MADISON, Wis.-- The Wisconsin women's basketball team faced a tough and talented opponent in Michigan State, dropping Wednesday's game, 81-57, at the Kohl Center.

Wisconsin (5-15 overall, 0-7 Big Ten) stayed within reach of the Spartans (14-7, 4-4) much of the first half, but couldn't fill in the gap created by several MSU runs.

"I'd like to give Michigan State credit," UW head coach Jonathan Tsipis said. "I thought for 40 minutes tonight they were tougher, they gave better effort, they fought through adversity whether it was a turnover or a foul on a consistent basis. When you see the pride they took not only when they were successful but more importantly when things didn't go their way."

Freshman Kendra Van Leeuwen scored a career-high 12 points in the loss, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc, as well as grabbing four steals and two assists.

"It's a very physical game, especially in our conference," Van Leeuwen said, "but it's our job to adapt to it and in order to move forward we can get stronger, we can get faster and we can just look to bring more energy to our game."

The Badgers opened up the scoring, taking a 4-0 lead on jumpers from Cayla McMorris and Kendall Shaw, while a layup and free throw from Avyanna Young put the Badgers up 7-6 at the 5:53 mark. Michigan State quickly regained the lead with a 7-0 run, leading 16-7 with 3:57 remaining in the quarter.

A triple from Suzanne Gilreath would break the Spartan streak and begin a Wisconsin 7-0 run to pull UW within two points, 16-14 with 1:32 to play in the period. Wisconsin couldn't hold the momentum though, as MSU finished off the quarter with five unanswered points to lead 21-14.

The teams traded baskets to begin the second quarter, with Michigan State holding a 30-21 advantage with 6:38 on the clock. The Badger offense fired up with four different players helping Wisconsin to a 10-5 run, cutting the Spartan lead to 35-30 with a little over three minutes to play.

But Michigan State went on a 13-2 run to lead 48-32 at the half. The Spartans scored five straight to open the third quarter, upping their leads to 53-32 with 9:23 remaining in the period. Van Leeuwen tallied six points late in the quarter, draining two triples, but MSU was able to keep its distance heading into the final quarter with a 65-48 advantage.

"Coach always talks about how we can control our effort and that's one thing we really need to do out there," Van Leeuwen said. "Whether it's diving on the floor for a loose ball with a 50/50 chance, but it's in our control. Sometimes we can't control if our shots go in, but we can always control if we can get back on defense and make hustle plays"

Wisconsin cut the Spartan lead to 13 points (52-65) with a three from Courtney Fredrickson at 9:21 left in the game, but the Badgers couldn't edge any closer in the frame and fell by a final score of 81-57.

Young added 10 points for the Badgers, her first double-figure effort since Dec. 4, and added three boards.

Shaw led UW with eight rebounds while Marsha Howard grabbed five boards as MSU outrebounded the Badgers 40-32.

Tori Jankoska led Michigan State with 11 rebounds while adding 13 points. Branndais Agee led all players with 18 points.

The Spartans shot 48.4 percent (31-64) from the field, including 42.9 percent (9-21) from 3-point range. Wisconsin managed just 33.9 percent (20-59) from field-goal range while hitting 26.3 percent (5-19) from deep.

UW got to the free-throw line more than the Spartans but hit just 57.1 percent (12-21) while MSU was a perfect 10-10.

Both team had 16 turnovers with Michigan State scoring 18 points off giveaways and 13 fast-break points. Wisconsin scored 12 points off turnovers while scoring 17 second-chance points.

"We can always do more," Tsipis said. "I think that's obviously the coaching staff's job, but (the players) job has to be an attacking mentality and not worry about how the game's being called or what's going on on the other end of the court.

"We have to be better. We still have a lot of Big Ten games left, but that's got to be every single day."