The venue may have changed, but the results were similar.
The Wisconsin GLO remained the lone unbeaten in the Global Women’s Basketball Association with a 107-70 rout over the St. Louis Surge in a pivotal league matchup Saturday, June 15 in St. Louis, Missouri.
The GLO (6-0, 3-0 GWBA) downed the Surge (1-2, 1-2) by a 92-66 score in their first meeting during the league opener May 18 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin, which never trailed during the first meeting between the teams, built a 62-35 cushion at halftime of Saturday’s highly anticipated rematch before going on to lead by as many as 41 points during the fourth quarter. The GLO later surpassed the century mark for the first time in team history on a Mehryn Kraker 3-pointer that upped their lead to 101-60 with 4:50 left in the game.
The GLO finished the game shooting 65.7 percent from the field, 50 percent from 3-point range and 87.5 percent at the free throw line. Wisconsin also outrebounded St. Louis, 39-29, and collected 23 assists on 44 made field goals.
Jolene Anderson led all players with 25 points and grabbed a team-best five rebounds for the GLO, who are scoring 91.8 points per game on the year and winning by an average of 37.7 points in the franchise’s debut season. Anderson shot 11 of 16 from the floor on the way to scoring the most points by a member of the GLO this season despite not playing in the final period Saturday.
Taylor Wurtz, the GLO’s leading scorer entering the day at 19.5 points per contest, added 19 Saturday while Julie Wojta had 13 in her second game with the team. Wurtz went 6-for-10 from the field overall and 4-for-6 from beyond the arc.
Ten players contributed points for Wisconsin, including Allie LeClaire and Sam Logic with nine apiece, Kraker with eight and Gaby Bronson with seven. LeClaire dished out a game-high five assists while Logic collected three steals.
Wisconsin reclaimed the lead for good at 6-4 in Saturday’s rematch following a 3-pointer from Anderson early in the first quarter. A LeClaire 3-pointer extended the GLO advantage to 20-11 less than six minutes into the game and a layup by Steph Kostowicz – the seventh GLO player to score in the opening period – provided Wisconsin a 31-20 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The GLO maintained a double-digit lead after an Anderson basket in the paint upped their advantage to 35-25 early in the second quarter. The layup sparked a string of 12 unanswered GLO points that included a three-point play by Wurtz before Anderson capped the run with a 3-pointer for a 45-25 lead.
Leading 51-33 late in the second period, the GLO ended the first half with an 11-2 run that featured five points by Wurtz and two each from Anderson, Wojta and Kelly Moten.
Anderson then poured in nine more points during the third quarter as the GLO extended their cushion to 88-52 entering the final period. Wisconsin led by at least 33 points for the entire fourth quarter.
Mikayla Bell paced five Surge double-digit scorers with 13 points off the bench. Nakiah Bell, Kristi Bellock, Nici Gilday and reigning GWBA Player of the Week Rebecca Harris each added 11 points for St. Louis.
The GLO return home to host the Indianapolis Bandits for a nonleague game Sunday, June 16. The opening tip is set for 3 p.m. at Menominee Nation Arena in Oshkosh.