MADISON, Wis. -- A late rally was not enough as the Wisconsin women's basketball team fell to Michigan State, 74-67, at the Kohl Center on Wednesday night.

After trailing by as many as 13 points (67-54) with 3:19 to play in the fourth quarter, the Badgers (7-18, 4-11 B1G) went on an 11-5 run to cut the MSU (15-11, 8-6) lead to 72-65 with 22 seconds left. A lot can happen in 22 seconds as both teams went to the free-throw line twice, with two charity shots from Krystyna Ellew with 11 seconds on the clock, making the score 74-67. Wisconsin had a chance to cut into the lead even more but a turnover with six seconds to play stopped the Badger rally.

Wisconsin recorded one of its best shooting games of the season, hitting 50% (22-44) from the field, including a season-high 58.3% (14-24) from 3-point range. The 14 triples made was a school record, besting the previous mark of 12 set four times.

Sophomore Halle Douglass set a school record, shooting 6-6 from behind the arc, besting the previous mark of 5-5 set by three different Badgers. The mark also tied a Big Ten Conference record with Douglass becoming the seventh conference player to shoot 6-6 from deep. The forward finished with a career high 18 points, shooting 6-7 (85.7%) from the field.

Ellew led the Badgers with 19 points while Julie Pospisilova put up 11 points.

Michigan State shot 56% (28-50) from the field, including 45.5% (5-11) from 3-point range. Matilda Ekh led all scorers with 25 points as two other Spartans scored 12 points.

Wisconsin pulled down a season-low 16 rebounds while Michigan State had 27 boards. The Badgers also dished off 18 assists, behind five helpers from Pospisilova, while turning the ball over 18 times. The Spartans had 15 turnovers with UW scoring 20 points off MSU giveaways. Wisconsin also outscored Michigan State 9-2 on second-chance points.  

The first half was a battle with eight ties and seven lead changes. Wisconsin led by as many as five points in the first quarter (15-10) and took a 35-30 lead into the locker room at the half.

MSU outscored Wisconsin 23-11 in the third quarter to lead 53-46 at the end of three periods of play. In the fourth period, the Spartans led by as many as 13 points before Wisconsin began its rally.

Straight from the court

Head coach Marisa Moseley
"We got really stagnant (in the third quarter) and started to play a lot one-on-one. I don't know that we were running anything in particular. Michigan State started switching and I think we didn't take advantage of the mismatches. We got some looks but we didn't make them and we only had four offensive rebounds in the game, which when you're struggling in that situation, we have to be able to get to the free-throw line and get to the offensive board. They turned up the heat a little bit and I think that we backed down.

"We knew that they overleaped so we did a pretty decent job of finding which shooters made a lot of kick-outs and baseline drives and things of that nature. We always talk about making the extra pass and being ready to knock in open shots. I think we had a few more that we gave up that probably could've helped us there. It is just about ball movement and making sure that we get ourselves a good opportunity each time."

"We don't have much time to dwell on this. We go to Ohio State and play on Sunday. This has been a long stretch, a long week. I feel like we gave away this game tonight so we just have to regroup."

Sophomore Halle Douglass
"I think I got a lot of good kick-outs from my teammates. They drove, kicked and found me, and my teammates are good enough players that defenses collapse on them and they were able to find me tonight."

Freshman Krystyna Ellew
"We didn't keep our foot on the gas. We kind of let up. I don't know why but yeah, definitely need to come out stronger."

Up Next

The Badgers travel to No. 18 Ohio State on Sunday. Wisconsin and the Buckeyes tip off at 1 p.m. CT from Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The game will be streamed live on B1G+.