The UW women’s basketball team started its game against Iowa with hot shooting and solid play, but by the end the team was as cold as the winter’s air.
In the second half, the Badgers (7-18, 5-9) were shutdown by Iowa’s (14-11, 6-8) defensive intensity and domination around the hoop as the Hawkeyes surged to a 76-59 victory in Madison.
“This game was very similar to the game we played down in Iowa as far as the way we closed out the game,” UW head coach Jane Albright said. “I thought we did some really nice things early; we were able to get an 8-point lead and had a lot of emotion.”
The game started with a slow pace as both teams turned the ball over on their first possession. Iowa broke the scoreless tie with a Tracy Schrupp layup on an assist from all-Big Ten candidate Jenni Lillis. Lello Gebisa hit a tough left-handed hook in the lane for the Badgers to knot the score at 2.
The game’s speed and scoring soon picked up as Badgers’ guard Stephanie Rich stole the ball and went coast to coast to tie the game at 6 with 16 minutes left in the first half.
Kristi Faulkner, who scored 20 points in the first contest, hit back-to-back 3-pointers on her way to tying a career-high with 29 points.
“She really is a very, very quick guard, and she is hard to guard,” Albright said.
UW tried to keep pace in the first half led by the play of Rich, who ripped off the Badgers’ next 9 points on several nice moves and a 3-pointer that cut the score to 21-26. “Stephanie Rich was outstanding this game,” Hawkeye head coach Lisa Bluder said.
With 6:39 left in the first half and the Badgers down 28-33, the Badgers switched to a 2-3 zone defense and kept the Iowa offense off balance, holding the Hawkeyes scoreless for the next four minutes. During that time Rich nailed a 3-pointer, Kristi Seeger (who tied a career high with 16 points in her final game at the Kohl Center) added a layup, and Emily Ashbaugh and Lello Gebisa added layups to give Wisconsin a 34-33 lead. The lead did not last for long; Kristine Faulkner hit another 3-pointer for Iowa, and the half ended with the Hawkeyes up 39-35.
UW came out fired up in the second half as Kristi Seeger scored 6 straight points for the Badgers, who pulled ahead 43-40. Rich added a layup and a 3-pointer to give UW a 48-43 lead. Unfortunately for Wisconsin, that 3-pointer with 15:11 left would give Rich her final points of the game: She finished with 21.
Wisconsin extended its lead to 52-46 before Faulkner drilled two more 3-pointers and found Jamie Cavey under the hoop for a layup to tie the game at 57 with eight minutes left. The intense defense from Iowa held Wisconsin scoreless over the next three minutes, until Gebisa scored on a layup to pull Wisconsin within five points, 59-64. The Badgers, however, did not score for the final 4:52 of the game and Iowa added 12 more points, coming largely from the free-throw line.
Three Wisconsin seniors closed out their careers at the Kohl Center Sunday with applause from the Badger faithful. Guard Leah Hefte scored 2 points and added a steal; forward Kristi Seeger tied a career high with 16 points and added 9 rebounds and 4 assists, and guard/forward Jessica Liegel had a jumper rattle in and out in her final game at the Kohl Center.
Rich’s 21 points and five steals led the Badger offensive against the Hawkeyes. She was followed in scoring by Seeger and Lello Gebisa, who each added 10 points. The Badgers collected a season-low 24 rebounds, led by Seeger’s nine. Iowa was led by Faulkner’s 29 points and Jennie Lillis’s 15.
Wisconsin’s next two games will be on the road as the Badgers travel to Minnesota and Penn State to close out the Big Ten season.