IOWA CITY, Iowa – A slow start against an explosive Iowa offense doomed the Wisconsin women's basketball team on the road, falling at Iowa, 88-61, on Sunday afternoon in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. 

Despite outscoring Iowa, 23-17 in the fourth period, Wisconsin's early deficit was too much to overcome. 

The Badgers (9-19, 2-13 B1G) fell down early, 23-13, after the first quarter as they were limited to 38 percent (6-16) from the field in the opening quarter of play.

Wisconsin's scoring woes didn't improve to close the half, as the Badgers shot 4-14 (28.5 percent) from the field in the second quarter. The Badgers went on two long scoring droughts in the quarter, failing to score for nearly three minutes early in the period and allowing the Hawkeyes (21-6, 9-5) to go on a 10-0 run over the last 3:31 of the opening half.

The Badgers ran into foul trouble in the third quarter with Abby Laszewski and Marsha Howard both picking up their fourth fouls. With Kendall Shaw out with an injury, Wisconsin's play was limited under the basket as UW was outscored, 46-26, in the paint for the game.

Senior Cayla McMorris knocked down 14 points and 11 rebounds to get her fifth career double-double. The guard also tied her career best with four steals.

Sophomore Suzanne Gilreath added 13 points while Howard chipped in 12 points, despite fouling out with 8:32 to play in the game.

Wisconsin shot 38.5 percent (25-65) from the field for the game, including 39.2 (7-24) from 3-point range. Iowa shot an opponent season-high 57.9 percent (33-59) for the game, including 46.2 percent (6-13) from behind the arc.

The Badgers were out-rebounded 44-29 on the game, and committed 17 turnovers to Iowa's 18.

Wisconsin committed 18 fouls in the loss, allowing Iowa to shoot 16-22 (72.7 percent) from the charity stripe. Iowa committed only 10 fouls on the game as the Badgers made just 4-11 (36.4) from the free-throw line.

Notes to know:

-Senior Cayla McMorris recorded her fifth career double-double and fourth of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
-The Badgers shot a season-low 36.4 percent (4-11) from the free-throw line.
-Iowa shot an opponent season-high 56.9 percent (33-58) from the field.
-Wisconsin tallied 11 steals in the contest, one off its season best of 12 vs. Iowa on Dec. 28. McMorris led the Badgers with four takeaways, tying her career high.
-Junior Roichelle Marble tied her career high with four assists.
-Sophomore Abby Laszewski pulled down six rebounds, one off her career best of seven set earlier this season at Pittsburgh.

Up Next:

Wisconsin wraps up the regular season 6 p.m. Wednesday, in East Lansing, against the Michigan State Spartans. The game will be shown on BTN Plus.