MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin women's basketball team lost to Northwestern, 74-69 in a matchup Wednesday, Jan. 10 inside the Kohl Center. 

On another night where the Badgers were missing Brooke Schramek, the team once again looked to players to step up and adopt larger roles. As per usual Serah Williams and Ronnie Porter delivered strong stat lines, with 16 and 14 points respectively, but the sparks truly emerged from Tessa Grady and Halle Douglass. The freshman dropped a career-high 15 points, including a trio of three-pointers, and the senior added nine. 

The Badgers' first field goal of the night came courtesy of Williams, who had a nice spin move as she dropped in a layup. Porter got her offense going with a deep corner three and was followed by Douglass who also landed her shot from behind the arc. The senior's three-pointer extended UW's lead to seven, the largest of the quarter. Northwestern began to drop more shots and took a five-point lead, but Wisconsin closed out the first quarter on a 5-0 run, capped off by another three from Porter, who tied the game at 20-all.

After missing Wisconsin's last game against Illinois due to injury, D'Yanis Jimenez made her first appearance in the contest about four minutes into the second quarter. She instantly delivered a driving layup and brought Wisconsin up, 24-22. Jimenez's scoring was followed by a pair of shots from Grady and Porter, who logged her tenth point of the contest. The half was finished out by Grady, who dropped a pair of threes and propelled Wisconsin on a 6-0 run and gave Wisconsin a 36-35 lead. 

Coming out of the locker room, Porter dropped in a driving layup to initiate the quarter-three scoring, but after that, the points fizzled down. The Wildcats went on a 7-0 that was terminated by a jumper from Douglass, her sixth point of the game. Williams contributed a tough AND1, and then it was Douglass who once again finished at the rim and surpassed her previous season-high in points. Just as Wisconsin fell by eight, Sania Copeland came up clutch, dropping a layup and then a three-pointer at the buzzer to invigorate the Badgers heading into quarter four. 

Wisconsin entered the final quarter down 57-51, but immediately tied up the game at 57 after Grady dropped her third three-pointer, followed by a jumper to bring her point total up to 15. Natalie Leuzinger and Copeland delivered two more shots from the Badgers, but UW followed this up with a scoring drought that spanned 3:50. The team fell behind the Wildcats by six points, until finally, Halle Douglass delivered a free throw to snap the drought. It simply was not enough to provide Wisconsin with momentum to push through to a win, and Wisconsin fell, 74-69.

Wisconsin shot 41.7% (25-60) from the field range and 28.0% (7-25) from 3-point range. The Badgers shot 85.7% (12-14) from the free-throw line. 

Northwestern went 39.1% (27-69) from field-goal range, including 46.7% (7-15) from behind the arc. The Wildcats were 86.7% (13-15) from the free-throw line. The team was led in scoring by Caileigh Walsh, who dropped 19 points (6-14 FG, 2-3 3FG, 5-5 FT) and eight rebounds.

Notes to know

• Serah Williams secured her fifth double-double of the season and led the team in scoring with 16 points on the night, going a perfect 8-8 at the charity stripe. The forward also notched a career-high 6 blocks, continuing to lead the Big Ten.
• Freshman Tessa Grady claimed multiple career-highs, delivering 15 points (6-10 FG, 3-6 3FG, 0-0 FT) and a trio of three-pointers from the bench.
• Halle Douglass saw the court for the longest time this season and picked up a season-high nine points (3-5 FG, 1-2 3FG, 2-4 FT) to go along with four rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
• The Badgers outmatched the Wildcats in shooting percentage, 42% to 39%.

Up next

Wisconsin travels to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Saturday, Jan 13 at 2:30 p.m. The game can be streamed on B1G+ or listened to on 1070 WTSO-AM. The Wisconsin Women's basketball team will host the Northwestern Wildcats on Jan. 10 inside the Kohl Center.

The opening tip is set for 6:30 p.m., with the game airing on Big Ten Plus. Radio will broadcast on 1070 WTSO-AM.