In front of 11,428 fans at the Kohl Center Sunday for their Breast Cancer Awareness game, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team couldn’t keep pace with a high-powered Iowa scoring attack, dropping its fifth straight game at home, 87-75.

The opening minutes looked promising for the Badgers (8-14 overall, 4-8 Big Ten), putting on a scoring clinic as they hit nine of their first 12 shots from the floor, including a 3-3 start from the three-point line.

Wisconsin guard Tessa Cichy hit her third straight shot and second straight jumper with 13:38 left in the half to put the Badgers up by nine points, their biggest lead of the night at 21-12. No. 16 Iowa (19-4, 10-2 Big Ten) wasn’t fazed, and with the support of a large traveling Hawkeye fan base, shifted the momentum of the game behind the efforts of Bethany Doolittle, Ally Disterhoft and Samantha Logic. The three combined for 65 points by the end of the day, accounting for 75 percent of the team’s total scoring.

With a combination of effective free throw shooting, a dominant inside attack and a 3-20 stretch from the field to close the half from Wisconsin, Iowa slowly chipped away at the Badgers’ lead until a jumper by Logic, with 5:42 left in the half, evened the score at 30 apiece.

Continuing its momentum into the final buzzer of the first half, Iowa went into intermission with a 42-38 lead after outscoring Wisconsin by 14 in the final 13-plus minutes.

Despite going just 1-4 in three point shooting, Iowa’s head coach Lisa Bluder credited the team’s interior play for their consistency on offense all game, namely guard Melissa Dixon for demanding the defense’s attention and giving other players open looks. Overall, the Hawkeyes outscored the Badgers 46-26 in the paint.

“We always go into a game not thinking we’re going to get paint points or we’re going to do this,” Bluder said. “We see what’s there and we take advantage of what’s there. I think today they opened up the inside because of the concentration on Melissa. So be it. We’ll take the rim.”

While the second half began with a very manageable deficit for Wisconsin, the opening series of possessions consisted of two made-jumpers by Iowa and two turnovers by Wisconsin, setting the tone for a dominating 16-2 Hawkeye run in the first five minutes that dug Wisconsin a 61-40 hole.

Despite actually outscoring Iowa 73-71 in the other 35 minutes of the game, forward Jacki Gulcynski emphasized how Wisconsin’s breakdowns are detrimental toward reaching their full potential as a team.

Taking full advantage of a weak interior defense, Iowa guard Samantha Logic carved Wisconsin up for 30 points, including 20 in the second half to put the game away.

With 8:44 left to play, a jumper by Doolittle, who was also a factor defensively with three blocks, gave Iowa a game-high 25 point lead as the Hawkeyes cruised, subbing out most of their starters in the final minutes, to the 12-point victory.

Wisconsin’s struggles on defense spoiled commendable performances from Cichy and Gulczynski. With a team-high eight rebounds to complement her 20 points, Cichy used a mid-range jumper throughout the game to knock down eight of her 13 shots as she played all 40 minutes. Gulczynski, on the other hand, was lethal from behind the three-point line, hitting four of her seven attempts while the rest of the team was just three for 10 combined.

An effective offense being overshadowed by a porous defense has been a theme for Wisconsin lately, as they shot above 42 percent for the seventh straight game, but also gave up more than 70 points in five of their past six contests.

While Wisconsin head coach Bobbie Kelsey believed more adjustments could have been made to give the Badgers a better chance to win, she also praised Iowa as a top-tier opponent.

“Very disappointed that we could not finish out the game a little bit stronger,” Kelsey said. “In that second half, we just kind of let it get away from us a little bit … a lot actually. Probably should’ve made that adjustment to the zone a little bit sooner, but they hit some tough shots and some ones that we probably could’ve stopped, but we just had trouble with that. Credit them, they’re an NCAA team and they’re 19-4 for a reason.”

The Badgers will hit the road for their next two games, first traveling to Minnesota for a Wednesday, Feb. 11 matchup starting at 8 p.m., and then to Nebraska next Sunday, Feb. 15 with tipoff at 2 p.m.