MADISON, Wis. – The largest comeback in program history made it a super Sunday for the Wisconsin women's basketball team as the Badgers downed Purdue, 54-52, in the Kohl Center.

Wisconsin (7-17, 4-10 B1G) trailed Purdue (14-11, 5-9) by 22 points early in the third quarter before outscoring the Boilermakers 39-15 over the final 19 minutes of the game to pull off the biggest comeback ever in a Big Ten Conference game. It also bested UW's previous best comeback of 20 points set at Michigan on Feb. 28, 2008.

The Badgers struggled at the start of the game, scoring only two points in the first quarter to trail 17-2 after the first period. Wisconsin started to hit shots in the second quarter but still trailed 35-15 at the half.

The Boilermakers led 37-15 with 9:33 to play in the third quarter before Wisconsin started its comeback.  

An 11-0 run, including two 3-pointers from Krystyna Ellew, cut the lead to 37-26 with 6:45 on the clock. The Badgers made it a single-digit lead at the 2:03 mark when Brooke Schramek completed an old-fashioned three-point play, making the bucket and free throw after getting fouled, for a 42-33 score.

Wisconsin kept on scoring in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to four (43-39) on a Julie Pospisilova bucket with 7:46 to play. Purdue upped the lead to 47-39 with 6:04 remaining but a 7-0 Badger run made it 47-46 with 3:03 on the clock.

The Badgers took their first lead of the game (49-47) with 2:07 to play as Pospisilova hit a 3-pointer off a Purdue turnover.  The Boilermakers followed with a triple of their own to lead 50-49 with 1:39 remaining. Ellew hit a shot from behind the arc with 1:13 left to give Wisconsin a 52-50 lead. Katie Nelson added two free throws with 31 seconds to play to put UW up 54-50. The Boilermakers hit a field goal in the paint with 16 seconds left and had a last-second opportunity to tie or win the game after a jump-ball call but their attempt came up short.

After shooting just 15.4% (4-26) from the field in the first half, Wisconsin shot 58.3% (14-24) in the second half to finish the game at 36% (18-50). The Boilermakers were just the opposite of UW, shooting 43.3% (13-30) for the first half but just 17.2% (5-29) in the second half for 30.5% (18-59) for the game.

Four Badgers scored in double figures for just the third game this season. Pospisilova led all scorers with 15 points while Schramek added 13 points. Ellew (11) and Nelson (10) also scored in double figures. Purdue was led by Abbey Ellis with 11 points as it had two players in double digits.

Purdue edged the Badgers from the free-throw line, shooting 84.6% (11-13) while Wisconsin was 70.6% (12-17). Nelson was a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe.  

The Boilermakers also finished with a 38-35 advantage in rebounds. Schramek just missed her first career double-double with a career-high nine rebounds.

Nelson dished off a game-high eight assists as Wisconsin had 14 assists and 14 turnovers. Purdue scored 14 points off UW giveaways and outscored the Badgers 16-2 on fast-break points.

Straight from the court

Head coach Marisa Moseley
"I told my team, what we did in the first half was unbelievable and then what we did in the second half was unbelievable. I'm just incredibly proud of their effort and their belief that we are capable of doing so much more than we showed.
 
"It was magical to know that these kids believed in something that was bigger than themselves and they trust in what we're doing. They didn't come here to play for me but they are playing their hearts out for me so that was really magical."
 
Sophomore Brooke Schramek
"During halftime, we had a come-together and said this is not us, we're not making our shots, we weren't even rebounding. That is not the team Coach (Moseley) came to coach. We really had to flip it around and had to show them who we really were.
 
"We are just going to realize that we can't start like that again. We dug out of that hole but there are some games that you cannot get yourself out of that hole. I think it is a really big learning lesson and try to start our game like we started the second half."
 
Freshman Krystyna Ellew on her game-leading shot
"I was just like I need to step up and hit this. I told Brooke (Schramek) that she's never given me a better kick-out pass than in that moment. My shots weren't falling before that but I just had to keep shooting. After we hit that, I said just one more stop and we got it.
 
"It's crazy. We are so excited right now. I am so proud of my teammates. We never stopped fighting in that second half and throughout the entire game. I'm just so proud of us I don't even know what else to say. I'm just so proud, we never stopped fighting."

Up Next

The Badgers remain at home, hosting Michigan State on Wednesday in the Kohl Center. Tip time is 6:30 p.m. live on B1G+.