INSIDE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
BY DIANE NORDSTROM
@BadgerWBBall
SCHEDULE (11-18, 3-13)
Last Five
Feb. 14
Feb. 18
Feb. 23
Feb. 28
Mar. 3
#18 Purdue
at Illinois
at Northwestern
#20 Nebraska
at Michigan State
L, 48-58
L, 53-60
L, 52-54
L, 53-55
L, 48-54
This Week
Thursday vs. Illinois
2 p.m.
at Big Ten Tournament
Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Paige, Gulczynski honored
Badgers wrap up season
at Big Ten tournament
Wisconsin faces Illinois in first round
A
tough season will come
to an end this week as
the 11th-seeded Badgers face
No. 6 seed Illinois in the first
round of the 19th-annual Big
Ten Tournament on Thursday.
Wisconsin has been playing
with only nine players since
mid-December and the heavy
minutes are taking a toll on
the team.
56 » VARSITY
MAR CH 7, 2013
The Badgers have lost their
last five games, but have been
within three points with less
than four minutes to play in
three of those losses. UW has
been outscored 41-28 over the
last five minutes of play in its
last five games, including a
13-3 rally by then-No. 18 Purdue and a 7-2 advantage by
then-No. 20 Nebraska.
» Junior Morgan Paige was named
third-team All-Big Ten by league
coaches and media, while sophomore Jacki Gulczynski was a consensus honorable mention pick.
Paige, a 5-foot-9 guard, ranks
sixth in the Big Ten at 16.1 points per
game. She has scored in double figures in 25 of 29 games this season,
including eight games with 20 or
more points. The Marion, Iowa, native scored a career-high 33 points
in leading Wisconsin to an upset of
No. 7 Penn State on Jan. 31. Paige
has been UW's leading scorer in 18
games this season.
Gulczynski, a 6-1 forward, is one
of only three sophomores on the
coaches' honor squad. She ranks
second on the team at 12.6 points
per game, with her average going up
to 14.6 points per game in Big Ten
play. The Carol Stream, Ill., native is
also one of the team's top rebounders, averaging 5.9 boards per game.
Gulczynski was also named the
team's Sportsmanship Award recipient for displaying positive sportsmanship.