MADISON, Wis. – MADISON, Wis.—The Wisconsin women's basketball team dropped an in-state rivalry game to Green Bay, 55-46, Saturday at the Kress Center in Green Bay.
 
Wisconsin (7-3) started strong, jumping out to a 14-5 start, and leading Green Bay 16-11 after the first quarter. The Phoenix tied the game early in the second quarter, 16-16. From that point on it was a battle as the game featured eight ties and eight lead changes the rest of the way.
 
The Phoenix used a 6-0 run in the last 57 seconds of the third quarter to grab a 42-36 lead and never gave the lead up again. Down by 10, 48-38, the Badgers brought it back within four points, 48-44, with 4:25 left in the game by a huge 3-pointer from freshman Alex Luehring. But that was as close as they would get.
 
UW was led by senior Marsha Howard, who grabbed her fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 14 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Kelly Karlis also scored in double figures, adding 11 points all in the first half.
 
Both teams shot identical from the field, shooting 33 percent (19-57), but UW only connected 6-13 (46 percent) from the free-throw line while Green Bay shot 65 percent (13-20). UW also shot 2-13 (15 percent) from 3-point range as Green Bay connected 4-22 (18 percent).
 
Green Bay was led by Jen Wellnitz with 14 points and five rebounds, Frankie Wurtz with eight points and eight rebounds, and Madison Wolf taking down 12 boards.

 

3⃣🙌!! KARLIS AGAIN. She is on a ROLL.

WIS 23, GB 19 pic.twitter.com/anFUNN6ODP

— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerWBB) December 8, 2018

 

Fun Facts

• Senior Marsha Howard now has nine double-doubles in her career.
• Howard also tallied a season-high two steals
• Freshman Imani Lewis tied season-high with two blocks
• The Badgers were outrebounded for the third time this season as Green Bay finished with a 46-38 advantage in boards
• Wisconsin leads the all-time series 20-15 over Green Bay
   

Straight from the court with head coach Jonathan Tsipiss

"I thought rebounding is where we lost the game tonight. Obviously they made a huge shot to get the momentum at the end of the third, but I thought when we got it to four we were getting some stops, we weren't fouling, but then we gave up three straight possessions where they got second chance opportunities."
 
On the energy in the Kress Center
"I thought we did a good job, but I think there are times when we felt sorry for ourselves. In a game like this when you go possession by possession and allow a missed shot, missed defensive assignment, or missed box out, you can't let that carry over to the other side of the floor. They did a better job in the second half. I thought we started out getting the crowd out of it and I think it is a good learning tool. It is a great learning experience as we get further into non-conference play and hopefully we can learn from that going on the road in the Big Ten."

 

Next up

The Badgers return home Wednesday night continuing non-conference play against Chicago State. Tip time is 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center.