EVANSTON, Ill. – Poor shooting cost the Wisconsin women's basketball team as the Badgers fell at Northwestern 63-43 on Wednesday night.

"I thought our kids played hard," head coach Jonathan Tsipis said. "We just have to be better with the ball because if you're not shooting it well, you can't have those extra empty possessions. You have to do different things to be able to manufacture points some way, somehow."

The Badgers (5-17, 0-9) shot just 32.7 percent (17-52) from the field for the game, including just 21.7 percent (5-23) for the first half.

Wisconsin held Northwestern (17-5, 6-3) to 40.7 percent (24-59) for the game, including just 24 points in the first half.

"You give up 24 points in a half, you feel like you've done a great job defensively," said Tsipis. "I thought we did a good job (defensively) for the most part. I thought for the most part, our zone was really, really active.  

"But we can't have 22 turnovers and be able to give ourselves more opportunities."

The Badgers trailed by just two points (16-14) with 7:21 to play in the half but that was all UW would score for the period. The Wildcats went on an 8-0 run to lead 24-14 at the break.

Northwestern extended its lead to 25-14 less than a minute into the third quarter before UW made a comeback. A 5-0 run, keyed by a 3-pointer from Kendra Van Leeuwen, cut the Wildcats lead to 25-21 with 6:49 on the clock. NU responded with a 10-0 run to up its lead to 35-21 with 3:51 to play.

Despite shooting 53.8 percent (7-13) in the third quarter, Wisconsin trailed 39-29 at the end of three periods.

"We did a better job in the third quarter," Tsipis added. "Even if we missed a shot, I felt like were in an aggressive nature.

"I felt like when we got it to 10, we gave up some transition baskets that really hurt in the fourth quarter, that I thought gave them a little bit more momentum."

The Badgers made it an eight-point game (41-33) with 8:28 to play in the game before foul trouble to Avyanna Young stopped the rally. Young picked up her fourth personal foul with 7:25 remaining and fouled out with 5:24 to play as the Wildcats to outscore UW 24-14 in the fourth quarter.

"Only playing 14 minutes, I thought she was really, really productive," Tsipis said of Young.

The redshirt senior finished with 10 points on 5-7 shooting and added five rebounds. Junior Cayla McMorris led the Badgers with 11 points and shared team-high honors with eight rebounds. Sophomore Marsha Howard also had eight rebounds as Wisconsin outrebounded the Wildcats 40-34.

NU had three players in double-figure scoring led by Nia Coffey with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Wildcats scored 20 points off UW turnovers.

"I don't think there was any lack of our kids working hard or trying," said Tsipis. "I thought we fought for 40 minutes tonight."

The Badgers return home on Saturday, hosting No. 14 Ohio State at 1 p.m. in the Kohl Center. The game airs live on the Big Ten Network and is a celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Fans are invited to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of Wisconsin's own female student-athletes during a special halftime recognition of teams, including but not limited to Badger golf, rowing, soccer, softball, and volleyball.