Coming off their first back-to-back wins of the season, the Badgers were already en route to ending the season on a high note. But Wisconsin (3-13 Big Ten, 8-21 overall) couldn’t close out on the road at Iowa (8-8 Big Ten, 17-12 overall) in their regular season finale.
The fourth quarter has been a nagging issue all year, and the Badgers were seemingly getting it together, but let a 20-8 fourth quarter propel Iowa into a 71-60 win.
“We've grown as a team, to fight like this on the road. We had the lead in the fourth quarter, I think that's progress with our team,” said head coach Jonathan Tsipis.
The Badgers were led by redshirt senior forward Avyanna Young, who registered 22 points and six rebounds on 7-of-13 shooting.
The forward caps her NCAA regular season career, having played two seasons at UW-Milwaukee before transferring to Wisconsin. She averaged 11.2 points and seven rebounds in her final season, providing a level of consistency that the Badgers leaned on all year.
Sophomore forward Marsha Howard and freshman forward Courtney Fredrickson both registered 10 points.
Howard has filled in the starting lineup and provided energy-filled minutes off the bench this season.
Fredrickson ends her successful freshman year having started all but four games all season, showing she will be a major cog in Wisconsin’s success for the duration of her career.
“I'm proud of how our kids fought to be able to get it three-and-a-half quarters in, where it's a game that maybe you can steal one on the road. It's progress,” said Tsipis.
Now, the Badgers head into Big Ten Tournament play as the No. 11 seed with a matchup against No. 14 Rutgers Wednesday. The two will showdown after Nebraska and Illinois play at 12:30 p.m.
Rutgers won the first matchup this season 68-52, which was the second loss of a ten-loss streak for the Badgers to start Big Ten play. Wisconsin exacted revenge later on in the season, with a 53-41 win that was the first of the two-game winning streak that ended against Iowa.
“We're on a one-game season now going into Wednesday," Tsipis said.
Should the Badgers win, they will head into a Thursday date with Michigan State as the night-cap on day two of the tournament.
