In what seems to be a trend for Wisconsin basketball, the UW women’s basketball team lost another heartbreaker Thursday night at the Kohl Center, 52-51 against Purdue.
Despite holding an 11-point lead with 14:27 left in the second half, the Badgers (14-8, 4-7 Big Ten) were unable to hold on down the stretch, allowing the Boilermakers to come back from a 28-22 halftime deficit.
“It was a tough game,” Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone said. “Purdue is a very good team, and I think we definitely got their best shot. We’re right there, but there’s no time to pout because we have a game on Sunday.”
This was the second game in the past week in which the Badgers gave up a double-digit lead in the second half. Last Thursday, Penn State erased a 17-point deficit in defeating Wisconsin 58-56. The Badgers have lost three straight.
“These past couple games that we’ve lost have been right at our fingertips, and the fact that we can’t close them leaves a bad feeling in your gut,” sophomore guard Alyssa Karel said. “I think we have to use that feeling in our next game to fuel us.”
Leading 51-49, Wisconsin had a chance to ice the game with Rae Lin D’Alie at the line in a one-and-one situation with 33 seconds left. However, D’Alie missed the first and Purdue was able to pull down the rebound.
With less than 10 seconds remaining, Danielle Campbell found Purdue guard Brittany Rayburn all alone on the left wing. Her 3-pointer gave the Boilermakers their first lead since midway through the first half. This came after Campbell was able to corral an offensive rebound on her own miss on a night when Wisconsin gave up only four offensive rebounds.
“I could see that [Campbell] was going to get her own rebound and she was quadruple-teamed. I knew she was going to get the ball out to me,” Rayburn said. “No one was even close to me, and I just needed to knock down the shot.”
The Badgers did have a chance to win the game in the closing seconds, but Karel’s layup bounced out at the buzzer.
“There was only a few seconds left, so we were just trying to get up the floor as quick as possible,” Karel said. “I was just trying to close to the basket and I just threw it up there and it just didn’t go in.”
The Badgers were led by Karel and sophomore forward Lin Zastrow, who scored 15 and 12 points, respectively. Tara Steinbauer and D’Alie also chipped in seven points apiece. As a team however, Wisconsin shot only 39.2 percent for the game, including 34.6 percent in the second half.
The Badgers did improve in the turnover category, however, as they turned the ball over only 12 times — 10 fewer than against Michigan State last Sunday.
Despite its recent frustrations, Wisconsin was able to continue its Big Ten-best defense, holding Purdue — who averaged 65.2 points coming into this game — to only 52 points.
Purdue was led by Lakisha Freeman and Rayburn, who scored 13 and 11 points, respectively. As a team, the Boilermakers were able to shoot 47.5 percent and were also helped by 15 points off the bench to Wisconsin’s four.
Wisconsin was also hurt by poor free-throw shooting. The Badgers, who came into the game shooting 67.5 percent from the foul stripe, shot only 53.8 percent from the line on 7-of-13 shooting.
“This one probably stings the most,” Stone said. “We are right there. But we have to stay positive. It has to be something that boils our blood and makes us that much closer to getting it done the next time.”
UW has another quick turnaround this weekend with a game against Michigan Sunday at Crisler Arena. The Wolverines (9-12, 2-8 Big Ten) also lost Thursday, falling 52-44 to Ohio State at home, despite leading 37-34 in the second half.
