It was a battle of two-loss teams Wednesday night, when the 8-2 Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team traveled to Indianapolis to take on the 9-2 Butler Bulldogs.
Since Austin Parkinson took over as Head Coach, the Bulldogs have seen steady growth, improving their record each year, but this season has seen the team explode into the best start since 2018-19 and the third best winning percentage in the Big East.
They opened the game against the Badgers on an 18-2 run and didn’t look back in the first half. Both teams shot almost identical from the field at 40%, but what separated the Bulldogs from the Badgers was three-point shooting (Butler shot 46% compared to Wisconsin’s 0-4), along with assists, which the Bulldogs had 10 compared to Wisconsin’s 3, giving Butler a 33-24 lead at halftime.
The second half saw Wisconsin starting to chip away at the Bulldog lead, turning up the defense, drawing charges, and slowly making their way back into the game, forcing the game to head into overtime, neither team willing to fall to three losses.
Overtime was a physical period, with both teams’ emotions starting to take over, tasting victory, each splitting the stat line almost identically in rebounds, field goal %, assists and free throw %.
It was a battle of defense in overtime, both teams forcing the other into traveling violations with under 10 seconds to play, forcing double overtime, which saw the Badgers take the final advantage off two big shots to take a six-point lead and never look back, winning the game 71-64 in double overtime.
-Reggie Edwards
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