MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin women's basketball team fell to No. 22 Northwestern Wednesday afternoon at the Kohl Center, 80-55, despite seeing great production from its bench players.
The Badgers (3-5, 0-5 B1G) entered the second period with just a three-point deficit (16-13) but the Wildcats (5-2, 3-2) outscored Wisconsin, 32-12, in the second period to lead 48-25 at the half. Northwestern effectively used its half-court press to force eight UW turnovers in the period, scoring 11 points off Badger turnovers.
Wisconsin came out of the locker room with more energy in the third quarter, outscoring the Wildcats, 17-14, but it was too little, too late.
UW's bench play showed its depth as the reserves scored 23 points, the most this season.
One of those standouts was freshman
Kate Thompson, who scored a career-high and team-best nine points, shooting 50% (3-6) from the field while adding three rebounds. Freshman
Halle Douglass also came off the bench, scoring a career-high six points in 16 minutes a play, the most playing time she has seen this season, while dishing off a career-high four assists.
Junior forward
Imani Lewis and sophomore
Sydney Hilliard were the next leading scorers for the Badgers with Lewis tallying eight points and Hilliard netting seven points and seven boards.
Wisconsin shot 42.9 percent (21-49) from the field, but just 25% (4-16) from 3-point range. The Wildcats hit 50% (33-66) from the field but only 58.3% (7-12) from the free-throw line. Four Northwestern players scored in double figures led by a game-high 15 by Courtney Shaw and Veronica Burton. The Badgers hit a season-bet 81.8% (9-11) from the charity stripe.
For the third-straight game, UW was outrebounded, 39-24, a season low boards for the Badgers. Northwestern forced 20 UW turnovers, scoring 23 points off giveaways.
Straight from the Court
Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis
"We challenged our team at halftime and I thought we had better activity level in the second half. We're obviously trying to win each quarter and being able to win the third quarter but they're very balanced, they share the basketball.
"I thought Kate Thompson did a great job inside, but we had to get more of those touches and again I think the turnovers got them going. I'm proud of the younger kids, we tried to get some different people some extra minutes tonight in the second half, that's the longest Halle Douglass has played."
Freshman Forward Kate Thompson
"I thought it was good that we got time to play together just because that hasn't been something we got to do a lot outside of practice. I think in this game I learned to post up more and be more physical and just go up strong through contact."
Notes to Know
- Freshman Kate Thompson led the Badgers with a career-high nine points. The 6-foot-3 forward shot career highs of 4-8 from field-goal range, and 1-2 from the free-throw line. She also added three rebounds and tied a career-best of one assist.
- Freshman Halle Douglas played a career-high 17 minutes, scoring a career-high six points, shooting 2-4 from the field and 2-3 from the free-throw line, all career bests. The 6-foot-1 guard also added a career-high four assists.
- All 13 available Badgers played at least one minute in the game. Freshman Nathalie Leuzinger saw her first action in the Cardinal and White, playing three minutes.
Up next
Wisconsin continues its tough four-game stretch against ranked teams, traveling to No. 19 Indiana on Saturday. Tip time is 3 p.m. CT from Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana. Fans can tune in to watch on BIG Network+ or listen on U 100.9 FM in Madison or anywhere using the iHeartRadio app.
