More from Lisa Stone

University of Wisconsin women’s basketball coach Lisa Stone was back in Eau Claire on Thursday afternoon along with a number of other Badgers coaches as part of the university’s statewide Badger Days tour.
Stone coached at UW-Eau Claire from 1988-89 to 1999-2000, going 277-59 (.824) and taking the Blugolds to the NCAA Division III tournament in all 11 seasons. To read about her ongoing connection with the Eau Claire community, click here.
Below are her thoughts on the approaching season for her Badgers. It’ll be Stone’s sixth. Last season, the Badgers went 16-14 overall, 9-9 in the Big Ten Conference and bowed out in the second round of the Women’s National Basketball Invitational.

On what she expects from her team next season. Keep in mind she will be without Jolene Anderson, UW’s all-time leading scorer — men or women. Anderson graduated and was drafted 23rd overall by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun.
“The biggest question mark might be, ‘What do you do without Jolene Anderson?’ Well, you know what? We have a very excited group of people coming back that are going to have to pick up some scoring for her but a great freshman class coming in. Just hired two new assistants, and we’re real excited about that. There’s great energy, passion. Our kids are really excited about next year.”

On the May 1 hiring of assistant coach Kathi Bennett, the daughter of former UW men’s basketball coach Dick Bennett. She was the head coach at UW-Oshkosh from 1989-90 to 1995-96, and she coached against Stone in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
“She knows what I need from assistants. To partner with somebody that you went head-to-head with ... When I played against Kathi and she played against me, we brought the best out of each other, and that’s what you’re seeing in the office. It’s great passion, great energy. We’ve already been to talk to Dick Bennett already himself. I’m real excited about the additions of the staff, our news kids coming in and the bright future for our program.”

-Justin Harings