“We’re obviously disappointed in our play today,” Wisconsin women’s basketball head coach Bobbie Kelsey said of the team’s 60-44 loss to Michigan Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center. “Overall, I thought the kids played hard but it just wasn’t enough.”
Coming off two tough conference losses on the road at Northwestern and Minnesota in just over a week, the Badgers (2-5 Big Ten, 9-10 overall) were looking to turn the season around back at home. However, the Wolverines (5-2, 14-6) had other ideas, holding the Badgers to a season-low 44 points.
In a tight defensive first half, the Badgers struck first with redshirt junior forward Michala Johnson’s layup just seconds into the game.
Soon after, Michigan went on an 11-0 run to put them up 15-6, but after a timeout by Kelsey, the Badgers went on a 7-0 run of their own to bring them within two points.
Both teams played staunch defense, making the opposing offense work the entire shot clock to get a shot.
The referees let the two teams play with only one foul called on each team in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Wolverines went up by as much as 10 in the first half, but sophomore guard Nicole Bauman brought the Badgers within five points heading into the break.
After shooting just 10 percent from the 3-point arc in the first half, the Wisconsin offense came out strong in the first few minutes of the second half, hitting their first two 3-pointers to take a 31-29 lead.
The Badgers’ lead was short-lived though, with freshman guard Siera Thompson scoring a 3-pointer for Michigan just moments later, leaving Wisconsin trailing 35-36.
According to Kelsey, the Badgers’ inability to get the ball in the net in those few minutes was what made the difference.
“When you’re holding them you have got to score,” said Kelsey. “It’s twofold, it’s not just stop them. Nobody wins the game two-to-nothing, you’ve got to score.”
Although the Badgers had many chances to score, the team couldn’t recover and take the lead back from the Wolverines for the rest of the game, struggling to get anything in the net for much of the second half.
The Wolverines’ defense held the Badgers to just four points in the last eight minutes of the game making it hard to get any momentum for the home team.
“We didn’t have quite the offensive punch we needed,” Kelsey said. “We’re missing a lot of those shots around the basket, like a lot of dink shots. People just have got to get in the gym and shoot more, and don’t just shoot the threes.”
Michala Johnson had a game-high 15 points and her work in the paint was trouble for the Wolverines’ inside players.
“I thought Johnson really did a good job this game of making some adjustments from last game,” Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “She really showed a lot of improvement from [the last Michigan-Wisconsin matchup], she really rebounded offensively today and got our bigs in foul trouble.”
Although the Badgers couldn’t walk away with a victory, their hard work did not go unnoticed by Arico, who believes Wisconsin is on the rise.
“They play extremely hard and they don’t quit,” she said. “Every one of their games is really tight, and they are a tough team. They are getting better and better, and I feel like they’re turning the corner.”
