The Wisconsin women's basketball team came into Sunday's match up with Notre Dame hoping to take out some frustration after a disappointing loss to Marquette on Friday. They had no such luck in stopping the Fighting Irish as they lost a heartbreaker 77-72 in a game that came down to the final minute.
"I thought we played a very complete game we just didn't finish it, and [Notre Dame] knows how to win, " head coach Lisa Stone said after the game.
The Badgers had a chance, down just three points with 23 seconds to go. Notre Dame's Tulyah Gaines went to the line with a chance to ice it but missed her first shot in the one-and-one situation, which was then rebounded by Notre Dame's Breona Gray. Senior guard Megan Duffy was fouled afterwards and sank two free throws to seal the Badgers' fate. Duffy led all scorers with 20 points including six of six on free throws in the last 30 seconds of the game.
"No question I want the ball in my hands at the end of the game, Wisconsin had to foul at the end of the game and I was just thankful that the free throws went down," Duffy said.
Freshman center Caitlin Gibson earned her first start of the year thanks to numerous injuries to the Badgers frontline. The Jefferson native posted a career-high 12 points and five rebounds and really keyed the second half run.
The 5,455 in attendance were treated to a hard-fought game and really started to get into it when the Badgers took a 52-50 lead nearly seven minutes into the second half. The teams then proceeded to trade buckets back and forth as the Badgers had an answer for every Notre Dame make. With the score at 62-62, Notre Dame scored the next five points and took the lead for good as the Badgers suffered through a five-minute drought.
Jolene Anderson paced the Badgers with 16 points after struggling mightily from the field on Friday night. The Badgers had four players in double figures but it wasn't enough against the No. 11-ranked Fighting Irish.
"We are pretty happy right with being to come in here, it's a tough place to play the fans are great. It was loud and it was a great atmosphere," Notre dame head coach Muffet McGraw said.
The Badgers welcomed in-state rival Marquette to the Kohl Center Friday and it was Marquette coming out on top 71-59 in a foul-ridden battle. Marquette's defense, which was only allowing 52 points a game coming in, proved it was up to the test of slowing down Wisconsin's excellent backcourt of Anderson and Janese Banks. They were able to hold the duo to just 9-of-36 shooting with most of the scoring coming late in the second half.
"We wanted them to work extremely hard for their points. I felt like our team was always around them and always had a hand in their face," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said.
The rest of the Wisconsin team did not fare much better as UW finished the contest shooting just 31 percent from the field. UW's productivity from the free-throw line also proved costly as the Badgers missed 15-of-29 attempts in a 12-point loss. The Badgers inability to get in any kind of rhythm on offense was not helped by the 50 total fouls called on both teams.
"It was very hard to get into flow, a lot of stoppage of play and something we have to overcome. You can create offense from our defense and I really stuck that to the kids, that is how you can get into a flow," Stone said.
Marquette was led by Danielle Kamm, who had 16 points including 13 in the first half, as the Golden Eagles jumped out to a five-point lead at the break. Marquette came out in the second and extended their lead to as much as 20 late in the game. Wisconsin made a late run to make it respectable but could not handle the Golden Eagles' suffocating defense. The disappointing loss was one the Badgers would just as soon not repeat in the near future.
"This was one we wanted to win, we're disappointed in the loss and we as a staff are taking responsibility that we can get our team better prepared," Stone said.
