MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin women's basketball team opened the month of December by corralling Marshall, 67-49, Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.
 
The Badgers (7-2) had a slow start as they were unable to score until redshirt Alex Luehring made the first connection with 6:09 left in the first quarter down 7-2. A 7-0 UW run knotted the score a 7-7 with 4:16 to play in the period as Suzanne Gilreath hit the first of her 3-pointers.
 
UW shined in the second quarter, grabbing its first lead of the game (19-18) on a 3-pointer from Gilreath with 7:08 left in the half. Wisconsin continued its upward trend using a 7-0 run over a minute and 10 seconds to up their lead to 30-20 with 2:47 to play in the half. The Badgers outscored the Herd in second quarter ,21-10, to lead 34-23 at the break.
 
The Herd pulled with five points (42-37) of the Badgers with 3:43 left in the third quarter but UW found new life in the final three minutes to gain back their double figure lead. Redshirt senior Kelly Karlis hit a 3-pointer with 49 seconds left in the period to put Wisconsin up 47-37 at the end of three.
 
Marshall cut the UW lead to seven (52-45) with 7:36 remaining but a 5-0 run got the lead back up to 57-45 with 5:08 to play. The Herd was able to get no closer as Wisconsin went to its bench late in the game.
 
Wisconsin won despite shooting just 29.6 percent (24-81) from the field, but made a season-high eight 3-pointers. UW shot 42.1 percent (8-19) from deep while hitting 52.4 percent (11-21) from the free-throw line.  
 
Marshall shot just 25.4 percent (16-63) for the game, including 31 percent (9-29) from 3-point range. The Herd also made 61.5 percent (8-13) from the free-throw line.
 
The Badgers were led by freshman Imani Lewis, who grabbed her fourth double-double on the season with 11 points and a career-high 14 boards. Junior Suzanne Gilreath shot in double figures, all from 3-point range (4-7), scoring a season-high 12 points. Redshirt senior Kelly Karlis also contributed 12 points while shooting 2-2 from the 3-point range.
 
Wisconsin dominated off the glass, outrebounding the Herd, 68-42, which led to 21 second-chance points. UW also led in the paint, 26-12, and off the bench, 33-10.
 
The Badgers also recorded a season-high nine blocks, led by junior Abby Laszewski, who tied her career best with four blocks.
 
Marshall led by Taylor Porter and Shayna Gore, who both chipped in 16 points.

 

3⃣3⃣3⃣3⃣for Suzanne! pic.twitter.com/gVrhzFTZcG

— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerWBB) December 5, 2018

 
 

Fun Facts

• The Badgers recorded season highs in 3-point field goals made (8), blocks (9) and field goal attempts (81).
• Freshman Imani Lewis recorded her fourth career double-double with a career-high 14 rebounds while adding 11 points.
• Wisconsin outrebounded The Herd 68-42, its second-highest single game total this season and its second-highest advantage. The Badgers had a season-high 31 offensive rebounds.
• Wisconsin is 7-2 to start the season, its best start since 2009-10.
    
  

Straight from the court

Head coach Jonathan Tsipis
"I thought we did a better job on the defensive end for longer stretches of time. Obviously, after the first quarter I thought we did a good job rebounding the basketball. I think the next step on that is being more efficient on the offensive end, and taking advantage of offensive rebounds."
 
"I thought Sue (Gilreath) was the catalyst in the first half, especially in the second quarter, stretching their defense and I thought she kind of passed the baton over to Kelly (Karlis). Both of her threes were no hesitation, Kelly got going in the first half with getting a transition basket, a great drive off the wing and as soon as she got the three to get back out in transition in the second half."
 
"As we watch the film I think you'll see we took them out of some actions, we never want to just rely on a team just missing shots and we will see that on film. I was proud of how we responded when they got it to six and seven to get it back into double-figures."

Junior guard Suzanne Gilreath
"It definitely feels great being back. I've been working on getting my flow back, staying in the gym and getting my reps up. Without my team, I wouldn't be able to get those shots, so just getting my flow back with them, being ready to shoot when the balls gets to me hands is great. I feel great."
 
Senior guard Kelly Karlis
"I definitely give credit to my teammates, because they've been helping me mentally through the past couple of weeks getting back into the flow of things along with my coaches. They've never told me not to shoot. They keep that in my mind, to keep scoring the ball. 
 
"It felt really good to score today. I've been struggling with my shot a little bit, so make two (threes) today, back-to-back, it felt great." 
 

Next up

The Badgers head north this Saturday to take on in-state rival, Green Bay. Tip time is 1 p.m. from the Kress Center.