The Wisconsin women’s basketball team dropped its inaugural matchup against Big Ten newcomer No. 24 Rutgers 73-63 Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center.

With 17:36 remaining in the game, the Badgers (7-10, 3-4 Big Ten) were down 10, but went on a 13-4 run to cut the Scarlet Knight lead to 43-32. UW junior guard Dakota Whyte had six points in that stretch, but 43-42 was the closest the Badgers would get.

On the ensuing Scarlet Knight (13-5, 4-3 Big Ten) possession, junior guard Cynthia Hernandez drilled her fourth of five three-pointers that started to pull away the Scarlet Knights for good. Another triple from Rutgers and a jumper from Whyte brought the score to 49-44, but that would be the closest Wisconsin would get for the final ten minutes.

Whyte, standing at just 5-foot-8, found success attacking Rutgers’ bigs, despite the height disadvantage. She finished with a team-high 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting.

“At the beginning of the game I was kind of thinking to attack to kick it because I know they have big girls in the post,” Whyte said. “So it wasn’t really my plan to keep attacking but I felt that once I got one, I can go again, and I just continued to do that.”

Hernandez was lethal off the bench from behind the arc for Rutgers. She was 5-for-6 from three-point range and along with Whyte, finished with a game-high 17 points.

UW head coach Bobbie Kelsey was proud of her team for competing hard with a program like Rutgers.

“Rutgers is a perennial powerhouse, they always get to NCAA tournament,” Kelsey said. “Their tradition is really strong and we’re trying to get to their level. But I thought our kids competed hard.”

While the final margin of victory wasn’t large, Rutgers dominated multiple facets of the game. The Rutgers bench outscored the Wisconsin bench 34-8. The Scarlet Knights grabbed 21 offensive rebounds compared to UW’s 11, which led to 19 second-chance points. They also had 15 fast break points, while UW had four.

Wisconsin turned the ball over 16 times against Rutgers’ full-court press, but Kelsey wasn’t too concerned with that.

“We’re not happy with 16 turnovers, but it’s a lot less than what we normally have, against teams that are a lot less athletic than them,” Kelsey said.

Neither team shot particularly well in the first half. Rutgers shot 33.3 percent (14-42) and Wisconsin shot 37 percent (10-27). Wisconsin was plagued by dismal three-point shooting, going 1-for-10 from downtown in the first half, and finished the game 3-for-15.

“Some of our shots didn’t fall,” Kelsey said. “If some of our shots fall, maybe we’re talking about something else.”

The Badgers didn’t trail for the first eight minutes and 30 seconds of the game, until Hernandez hit her first three of the afternoon to give the Scarlet Knights a 15-14 lead they wouldn’t surrender the rest of the game.

With 3:28 left in the half, the Scarlet Knights led 32-23, but the Badgers went on a 6-0 run before Hernandez hit a three at the buzzer to give the Scarlet Knights a 35-29 halftime lead.

Junior Tessa Cichy carried the offensive load for the Badgers in the first half, scoring eight of her ten points in the half, a majority of those points coming off mid-range jumpers.

For Cichy though, Wisconsin’s showing Sunday reiterated that it can play with any team.

“In our minds we can beat any type of team,” Cichy said. “Whether it’s a half-court team, a transition team, an athletic team, a big team. I think one of our issues right is putting wins back-to-back.”

“We know we can play with anybody. We know we can beat anybody.”

Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer was impressed with Wisconsin’s play.

“Coach [Kelsey] has done an outstanding job and the players are playing extremely well,” Stringer said.

“We don’t want to see them again.”

The Badgers will return to the court Thursday when they play host to Nebraska at the Kohl Center. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.