Less than three days after defeating the Minnesota Gophers in dramatic, double-overtime fashion, the Wisconsin women's basketball team had the tables turned against them Sunday night on the road at Purdue.
The Badgers held a comfortable lead for most of the contest. However, with 10 seconds left in the game and a chance to break a tie, junior guard Alyssa Karel traveled, and the ball went to Purdue. The Boilermakers took advantage of the turnover and sunk the game-winning jumper with just two seconds left, as the Badgers fell 58-56.
The loss dropped Wisconsin to 7-6 in Big Ten play and a tie with Penn State for third place.
As has been the trend for the Badgers in many of their recent contests, the team jumped out to a big lead early. Wisconsin led 16-6 five minutes into the game and went into halftime leading by 10, 36-26.
Both squads came out of the locker room shooting cold, though. Neither team made a basket until Purdue sunk a pair of free throws at the 17:16 mark of the half. However, the Badgers eventually picked up on offense and extended their lead to 11, taking a 42-31 advantage with 12:32 left to play.
However, at the 12:05 mark, the Boilermakers went on a two-minute, 8-0 run to cut the Badgers' lead to just three. Wisconsin regained its defensive poise though, and a pair of Taylor Wurtz 3-pointers allowed the Badgers to maintain a comfortable margin.
Wisconsin had never trailed in the game and led the Boilermakers in the entire contest until Purdue tied the score at 53 with 2:59 left.
The Badgers regained the lead at 56-53, but with just 44 seconds remaining in the game, Purdue sophomore guard Brittany Rayburn sunk a 3-pointer to tie the contest.
Following a near 3-point miss by Wurtz, Purdue drove the ball to the basket, only to be blocked by Karel. Karel took possession of the ball but, as she was attempting to call a timeout, the officials charged her with a travel. Boilermaker sophomore center Chelsea Jones then drove to the basket and hit the game-winning shot.
The advantage that Purdue took with two seconds left marked the first and only Boilermaker lead of the night.
Karel led Wisconsin in scoring in the game with 13 points, while junior forward Tara Steinbauer and Wurtz each added nine.
The Badgers shot nearly 48 percent from the field and sunk seven 3-pointers on the night, and while Purdue only managed just 39-percent shooting, the Boilermakers contributed six 3-pointers of their own.
With the loss, the Badgers extend their losing streak in West Lafayette; they have not won a contest at Purdue since 1984.
Wisconsin will take a week off as they look to pick themselves up next Sunday against Indiana at the Kohl Center. Tip-off for that game is 6 p.m.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
