Rarely this season has the Madison College women's basketball team found itself trailing after one quarter of action, but behind in-state rival Milwaukee Area Technical College on the scoreboard, the #1 WolfPack flipped the switch with a commanding 28-10 second quarter en route to an 80-69 win Wednesday at Redsten Gym in Madison. The outcome dropped the two teams into a second place tie in the North Central Community College Conference standings with 3-1 records, both a half-game back of #4 Rock Valley College at 4-1.

Trailing 21-20 two minutes and 17 seconds into the second quarter, Madison College (18-1) rattled off a 14-0 run powered by two 3-pointers from sophomore sharpshooter Jenna Endres. By the end of the half the 'Pack led by 14, an advantage they would stretch to as high 23 points with a score of 66-43 at the 7:09 mark in the fourth quarter. The Stormers (11-8) put up a nice fight down the stretch after a converted three-pointer made it a two possession game with 66 seconds to play and Madison College clinging to a 73-67 lead. From that point on the WolfPack hit 7-of-8 free throws to seal the win.

Madison College faced its biggest adversity in the first quarter when All-America guard Taylor Nelson left the game with an apparent leg injury. The sophomore standout from Monona Grove, who is averaging 12.8 points and 5.0 assists per game and coming off a 26-point outing against Triton College, did not return. As a result, 5-foot-11 freshman Rachel Slaney handled a new role as the primary ball handler. Slaney struggled to score, putting up just three points on 1-for 14 shooting overall and 0-for4 from distance. 

The reserves stepped up in a big way with a 43-9 advantage in bench scoring. Sophomore Kaitlyn Kast registered five points and a team-leading eight assists while playing a season-high 29 minutes and helping run the offense. Also off the bench, forwards Anna Bunyan and Addison Hemming each enjoyed their best game of the season. Bunyan, a sophomore transfer from UW-Stout and a Middleton native, tallied a season-high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds in 20 minutes of action. Hemming, a fellow sophomore from Portage, converted 4-of-5 attempts and 3-of-5 free throws for her career-high 11 points. Adding to the bench total was a nine-point day for Carly Johnson, who entered the game and promptly hit all three of her three-point attempts. 

Jenna Endres paced all the WolfPack with 18 points on 5-for-14 shooting from beyond the arc, plus three free throws. It's the ninth game this season Endres has hit four or more three-pointers. Fellow starters Mandi Sargent and Megan Petty each had eight points, with Sargent grabbing a team-high 14 rebounds to help give the hometeam a 50-31 advantage on the boards.

Following back-to-back home wins, Madison College hits the road for three games starting Saturday, January 23 at N4C foe Joliet Junior College (11-8, 2-2). Since the two teams became conference opponents in 2009-10, the WolfPack have won eight of 14 meetings, but are 3-4 in games played in Joliet, Illinois. Tip is set for 1:00 p.m.