Wisconsin used a second half surge to get back in the game, but Indiana (5-11 Big Ten, 13-14 overall) had the last shot and used it to defeat Wisconsin (5-11, 7-21) 52-51 in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
It was the final game for Badger Head Coach Jane Albright, who resigned Feb. 25 after nine seasons at Wisconsin. After its win Thursday, Indiana will face the seed Penn State tomorrow at 11:00 am.
The Badgers held the Hoosiers without a field goal for the first 11 minutes of the second half. It was part of an 18-0 run that allowed them to take the lead at 36-29 with 10:22 left in the game.
With scoring hard to come by the Badgers relied on their inside game, as junior center Lello Gebisa came off the bench to score a career-high 23 points. She was the only Badger in double figures.
In a defensive struggle in which neither team shot more than 36 percent in the first half, Indiana took the early 8-0 lead with 15:50 left in the first stanza.
While the Wisconsin offense sputtered, IU extended its lead to 17-5 with 11:22 left.
Gebisa was instant offense off the bench, hitting 10 of her 23 points in the first half to close the gap to 24-18 with 2:40 left. IU scored the last four points to lead 28-18 at the half.
The Badgers hit just six of 24 field goals for 25 percent and were out-rebounded 23-14 by the shorter Hoosiers.
With Wisconsin back in the game, Indiana finally hit a field goal and went on a 16-8 run to regain the lead 45-44 with 2:54 left.
The Badgers went up 48-45 with 1:36 left with a Lello Gebisa basket but Indiana junior guard Kristen Bodine's three-pointer tied the game with 1:18 left. In the ensuing moments, Gebisa converted an old-fashion three-point play to regain the lead with 1:04 to play.
With the game in the balance, sophomore guard Jenny DeMuth converted a one-and-one for the Hoosiers with 34 seconds remaining, but the Badgers still entered the last 30 seconds of the game leading by one.
However, the Badgers turned it over on the press, and IU's Bodine hit an off-balance shot in the lane to give IU the final lead.
With fouls to give, IU exhausted the time and the Badgers were unable to get a shot off.
