INDIANAPOLIS – The 11^th-seeded Wisconsin women's basketball team won its first-round game of the Big Ten Conference Tournament for the first time since 2013 with a 61-55 victory over No. 14-seed Rutgers on Wednesday afternoon at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The Badgers (9-21) broke the game open late in the first quarter. After trailing 6-5 with 3:39 to play in the period, Wisconsin went on a 9-0 run to lead 14-6 at the end of the quarter.

UW extended its lead to 27-13 at the half and led by as many as 21 points (47-26) with 2:57 left in the third quarter. The Scarlet Knights outscored Wisconsin 10-1 over the last 2:17 to make it a 48-36 game at the end of three periods.

Rutgers (6-24) outscored the Badgers 19-13 in the fourth quarter, pulling within six points (59-53) with 35 seconds remaining. Redshirt senior Avyanna Young, who led UW with 20 points, hit two free throws with 27 seconds on the clock to make it a 61-53 Wisconsin lead. The Scarlet Knights added layup with four seconds remaining but it was not enough as the Badgers held on for the win.
 
They said it
"We've talked a lot as a team since the game ended at Iowa on Sunday night about doing something that nobody in the program currently had done, and that's as you get prepared for the tournament, be able to win a first-round game. And again it may sound like a short goal, a low goal, but I think having to do something together like that culminates what we've been trying to work at all season long."

• Head coach Jonathan Tsipis

 
"Definitely excitement, seeing how this is my first Big Ten Tournament. So that part and then just being able to continue to fight and grow as a team."

• Marsha Howard on winning a first-round Big Ten Tournament game

 
"We didn't get rattled up when they were starting to pick up their intensity, which I feel like in the beginning of the season we would have done. And we are finishing out games now."

• Avyanna Young

 
Good to know

• The Badgers improve to 11-22 in the Big Ten Tournament.
• Senior Avyanna Young scored a team-high 20 points, her third game this season with 20-or-more points, including the last two in a row. The 6-1 forward tied her career high by making 10 free throws.
• Sophomore Marsha Howard added 12 points, her ninth game this season in double figures.
• The Badgers shot 17-23 (73.9 percent) from the free-throw line, their fourth-straight game shooting more free throws than their opponent. Rutgers shot 16-22 (72.7 percent) from the line.
• Rutgers outrebounded the Badgers 39-35.

 
Next on the calendar
Wisconsin will play No. 6 seed Michigan State on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT.