The Wisconsin women's basketball team ran out of their recent Kohl Center magic Sunday afternoon, falling to No. 9 Michigan State 84-60.
The Badgers (4-8 Big Ten, 10-12 overall) failed to raise their overall record to the .500 mark and snapped a two-game Big Ten run that had Wisconsin thinking post-season. Freshman forward Jolene Anderson scored a game-high 19 points for the Badgers and added six rebounds, but the Spartans (11-2 Big Ten, 22-3 overall) answered with a balanced act of their own.
Four players scored in double digits for Michigan State, led by junior guard Lindsay Bowen's 18 points, as the Spartans effectively closed UW out by the end of the first half. The Spartans pushed the lead to 24-14 with 10:56 left in the half on Victoria Lucas-Perry's 3-pointer.
The sophomore guard scored 17 points-all in the first half-as Michigan State ran the halftime lead to 43-26.
Wisconsin came out hot in the second half, using a 15-9 run in the first five-and-a-half minutes to cut the lead to eleven.
Anderson and junior guard/forward Kjersten Bakke each added a bucket at the start of the second half, but Bowen ended the Badger run with back-to-back 3-pointers with 14:02 left in the second half.
Wisconsin and their improved post play kept up with Michigan State, as the Spartans only out-rebounded the Badgers by one, 42-41. MSU did out-score UW in the paint by ten points (32-22), but Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said the defensive breakdowns were more the result of allowing Bowen open shots and the Spartans making the plays when needed.
\We did what we wanted to do with the post game inside, but the long story short, they made some tough shots,"" Stone said. ""Too many open looks for Bowen outside.""
Michigan State used Bowen's 3-pointers to open up a 14-0 run, pushing their lead to 25 at the nine minute mark, before Anderson got the Badgers back on the board, going inside for a lay-up.
Wisconsin shot an abysmal 33.8 percent for the game and their 3-point shooting did not help to keep them competitive. The Badgers managed to hit only 3-of-20 shots from behind the arc, while the Spartans shot 47.4 percent from downtown, including a 5-of-8 binge in the second half.
Michigan State forced 16 UW turnovers, leading Spartan head coach Joanne McCallie to praise her team's defense following the game.
""Our defense is much better now than it's ever been,"" McCallie said. ""It's just really something we've been working on and, of course, we expect the shooters that Wisconsin has, so we really have to buckle down and get out there.""
Bakke and senior forward Ebba Gebisa each added eight points for Wisconsin, while sophomore guard Rene Haynes and junior forward Liz Shimek added 12 and 13 points, respectively.
The loss for UW was their fifth straight against Michigan State and the Badgers' fifth loss to a ranked opponent this season. Wisconsin travels to Penn State this Thursday to take on the Nittany Lions.
