BOULDER, Colo. – Despite pulling within five points in the third quarter, the Wisconsin women's basketball team fell to undefeated Colorado, 67-51, at the Rocky Mountain Hoops Classic on Sunday afternoon.
The Badgers trailed 18-9 after the first quarter and 30-20 at the half, but a 9-4 run to open the second half, cut the lead to 34-29 with 7:25 on the clock. Sophomore
Brooke Schramek, who scored a career-high 11 points in the game, scored four points during the run.
Wisconsin trailed 41-36 with 4:38 to play in the quarter, before Colorado went on a 6-0 run to lead 47-36 with 2:24 remaining. Freshman
Krystyna Ellew hit a jumper with 2:04 on the clock to make it 47-38 but that would be as close as the Badger would get.
Free throws and turnovers were keys to the Buffs win as the Badgers were just 2-4 (50%) from the line while Colorado was 12-17 (70.6%). Wisconsin turned the ball over 18 times, allowing CU to score 22 points off giveaways, while the Buffs had 16 steals and nine turnovers.
The Badgers hit 43.1% (22-51) from the field but just 21.7% (5-23) from 3-point range. Colorado hit 24-58 (41.4%) from field goal range, including 7-19 (36.8%) from behind the arc.
Sydney Hilliard led Wisconsin with 12 points while
Julie Pospisilova, who was named to the all-tournament team, was the third Badger to score in double figures with 10 points.
UW was outrebounded 37-28 with
Katie Nelson leading the team with seven boards.
Hilliard had a team-high four assists while Pospisilova had a team-best three steals.
Straight from the court
"We didn't play a great first half but we made some adjustments with what we need to do. We have to get way tougher on the boards. We have to take care of the ball. We have to know what we're doing execution wise. We have to be able to execute and we need some shots to go in.
"We went on a couple of runs there. Quite frankly I think we just lost our concentration a little bit and they made a pay. If we made a mistake defensively, they knocked in some shots.
"I'm incredibly proud of our team. We did fight back and I think we took some steps this weekend as far as our execution and confidence. This should serve us well going forward.
"Brooke just scratching the surface of what she is capable of doing. I think is a great offensive rebounder for us, she is a great slasher to the basket. She does a lot of really good things that can amount to some productive plays for us on the court."
Up next
The Badgers return home to face Virginia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. from the Kohl Center. The game will be available on BTN+
