There were two somewhat unexpected, though not totally surprising, results in the Big 10 yesterday.

Former Boiler and first year Indiana coach Sharon Versyp had a successful return visit to Mackey Arena in the Hoosier's 63-61 overtime win. While this snapped Purdue's six game win streak against Indiana, the games have been closely contested. This was the third straight time the rivals went to overtime to decide the outcome.

While Katie Gearlds had a career high 32 points, Cyndi Valentin hit a three pointer with five seconds left in regulation to tie the game and hit the game winning free throws in overtime.

Even though the Boilers had a run of 17-2 during the game and led by eight points at one point in the second half, they struggled against Indiana's zone defense. "I would have to say we were being passive," said Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton. "We didn't start being more aggressive until late. By then, maybe it was too late."

The foul on Valentin at the end of the overtime that sent her to the line was also critical. Coach Kristy Curry takes the blame for the loss. "I told the kids, 'Let's understand that coaches win close games,' " Curry said. "I should have done a better job down the stretch -- getting us to be more aggressive, getting us to get shots to go down. . . . We were too passive." Curry called the last foul "a poor decision, but it shouldn't have come down to that."

Over in Madison, Wisconsin took advantage of foul trouble to Jamie Broback and Natasha Williams to climb back from a 14 point deficit in the first half and handed the Gophers their fourth consecutive loss, in a 67-61 win before a season high crowd of 14,697. It was the first career win over the Gophers for the Badger seniors and the program's first win over a AP Top 25 team since Lisa Stone took over as coach.

Gopher Coach Borton inserted Kelly Roysland in the starting line up in place of April Calhoun, in hopes of helping the team over their recent slump. It appeared to work early as they built an 8-0 lead and hit shots inside and out. Broback scored nine points straight in less than three minutes in the first half, but also picked up two fouls that sent her to the bench.

The Badgers used a 12-0 run while Broback was on the bench to close the half and trailed 29-27. The second half remained close, but the Gophers maintained the lead until the 8:29 mark when the Badgers took their first lead. Both Broback and Williams were on the bench for extended minutes with four fouls as Wisconsin took control and led 59-54 on a pair of driving lay-ups by Jolene Anderson.

The Gophers responded and tied the game at 61, with 1:20 remaining on a Broback lay-up, but failed to score the rest of the game. The Badgers scored 40 points in the second half, led by 18 from Janese Banks. Danielle Ward added 10 points, including a critical finish on a high-low pass from Jordan Wilson in the final minute of the game.

Stone summed it up, “We’re playing good basketball right now. What confidence, composure, and great chemistry do for you is immeasurable."