State Basketball Briefs: Badger women's hoops earn first conference win

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MADISON - The Wisconsin women’s basketball team won its first game over Ohio State in 12 years yesterday, 68-49 at the Kohl Center.

It ended a 20-game losing string to the Buckeyes. The Badgers also snapped a six-game overall skid, while getting their first Big Ten victory against five losses. Ohio State took a four-point lead at the break. But Morgan Paige tied the game for Wisconsin with a pair of three-pointers early in the second half. The Buckeye defense then keyed on Paige, while the rest of the Badgers’ offense got hot. They jumped out to an 11-point lead with just under 14 minutes left – and they slowly pulled away after that. Paige led the Badgers with 28 points, one shy of her career-best – and she made all 11 of her free throws. Jacki Gulczynski scored all 14 of her points in the second half. Cassie Rochel had all eight of her points after halftime. She also had career highs with 14 rebounds and five assists. The Badgers held the Big Ten’s leading scorer, Tayler Hill, to 16 points – five below her season average. The Buckeyes fell to 1-and-5 in the Big Ten – tied for last with the Badgers in the conference standings. Ohio State is now 11-8 overall. Wisconsin is 9-10, and will play at Iowa on Thursday night.

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Former Milwaukee Bucks’ guard Lindsey Hunter has been named the interim head coach of the Phoenix Suns. He takes over for Alvin Gentry, who parted ways with the team last Friday. That was a day after the Suns ended a 24-game home winning streak over the Bucks which dated back to 1987. Gentry led Phoenix to a 13-28 start this season, and his team missed the playoffs the last two seasons. Hunter joined the Suns this season as their player development coordinator. He previously held the same post with Chicago after a 17-year playing career in the NBA. Hunter helped Milwaukee get to within one game of the NBA Finals in 2001, averaging 10 points and three assists a game that year. As a player, Hunter averaged eight-and-a-half points and almost three assists with Detroit, Toronto, Chicago, and the Los Angeles Lakers as well as with the Bucks.

Tags: wisconsin sports, basketball, proam, badgers