Badgers falter on offense

The Wisconsin women’s basketball team had its lowest offensive output of the season and lost to No. 25 Ohio State 63-40 in Columbus Sunday afternoon. The Badgers drop to 6-16 overall and 4-7 in the conference. Ohio State improves to 17-5 and remains in the third place in the Big Ten with an 8-3 record.

Wisconsin started off with good defense and strong inside play, taking an 11-6 lead after four minutes of action. OSU responded emphatically with a 20-2 run over the next eight minutes to take control of the game 26-13 with 8:10 showing on the clock. The Buckeyes, capitalizing on seven Badger miscues, scored 16 unanswered points during the surge.

Jordan Wilson broke a six-minute scoring lull for the Badgers with an offensive rebound and put-back at the 7:15 mark, but that was one of only two field goals the Badgers tallied over the final 13 minutes of the opening stanza. Ohio State took a comfortable 32-17 lead into the locker room.

OSU extended its lead to 20 points, 40-20, early in the second half, but the scrappy Badgers responded with an 11-0 run to claw back to within 9 points, 40-31 with 13:22 left to play. UW’s zone defense bothered the Buckeyes, who managed only two baskets over that first seven minutes of the final frame.

Ohio State’s Caity Matter, who led all scorers with 17 points, spoiled the Badgers’ comeback bid with back-to-back 3-pointers that fueled a decisive 10-2 run to put OSU back up 50-33 with only eight minutes left to play. UW could not get much closer the rest of the way and managed only two buckets over the last six minutes of the game.

“Their zone is filled with a lot of quickness and speed, and they don’t give you a lot of holes,” Wisconsin head coach Jane Albright said. “When they give you an opportunity, it’s only for a split second, and you have to capitalize on it with a quick decision. Sometimes we just weren’t ready to shoot the ball. We can go back and work on our shooting percentage, but first we have to take the shots.”

Emily Ashbaugh was the only Badger in double figures, with 11 points to go along with six rebounds, while Kristi Seeger contributed 9 points and six rebounds. Stephanie Rich finished with 8 points and five assists, and Wilson came off of the bench to grab a career-high six rebounds.

OSU’s Matter made five of her 10 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc to capture game-high scoring honors. Center Courtney Coleman just missed a double-double for the Buckeyes with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

— compiled from staff reports