PISCATAWAY, N.J. – A season-low shooting percentage stymied the Wisconsin women's basketball team as the Badgers lost 61-41 at Rutgers on Thursday night. The Badgers shot just 28.8 percent (15-of-52) from the field to score a season-low 41 points.
 
Wisconsin fell to 5-8 on the season and 1-2 in Big Ten Conference play.
 
"(Rutgers) did a nice job of staying in front of us and we just couldn't find the basket tonight," UW head coach Bobbie Kelsey said. "It was one of those nights where you're getting wide-open bunnies and you just can't make them.
 
"In the course of 30 games, you're going to have one where you can't explain why they're missing open shots. Against a team like this, you can't miss open shots, and we gave up 16 O (offensive) boards. They don't make their first one every time but if you don't box them out, they're going to make their second one."
 
After shooting 37 percent (10-of-27) in the first half, Wisconsin hit just 20 percent (5-of-25) in the second half. The Scarlet Knights connected on just 32.3 percent (10-of-31) of their shots in the first half but shot an impressive 48.6 percent (17-of-35) after halftime to outscore the Badgers 36-19 in the second half, including 17-6 in the fourth quarter.
 
Senior Dakota Whyte led UW with 14 points while senior Michala Johnson added 11. Rutgers had three players score in double figures, including 19 points from Kahleah Copper.
 
Copper picked up a double-double, adding a game-high 13 rebounds as the Scarlet Knights outrebounded the Badgers 43-35. Rutgers scored 15 second-chance points and outscored Wisconsin 18-0 in bench points.
 
Six points from Whyte helped the Badgers go up 11-2 with 3:10 to play in the first quarter but a 10-0 run gave the Scarlet Knights a 12-11 lead at the end of the first period. Rutgers extended its run to 15-0 to take a 17-11 lead with 6:46 left in the second quarter.
 
A 5-0 Wisconsin run, keyed by three points from Johnson, cut the lead to 17-16 with 5:34 to play in the first half. A layup by Cayla McMorris with 25 seconds remaining made the score 25-22 in favor of Rutgers at the break.
 
"We started the game very well but you have to keep that going and finish," Kelsey said. "They woke up and started to hit some shots."
 
The Scarlet Knights (11-4, 2-1) came out firing in the second half, hitting five of their first eight shots to go up 36-22 with 6:10 to go in the third period. The Badgers twice cut the lead to nine points, 44-35 at the end of the quarter and again at 46-37 with 8:49 to go. Six UW turnovers prevented Wisconsin from getting any closer.
 
"They are good shooters, pull-up jump shooters," Kelsey. "They made pretty much all of those, even with a hand in the face, they were hot.
 
"We had it to nine several times but it kind of got away from us at the end."
 
After only three turnovers in the first half, the Badgers finished the game with 13 turnovers while the Scarlet Knights had just four, the fewest by a UW opponent on the season.
 
"It's just one of those games where you don't have time to sulk about it," said Kelsey. "You just have to regroup. We have to play Penn State on Sunday. I'm going to see how we bounce back and what kind of mental toughness we have."
 
The Badgers return home to face Penn State on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Kohl Center. The game airs live on Big Ten Network.