MADISON, Wis. – Despite a career high 30 points from senior Marsha Howard, the Wisconsin women's basketball team was not able to rally from a 16-point deficit, falling to Michigan, 76-70, in its annual Play4Kay Think Pink game at the Kohl Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
Wisconsin (11-12, 2-8 BIG) was down by 16 points (65-49) with 7:44 to play in the game before an 8-0 Badger run cut the lead to 65-57 with 4:13 remaining. UW cut the lead to six (69-63) with 2:09 left as the Badgers' full-court press forced six Michigan turnovers.
 
Michigan went up by 12 points (75-63) with less than a minute to play before Wisconsin scored seven straights but it was too late as time ran out on the Badgers.
 
Senior Marsha Howard led the Badgers, scoring a career-high 30 points, with 14 points in the fourth quarter alone. The 6-foot forward also made a career-high 11 free-throws and grabbed nine rebounds.  Freshman Imani Lewis shot in double figures, adding 15 points while pulling down seven boards and recording three steals.
 
Michigan (14-9, 5-6 BIG) was up 17-14 at the end of the first quarter and went on a 6-0 run to start the second period with a 23-14 lead with 8:25 on the clock. The Wolverines outscored the Badgers 15-8 in the second quarter to grab a 10-point lead at the half (32-22).
 
UW came out strong in the third quarter, cutting the Michigan lead to six (35-29) with 7:47 remaining but a 6-0 Wolverine run over the next 41 seconds put Michigan up 41-29 with 7:06 to play.  (41-29) would pull Michigan away again. Wisconsin would get no closer than eight points until late in the fourth quarter.
 
The Wolverines were led by Naz Hillmon with 20 points and eight rebounds. Hallie Thome chipped in 12 points while Hailey Brown and Nicole Munger both added 10 points for Michigan.
 
UW shot 40.7 percent (24-59) from the field, including 27.3 percent (3-11) from 3-point range, and 67.9 percent (19-28) from the charity stripe. Michigan shot 53.6 percent (30-56) from the field, with 5-12 (41.7 percent) coming from beyond the arc, and 61.1 percent (11-18) from the free-throw line.
 
Michigan turned over the ball 14 times while the Badgers only had 12 giveaways. UW scored 15 points off of Michigan turnovers but the Wolverines scored 46 points in the paint compared to 36 for Wisconsin.
 
UW outrebounded Michigan, 39-33, behind Howard and Lewis.

 

MARSHA HOWARD 𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓲𝓰𝓱 30 POINTS 🙌 pic.twitter.com/CVUPhylpm9

— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerWBB) February 3, 2019

Straight from the court

"Putting ourselves in a position with the turnovers in the first half, and being down 10, we came out to start the third quarter in double-bonus because of what our players' mindset is, to be aggressive and putting the ball on the ground and holding people off.
 
"When you're at home and you allow people to shoot 60 percent in both quarters in the second half, you're really relying on having to turn them over and being able to score off of that, and being really efficient on the offensive end. I know we're a better defensive team than that.
 
"To get to six with 90 seconds left and to play a great possession where you're guarding them at every angle is great. We continued to be aggressive."

    - Head coach Jonathan Tsipis 


"Coach Myia (Johnson) would put me aside and say just attack them and that's just what I did. I tried my best to get on the offensive boards and just keep going strong to the basket.
 
"We can't continue to dig ourselves into those holes and have to crawl out of them. It's just a fight that we have that we're going to continue to fight until the clock says zero regardless of the score on the board."

    - Senior Marsha Howard


"I told myself to attack, attack, attack. Having Coach Myia constantly in my ear because they know that I can give more than what I'm giving so they're always pressuring me to give more and take that extra leap. Having that 24/7 in my head is going to allow me to just push, push push."

    - Freshman Imani Lewis
 

Notes to Know

• Senior Marsha Howard scored a career-high 30 points, including 14 points in the fourth quarter alone. The 6-foot forward also sets career highs from the free-throw line, shooting 11-15. She also hit the second 3-pointer of her career.
• Junior Abby Laszewski shot a perfect 2-2 from the free-throw line.
• Freshman Imani Lewis tied her career high with three steals.
• Wisconsin shot 19-28 from the free-throw line, its second highest makes this season.
• Michigan shot an opponent season-high 53.6 percent (30-56) from the field, scoring 76 points, the second-most points UW has given up this season.

Up next

The Badgers take a week off and return to action next Sunday at Illinois (9-12, 1-9 BIG). Tip off is set of 2 p.m. from the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois.