MADISON, Wis. – Maintaining a two-point lead with five seconds to go, freshman Kendra Van Leeuwen hit the game-clinching shot, giving the Wisconsin women's basketball team a 59-55 victory over Illinois Wednesday night at the Kohl Center. The guard drove the lane, floating the ball up and in just as the shot clock expired, to give the Badgers their third-straight home win.
 
It took a few minutes for the the Badgers (8-20, 3-12 Big Ten) to find their grove at the beginning of the game, but things started to go their way late in the first quarter. Avyanna Young hit a layup for her 1000th career point with 3:53 left in the quarter, kicking off a 7-0 UW run. A Courtney Fredrickson jumper capped the run, putting the Badgers up 11-7 with 2:06 to go. Fredrickson added a shot from behind the arc to give Wisconsin a 15-11 lead after one.
 
Illinois (8-20, 3-12) kept things close in the second quarter, but an 8-0 run in the final 3:41 gave the Badgers a 26-18 lead at halftime.
 
Picking off right where it left off, Wisconsin scored the first two points 12 seconds into the third on a Marsha Howard jumper. Illinois stole the show the rest of the quarter, shooting 61.5 percent (8-13), taking a 39-38 lead heading into the final frame.
 
Free throws were key for the Badgers in the fourth period, as they struggled from the field shooting 35.7 percent (5-14) but making 11-14 (78.6 percent) from the line.
 
Illini stayed within striking distance the entire fourth period. Malayna Johnson made a key jumper with 4:27 to play, scoring just as the shot clock went off, to put Wisconsin up 51-47.  The Illini cut it to one (53-52) as Brandi Beasley converted on an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:16 remaining.  Wisconsin went 4-6 from the free-throw line to lead 57-53 with just over a minute to go before Illinois made 3-4 from the charity stripe to cut it to 57-55 with 35 seconds left. Wisconsin took nearly the entire 30 seconds off the clock before Van Leeuwen scored her jumper.
 
NOTES TO KNOW

• Wisconsin won back-to-back games for the first time this season. UW also won their last three home Big Ten games.
• The Badgers surpassed last season's win total (7) with tonight's victory (8). Wisconsin also equaled last season's Big Ten win total (3).
• UW won its second-straight game from the free-throw line. Wisconsin went 19-28 (67.9%) from the charity stripe, including 11-14 (78.6%) in the fourth quarter. Illinois was just 8-15 (53.3%) from the line.
• Wisconsin had 16 turnovers, its fewest since giving the ball up 15 times vs. Nebraska on Feb. 9.
• The Badgers outrebounded the Illini 43-36, the first time outrebounding a team in three games.
• UW's bench outscored Illinois 28-9, the 13th opponent this season it has outscored by 10-or-more points.
• Head coach Jonathan Tsipis won his 100th career game. The first-year Badger mentor is 100-68 in his fifth year as a head coach.
• Redshirt senior Avyanna Young scored her 1000th career point with 3:43 left in the first quarter to make the score 7-6 in favor of Illinois. The 6-1 forward finished with six points.
• Freshman Courtney Fredrickson tied career highs from the free-throw line, shooting 5-6. The 6-2 forward also made 5-6 vs. Saint Francis on Nov. 13, 2016.
• Freshman Suzanne Gilreath continued her 3-point streak, scoring at least one trey in 20 straight games. She leads the Badgers with 55 triples on the season.

THEY SAID IT
"We found a way. I thought we did a great job to start the second half, and then all of a sudden we were back on our heels a little bit struggling to score. We gave up 21 points and let a team shoot 62 percent in the third quarter. But when the team sat down and talked, it was 1-0. We were down 1-0 to start the last 10 minutes and continued to be aggressive in the fourth quarter. It's two games in a row where we've been able to finish games by getting to the free-throw line. It was great."
    -Head coach Jonathan Tsipis 

"It's a tight game and when you're in the moment it just comes naturally. When I got the opportunity to take it at the end with the ball in my hands, it was just natural."
    -Freshman Kendra Van Leeuwen 

"Opportunity. It's been an opportunity that I never imagined I would have had and I'm so thankful and blessed to be at such an elite college playing this type of basketball. This is different than the Horizon League, it's much more aggressive and once again it's a better opportunity so if I want to do something in basketball afterwards, I maybe could. But just being at Wisconsin has meant so much to me. I'm just so thankful and blessed to say that I represented Wisconsin."
    -Senior Avyanna Young 

WHAT'S NEXT
Wisconsin closes out the regular season at Iowa (16-12, 7-8) Saturday. Tip-off at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, is set for 2 p.m.