In a game featuring a wide range of emotions, the largest crowd of the season and postseason tournament seedings on the line, the Wisconsin women's basketball team played one of its most thrilling contests of the year Sunday evening.
The Badgers, featuring guards Rae Lin D'Alie and Teah Gant on Senior Night, played in front of over 11,000 fans at the Kohl Center, taking the game right down to the line, but eventually lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes in overtime, 68-60.
With the loss, the Badgers complete their Big Ten season in a tie for third place—impressive for a team picked to finish 10th. Additionally, the team grabs the fourth seed in the Big Ten Tournament and plays Purdue this Friday.
Wisconsin grabbed the tempo and momentum early on, but Iowa stole it away down the stretch in the first half. The Badgers failed to score in the final two minutes of the first half, and Iowa sunk a critical 3-pointer at the buzzer to go into the locker room up 33-21.
Although the Badgers came out more focused on both ends of the ball in the second half, there was no stopping the 3-point shooting of the Hawkeyes. Iowa finished the evening with 11 3-pointers, while the Badgers managed just five in the contest.
However, with just under eight minutes to play, sophomore guard Jade Davis hit a 3-point shot that brought the Badgers within four of the Hawkeyes. On its next possession, Iowa traveled, resulting in a turnover. Although the Badgers were unable to score immediately after the ensuing timeout, on their next trip down, Iowa turned the ball over to D'Alie, who drove down for the layup to bring Wisconsin within just two.
On their next possession, junior forward Tara Steinbauer hit a shot for two of her 11 points to bring the game to a tie. For the remaining six minutes, both teams traded baskets. With 19 seconds left and the Badgers down by two, sophomore forward Anya Covington went to the line and sunk both shots to tie the game. Iowa had an open look to win the game on the other end but failed to convert, sending the match into overtime.
D'Alie struck first in extra time and appeared to put the Badgers up by four with 3:54 remaining, but was called for a charge instead. That call seemed to shift the momentum back to the Hawkeyes, as Wisconsin managed just four points in overtime, falling in for the second time this season to Iowa.
On her final game at the Kohl Center as a Badger, D'Alie led the team with 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Gant finished with seven points.
""They are great student-athletes that represent our university with the utmost class,"" head coach Lisa Stone said of Gant and D'Alie. ""I'm proud to have known them and coached them and to consider them friends.""
Additionally, junior guard Alyssa Karel, who had scored in double digits the past nine games coming into Sunday night's contest and needed just 13 points to reach 1,000 in her career, managed only four on the evening.
Although Senior Night ended in disappointment, D'Alie, Gant and the rest of the team have plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks.
When asked if her team deserved a spot in the NCAA Tournament, Stone had a simple response: ""Absolutely.""
