Georgia rallies in second half to beat Wisconsin | Sports

Georgia fought back from a 20-point deficit to improve to 6-0 – giving head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson the best start by a first-year Lady Bulldogs coach in program history.

Diamond Battles posted a game-high 24 points and Brittney Smith added 16 points for Georgia with Javyn Nicholson catching 14 rebounds.

Four players ended in double figures for the Badgers (3-3), who lost their second straight. Avery LaBarbera led with 16 points, Maty Wilke added 14 points, and Serah Williams and Brooke Schramek each had 10 points.

Wisconsin was in control for three quarters, turning a five-point lead after the first quarter (16-11) into a 10-point lead at halftime (33-23).

The Badgers then doubled their lead in the third quarter, going 55-35 with 1 minute, 58 seconds ahead of LaBarbera’s jumper. But Georgia ended the period with eight unanswered points and was 55-38 in the fourth quarter.

That was just the opening salvo in the Lady Bulldogs’ rally – they dropped 18 straight points in the fourth quarter to take the lead and finished the game with a 25-5 win over Wisconsin during that period.

Smith leveled the game at 55-all on her three-point game with 6:20 left, and Chloe Chapman’s layup 56 seconds later gave Georgia the lead to stay.

Diamond Battles, Georgia: The 5-foot-8 guard, one of three players transferred from central Florida when Abrahamson-Henderson left to take the Lady Bulldogs’ job, was the biggest factor in the comeback. She scored 19 points in the second half and ended up making 9 of 19 from the field (5 of 9 on 3 points).

Avery LaBarbera, Wisconsin: The 5-6 guard, who was Patriot League Player of the Year during her time at Holy Cross, tried to keep the Badgers in the game, scoring 12 of their 16 points in the last two quarters. She also had six rebounds and six assists.

• For three quarters, Georgia struggled to get the ball in the basket, shooting 16 of 51 from the field (31.4%) and 5 of 13 on three-pointers. As for Wisconsin, no such problems – 23 of 44 from the field (52.3%) and 7 of 16 on 3s. That changed in the fourth quarter when the Lady Bulldogs went on 9 of 16 (56.3%) and 2 of 4 on 3s while the Badgers held on 2 of 13 (15.4%) and 0 for 6 on 3s.

• Georgia also had 5 of 7 free throws in the quarter and 11 of 14 for the game; Wisconsin was a paltry 3-4 from the line for the game and 1-for-2 in the fourth.

• A big factor in the Lady Bulldogs’ victory was their second-half defense and scoring chances. After scoring just six points in 11 turnovers in Wisconsin in the first half, Georgia had 17 points from 12 TOs in the last two quarters. In comparison, the Badgers had 15 points fewer than nine turnovers in the first half and just four points fewer than seven TOs in the second half.

Wisconsin meets Seton Hall in Game 2 of the Island Division today at 2:00 p.m. while Georgia meets Virginia Commonwealth at 4:15 p.m. today.