’d actually be right! USI went 17-1 in conference AND won the OVC Tournament in dominant fashion, but since they are only in their second season (out of four) of reclassifying to Division 1 they were ineligible to make the Big Dance. I really don’t understand that rule and it sucks for the USI players and coaches who earned an NCAA Tournament bid, but here we are!

USI was picked sixth in the OVC preseason poll, which was reasonable considering they finished last season with a record of 9-17, and they clearly shattered expectations on their way to multiple conference titles. Head coach Rick Stein was named OVC Coach of the Year while senior guard Meredith Raley and junior guard Vanessa Shafford were named All-OVC First Team. If you remember earlier in the season, UW played Eastern Illinois and Macy McGlone (out of Greenville, Wis.) was their star player. She was named OVC Player of the Year. Good for her!

An influx of talent in the offseason via a pair of freshmen (Chloe Gannon and Ali Saunders), a transfer portal addition (Madison Webb, SIUE), and a return from a season-long injury (Addy Blackwell, tibia fractures) to go along with some internal development helped USI outperform those preseason predictions. Now, all of this should be taken with a grain of salt because USI’s schedule is, uh, not great.


The Screagles played three games against Power 6 opponents this season and lost all three: 96-62 to Mizzou; 95-57 to Purdue; 58-56 to Cincinnati. That means they lost by an average of 24.7 points per game and when you throw in blowout losses to Saint Louis and Murray State their record doesn’t look quite as impressive.

  • FG: 44.6%; 40th
  • 3P: 35.0%; 44th
  • FT: 73.7%; 101st
  • eFG%: 50.6%; 40th
  • 3P rate: 30.4%; 137th
  • FT rate: 16.9%; 154th

On the flipside of the coin, you could argue that, sure, they played a poor schedule, but they beat all of the teams they were supposed to and did so with some pretty impressive shooting numbers too. USI averaged 1.07 points per scoring attempt (38th best in the nation) and shot it at a 35% clip from deep on the year. Their defensive shooting numbers were also really good, but I do have a couple of questions.

  • Opp. FG: 36.3%; 17th
  • Opp. 3P: 29.0%; 64th
  • Opp. FT: 72.5%; 239th
  • Opp. eFG%: 41.9%; 36th
  • Opp. 3P rate: 33.9%; 327th
  • Opp. FT rate: 18.2%; 273rd

As far as I can tell the Screagles allow teams to shoot a bunch of threes and free throws but those teams just…miss them? The Badgers might not be the best team to take advantage of this, due to their poor long-range shooting, but if UW gets into the bonus regularly they could make USI pay at the free throw line.

  • Off. rebounds per game: 10.3; 242nd
  • Def. rebounds per game: 29.1; 20th
  • Total rebounds per game: 39.4; 47th
  • Opp. off. rebounds per game: 12.1; 257th
  • Opp. def. rebounds per game: 24.2; 129th
  • Opp. total rebounds per game: 36.3; 188th

USI collects a ton of defensive rebounds, but their rebounding rate is just average. They have some height, but Serah Williams should be able to control the glass to a certain extent. Their top rebounder is Vanessa Shafford (5-foot-9 guard) so Ronnie Porter and Sania Copeland are going to have to be active in boxing out.

  • Assists per game: 14.1; 106th
  • Turnovers per game: 16.1; 193rd
  • Steals per game: 6.7; 249th
  • Blocks per game: 2.7; 209th

Their rates for all these stats are average, to be honest. They don’t force a bunch of turnovers, which is good since Wisconsin women’s basketball has no problem committing their own turnovers, and they share the ball pretty well. I just don’t see a whole bunch here of interest.

Southern Indiana’s top players

  • Vanessa Shafford, 5-foot-9, guard: 29 games/29 starts (30.9 mpg); 14.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.3 spg, 0.4 bpg, 1.5 tov; 45.4% FG/38.6% 3P/79.6% FT
  • Meredith Raley, 6-foot-0, forward: 28/28 (25.0 mpg); 11.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.4 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.4 bpg, 2.3 tov; 45.6%/32.9%/80.2%
  • Madi Webb, 6-foot-2, forward/center: 29/29 (24.6 mpg); 11.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.4 spg, 0.5 bpg, 1.8 tov; 51.3%/25.0%/69.6%
  • Ali Saunders, 5-foot-10, guard: top three-point shooter at 43.0% (40-of-93) and assister at 3.8 per game

Wisconsin Badgers (13-16), Big Ten, 176th (Her Hoops Stats rank)

  • 61.9 ppg; 225th
  • 68.4 opp. ppg; 258th
  • -6.6 margin per game; 272nd
  • Opp. average win%: 55.7%; 63rd
  • Simple RPI: 52.6%; 126th

I’m not going to type up all of UW’s stats, but the areas where they can exploit USI are pretty clear. The Badgers need to be aggressive in going to the basket in order to draw fouls and get to the charity stripe. USI doesn’t force a lot of turnovers so Wisconsin women’s basketball needs to be careful with the rock and not shoot themselves in the foot (feet?). Williams also needs to be dominant on both sides of the court and it would be huge if Sania Copeland can put the clamps on Vanessa Shafford.


This is Wisconsin’s seventh appearance in the WNIT all-time and their first since 2011. UW actually won the 2000 WNIT Championship with a 75-74 win over the Florida Gators, so they have had success, historically, in this tournament.

Game information: Monday, March 25 at 7 p.m. CT; ESPN+; Screaming Eagles Arena; Evansville, Ind.

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Drew Hamm is a seasoned sports journalist with an extensive background in covering the Wisconsin Badgers. He has previously held positions as the site manager at Bucky's 5th Quarter and founder of Badgers Ball Knower. Currently, he contributes as a staff writer for BadgerNotes.com.

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