WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — In a defensive showcase between the Wisconsin women's basketball team and Purdue, a last second free throw by the Boilermakers' Fatou Diagne gave the Boilermakers a 56-55 win over the Badgers.
The Badgers trailed by 12 points (14-2) in the first quarter before freshman Halle Douglass hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left on the clock to lead a 6-0 run, cutting the lead to 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Another Douglass trey cut the lead to 15-11 with 8:25 to play in the half before two free throws from Estella Moschkau made it a two-point game (15-13) with 6:52 on the clock. The Boilermakers led 25-18 before Douglass scored a turnaround jumper to make it a 25-20 game at the half.
Wisconsin came out of the locker room on fire as a 6-0 run put the Badgers up 26-25 with 8:03 remaining. UW led by as many as eight points (40-32) with less than four minutes to play before Purdue rallied to tie the score at 41 with 53 seconds on the clock.
The Badgers led 44-43 at the start of the fourth quarter as neither team led by more than three points and the score was knotted four times. Purdue led 55-53 with 20 seconds on the clock before an Imani Lewis layup tied the score at 55-55 with eight seconds to play. Lewis blocked a shot with two second remaining but Purdue got the offensive board before Diagne was fouled. The forward made the second of two free throws with 1.1 seconds remaining to give Purdue the win.
The game featured eight ties and nine lead changes as neither team shot well in the contest. Wisconsin hit 33.9% (19-56), including 23.1% (3-13) from 3-point range while the Boilermakers shot 30.8% (20-65), including 20.8% (5-24) from behind the arc. UW shot 66.7% (14-21) from the free-throw line while Purdue hit 55% (11-20).
Purdue edged Wisconsin, 44-41, in rebounds but the Boilermakers had 20 offensive boards, scoring seven second-chance points.UW had 12 offensive boards and scored 13 second-chance points.
Lewis finished with her fifth double-double of the season, recording back-to-back games with a double-double, notching 16 points and 11 rebounds on the night. Sydney Hilliard added 11 points and nine points to just miss a double-double while adding a game-high four assists. Douglass tallied a career-high nine points while adding two assists in a career-high 18 minutes. Graduate transfer Estella Moschkau added eight points, going 6-7 from the-free throw line.
Wisconsin produced one of its best defensive performances, forcing numerous shot-clock violations while scoring 16 points off of turnovers. The Boilermakers also scored a season-low point total for a Badger opponent.
Straight from the court
"You hope at the end that you let the players decide the game. And I think that's any coaches' wish even when you have their bench say that's a really poor call. For our kids to battle back from how we started the game to how we came out of the locker room in the second half, we did enough to win that game. We expected to win that game. We had to make sure we came up the rebound so we could go into overtime.
"I thought Halle Douglass gave us a big lift in the first half, scoring the ball. She hit a three and hit a shot right before the half in the last minute to cut it to five. She gives us another option."
-- Head coach Jonathan Tsipis
Up next
Wisconsin return homes to the Kohl Center for a Sunday matchup against Michigan State. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. live on the Big Ten Network.
