With a chance to earn a bye in the Big Ten Tournament, the Wisconsin women's basketball team (10-6 Big Ten, 15-13 overall) couldn't overcome shooting woes, falling to Ohio State Sunday night 80-47 (10-6, 19-9).
The Badgers shot just 25.4 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from three-point range in the loss.
""We are not going to win many games when our two leading scorers are 2-for-14 and 2-for-16,"" head coach Lisa Stone said of seniors Alyssa Karel and Lin Zastrow. ""I know it was more than that, but we shot 16 percent to their 60 in the first half.""
Freshman forward Cassie Rochel led Wisconsin with a career-high 10 points. Karel had nine points and junior forward Anya Covington scored seven. The Buckeyes were led by senior center Jantel Lavender, who contributed a game-high 20 points.
""I told our kids when we were down big in the first half, no one is quitting on this team,"" Stone said. ""Do not look at the scoreboard. We don't care about the scoreboard right now. It's our ability to show some fight and we did.""
The second half was better for the Badgers, as they scored almost twice as many points as they did in the first half. Wisconsin only turned the ball over four times in the second half, while the Buckeyes tallied 12 turnovers in the game. But with Ohio State shooting 51.8 percent from the field, the Badgers fell by their largest margin this season.
Wisconsin will travel to the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament this weekend, where the No. 6 seed Badgers will face No. 11 seed Illinois Thursday.
