Serah Williams records double-double, Wisconsin women’s basketball outlasts Minnesota

MADISON – Wisconsin women’s basketball coach Marisa Moseley didn’t hesitate when she was recently asked if Serah Williams is one of the best post players in the country.

“I said absolutely,” Moseley said. “She continues to show that and I think we’re just scratching the surface of what she is capable of doing.”

The 6-foot-4 sophomore proved her worth again Tuesday night by setting the tone for a 59-56 victory over Minnesota in front of 4,191 at the Kohl Center.

Williams posted her fifth straight double-double and eighth of the season with 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Badgers out of a three-game losing streak. How she accumulated those numbers was impressive.

She opened the game with six points and eight rebounds in the first quarter with four points and six boards during the first 4½ minutes. Her work provided a much-needed jump start for a team that was coming off a string of disappointing showings in the three previous games.

And in the fourth quarter Williams had a hand in the Badgers’ final 13 points. She had 10 points during that run, including a three-pointer to give UW a 53-52 lead with 3 minutes 29 seconds to play. Her dish to freshman Tessa Grady in the corner for a three-pointer pushed the Badgers’ advantage to 58-54 with 1:48 remaining.

 Williams’ play helped the Badgers (9-9, 2-6) beat the Golden Gophers for the third straight time.

“It feels good to get a win,” Williams said. “Coach tells us all the time to remember this feeling so that we don’t have to remember what losing feels like. We practiced really hard the last couple of days and the energy from the start, from warmups was great, better than our opponent and I think that gave us the momentum and confidence to play.”

The victory raised UW’s record to 9-9 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten. Here is how the Badgers did it.

Wisconsin’s defense was up to the challenge

After struggling against Iowa last week, the Badgers’ defense had bite Tuesday. It held Minnesota to a 33.8% shooting, the lowest for a Badgers’ Big Ten opponent this season. The Golden Gophers were shooting 40.4% entering play.

Freshman Grace Grocholski, a graduate Kettle Moraine High School, led Minnesota with 13 points. Sophomore Mara Braun, the team’s leading scorer at 18.9 points per game, tied a season low with nine points and missed 10 of 13 shots as Badgers sophomore Sania Copeland spent most of the night hounding her.

Down the stretch, Wisconsin allowed just one basket during the final 3 minutes, a run of six possessions.

Minnesota’s last gasp, was an off-balance three-point attempt by Braun that she took with Copeland in her face with 4 seconds left.

“When we watched our Iowa film and we talked about how talked about how that ended, we knew we were a better defensive team than that,“ Moseley said. “We knew we were capable of playing better team defense than that, so the challenge was how will we respond. … We had an opportunity to respond tonight and I think they did an excellent job of really answering that bell.”

Tessa Grady’s leads run of key three-pointers

Wisconsin’s 25.9% shooting from three-point range wasn’t off the charts, but the buckets came at key moments.

Grady’s two second quarter threes were a big reason UW led, 26-24, at the half. In the third quarter she hit twice more from long range, pushing the Badgers lead to nine and later a game-high 10 points, 42-32, with 2:22 to go in the quarter.

And in the fourth, Williams’s three from the wing gave the Badgers a one-point edge with 3½ minutes to go. Two possessions later she kicked out to Grady for a corner three that gave the Badgers a four-point advantage with 1:48 left..

“We stepped up and made big threes when we needed to and that is something we’ve continued to talk about …,” Moseley said. “They were incredibly timely and I’m happy they happened when they did.”

Wisconsin cleaned the glass in the second half

The Badgers allowed nine offensive rebounds in the first half but just three in the second half when they owned a 21-10 edge on the boards overall. The combination of the team’s defense and its ability to end of the stop with a rebound resulted in just four second-chance points for the Gophers in the second half.

Minnesota’s 10 second-chance points for the game were the second lowest allowed by the Badgers in Big Ten play. The lowest (seven) came in UW’s win over Illinois.