COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Wisconsin women's basketball team nearly erased a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but fell to Ohio State on the road in the final seconds, 70-68.
 
Wisconsin (12-14, 3-11 BIG) led the way through the first half including a 14-point lead (27-13) at the 5:28 mark in the second quarter, but Ohio State tied the game (36-36) in the first minute of the second half with back-to-back 3 pointers.
 
The Buckeyes (12-12, 8-7 BIG) continued to extend the lead, outscoring the Badgers 23-13 in the third quarter.
 
Ohio State grabbed its largest lead of the game (65-52) with 4:14 left in the game, but UW went on a 16-5 run in the last three and a half minutes, including three 3-pointers, to come within one point of the Buckeyes with five seconds to go (69-68). Following an OSU missed free throw, the Badgers got he ball back but were unable to get the last-second shot off.
 
Junior Suzanne Gilreath led the Badgers with a season-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers and shooting a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line.
 
Senior Marsha Howard notched 18 points to reach 1,000 career points, becoming the 26th Badger to do so. Sophomore Niya Beverley also scored in double figures with 10 points.
 
UW shot 42.9 percent (24-56) from the field including 35 percent (7-20) from 3-point range and 68.4 percent (13-19) from the free-throw line. OSU led with 48.9 percent (23-47) from the field including 27.8 percent (5-18) and 65.5 percent (19-29) from the charity stripe.
 
Dorka Juhasz led the Buckeyes with a game-high 21 points and 15 rebounds. Three other OSU players scored in double figures.
 
UW forced 16 turnovers, scoring 20 points off OSU giveaways as the Badgers tallied nine steals.
 
OSU outrebounded UW 36-29.
 
Wisconsin and Ohio State will meet again on Feb. 28, in Madison at the Kohl Center.


 

Marsha takes the charge and @niyabev12_ hits the 3⃣
Q4 - 30 seconds | OSU 68, WIS 65
Will we see another last-second shot⁉️

— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerWBB) February 17, 2019

 

Straight from the court 

"I am proud. On the road and in a conference game, I thought that was the best we have played. It's just unfortunate we couldn't come away with a win.

"I thought our kids competed at a really high level and you have to give credit to them for continuing to attack. They kept battling and battled through foul trouble. We had different people step up today.
 
"It is harder to make a play off of a miss because you can't take it out of bounds and let people get off the floor and you hope you have timeouts in the end."

    - Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis 
 

Notes to Know

•  Senior Marsha Howard became the 26^th Badger to record 1,000 points in a career when she converted on a three-point play with 6:10 to play in the third quarter. The 6-foot forward finished with 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds
• Junior Suzanne Gilreath put up a season-high 19 points, shooting 5-9 from 3-point range. She also shot a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line and hasn't missed a free throw this season.
•  Wisconsin tied a Big Ten-season low with just 10 turnovers.
• The Badgers played without their second-leading scorer, freshman Imani Lewis, who was attending a family funeral.

Up next

The Badgers return to the Kohl Center Wednesday in hopes to split the series with Illinois after the Fighting Illini took the first game a week ago. The game tips off at 7 p.m.