Greg Anderson

Box Score

Rutgers RU 19-9, 7-7

Wisconsin WIS 9-18, 2-12

Rutgers RU

19-9, 7-7

Final

Feb. 14, 2018

Wisconsin WIS

9-18, 2-12

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Rutgers RU	9	14	18	22	63
Wisconsin WIS	17	11	9	13	50

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | February 14, 2018

Badgers can’t overcome Rutgers’ defense, 63-50

Howard leads Wisconsin with 12 points

MADISON, Wis. – Facing the Big Ten Conference's top defense, the Wisconsin women's basketball team struggled to find its scoring touch, falling to Rutgers, 63-50, on Wednesday night at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers (9-18, 2-12 B1G) jumped out to a 17-9 lead after the first quarter as they shot 53.8 percent (7-13) from the field in the opening stanza. Despite being outscored 14-11 by the Scarlet Knights (19-9, 7-7) in the second quarter, Wisconsin led 28-23 at the break.

Rutgers stepped up its game in the second half, outscoring Wisconsin 18-9 in the third period and 22-13 in the fourth quarter for a 40-22 advantage in the second half. The Scarlet Knight's defense held UW to 40.9 percent (18-44) field goal shooting, including just 26.7 percent (4-15) from 3-point range.

Wisconsin's offense was spread across the board, with only junior Marsha Howard finishing in double figures with 12 points. Sophomore Suzanne Gilreath added nine points while Courtney Fredrickson, Kendra Van Leeuwen and Cayla McMorris all chipped in seven points.

Rutgers shot 41.8 percent (23-55) from the field, outscoring Wisconsin 11-2 on the fastbreak and 38-13 off the bench.

The Badgers were limited in second-chance opportunities, losing the rebound battle, 37-25, with the Scarlet Knight pulling down 15 offensive boards compared to seven for UW. Fredrickson, Howard, McMorris and Niya Beverley all had four rebounds for Wisconsin.

Rutgers had 12 steals in the game, leading to 16 Wisconsin turnovers while RU gave up the ball 15 times.

Wednesday's game was the final home appearance for McMorris as well as senior Kendall Shaw, who sat out the game with a foot injury. Earlier this season, McMorris became just the 25th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark.

From the court

Head coach Jonathan Tsipis: "You have to be ready when a team is coming off of a loss to make some adjustments. Coach (C. Vivian) Stringer has been doing this at such a high level for so long, but I thought we got things in transition and we were attacking. We were getting shots in the post, getting Marsha (Howard) started early, but most importantly, defensively we were in a good space.

"In the second quarter, I felt Tyler Scaife got going a little bit. We were switching up defenses, but what I thought hurt us in the first half was their offensive rebounding and ability to get second-chance points. In the second half, we allowed too many negative plays, too many missed shots, turnovers and inability to make stops, which took away our confidence. You could see it in our body language, you could see it in the style we played and you could see Rutgers gain confidence from that. They scored 12 points off turnovers in the second half and they continued to increase the rebounding margin.

"And again Tyler Scaife does what a great player does; she's steady, she continued to get her shot and scored in a lot of different ways. I just wish we had that same intensity throughout all four quarters. Not looking at the score, but I thought we fought at a higher level and didn't allow some things that were uncontrollable to affect us on both ends of the floor."

Cayla McMorris on Rutgers: "Credit to Rutgers, they're a really good team. I feel like that's how they're coached to be really aggressive. Just personally, I didn't have my best game."

Kendra Van Leeuwen on the Big Ten: "The Big Ten is very aggressive. There are always going to be girls that are stronger, taller, and faster. Every single game, you have to step up to it and attack it, and give it your all. Especially tonight, Rutgers is a very aggressive team and they battled hard. I think every game, we need to battle."