INDIANAPOLIS – It was not the end to the season that the Wisconsin women's basketball team was looking for as the Badgers (8-21) fell to Illinois, 75-66, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
 
A UW career-high 27 points from graduate student Katie Nelson wasn't enough to hold off the balanced Illini (7-19), who had five players score in double figures. Illinois was aided by impressive 3-point shooting, hitting 75% (9-12) from behind the arc. 
 
Wisconsin trailed 16-8 with 4:23 on the clock in the first quarter but a 10-0 run, including six straight points from Halle Douglass, gave the Badgers an 18-16 lead at the end of the period.  The Badgers upped their lead to seven (31-24) with 4:22 remaining in the half but the Illini went on a 6-2 run to make it a 33-30 lead, heading into the locker room.
 
Illinois turned up its defense in the third quarter as Wisconsin struggled with its shooting, hitting just 31.3% (5-16). With the score knotted at 37 with 7:26 remaining in the third quarter, the Illini scored 12 straight to take a 49-37 lead with 4:05 to play. UI had had its biggest lead of the game at 55-41 with 35 seconds on the clock in the third period as Illinois outscored the Badgers 25-10 in the quarter.

Wisconsin started hitting from deep in the fourth quarter as a 3-pointer from Julie Pospisilova made it a seven-point game (55-48) with 7:24 to play. Pospilova would score 11 of her 17 points in the period, including three triples. Another Pospisilova three cut the lead to 67-61 with 2:02 on the clock before a UW steal and bucket from Nelson made it a four-point game (67-63) with 1:33 to play. A step-back three from Nelson kept Wisconsin in the game (70-66) with 51 seconds remaining but Illinois would score a driving layup with 45 seconds left as well as make 3-4 from the free-throw line over the final seconds to seal the win. 

The Badgers shot 41.8% (28-67) from the field, including 24.1% (7-29) from 3-point range, while Illinois shot 47.4% (27-57) from field-goal range. Illinois also won the battle at the charity stripe, shooting 12-16 for 75% while Wisconsin was just 3-5 (60%).

In addition to Nelson and Pospisilova, Halle Douglass added 15 points for Wisconsin.

The Illini were led by Aaliyah Nye with 17 points while Kendall Bostic finished with a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds as Illinois outrebounded UW, 41-30.  Douglass led the Badgers with eight boards.
 
As a team, Wisconsin outscored Illinois, 34-28, off points in the paint and turned the ball over a season-low eight times. The Badgers dished off 17 assists, including a game-high eight from Nelson. Nelson also recorded three of UW's six steals.