INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Wisconsin women's basketball team defines never giving up. Despite being down by 12 points in the second quarter, the Badgers rallied to outscore Ohio State, 51-31, in the second half to down the Buckeyes, 73-63, at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.
 
Seniors Marsha Howard and Kelly Karlis were not going out without a fight. Howard grabbed her tenth double double of the season with a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Karlis hit her career-high of 23 points after shooting 4-4 from 3-point range and 6-6 from the free-throw line.
 
Junior Kendra VanLeeuwen led the team with five assists.
 
Wisconsin (15-17) could not connect with the basket in the first half as Ohio State (14-14) led by 10 at the half (32-22), but that quickly changed as the Badgers found their offensive rhythm to outscore Ohio State, 51-31, in the second half.
 
UW shot 80 percent (4-5) from 3-point range as well as 85.7 percent (12-14) from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to outscore OSU 30-17 in the period.
 
The Badgers took good care of the basketball throughout the game with only five turnovers while the Buckeyes had 10 giveaways. UW capitalized with 12 points off of OSU.
 
OSU outrebounded UW 44-38, but the Badgers led 5-2 in steals.
 
UW shot 37.9 percent (22-58) from the field, including 64.7 percent (11-17) from 3-point range, and 78.3 percent (18-23) from the free-throw line.
 
OSU shot 34.9 percent (22-63) from the field, 37 percent (10-37) from beyond the arc, and only 50 percent (9-18) from the line.

 

BADGERS WIN.

We are heading to the quarterfinals! pic.twitter.com/g72DDXmHKk

— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerWBB) March 7, 2019

 

Notes to Know 

• The Badgers advance to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2013.
• No. 13 Wisconsin upset No. 5 Ohio State, UW's highest win over a higher-ranked opponent since defeating No. 5 Purdue in 2010.
• Since the Big Ten Tournament advanced to 14 teams in 2015, a No. 13-seeded team has never won a game.
• Redshirt senior Kelly Karlis scored a career-high 24 points to lead all players. The 6-foot-2 guard was a perfect 4-4 from 3-point range.
• Senior Marsha Howard recorded her 15^th career double-double and ninth of the season with 23 points and 11 rebounds. The 6-foot forward also had a double-double in Wednesday's win over Penn State.

 

Straight from the Court

"I thought at half time our team knew they hadn't played their best basketball. You try and read body language and they knew there were things we could fix. We took good care of the basketball in the first half, but we didn't make shots. So, we talked about offensive rebounding a little bit better and let's have confidence when we get to the free-throw line.
 
"This time of the year comes to your seniors and the two biggest players that stepped up were Marsha Howard and Kelly Karlis. They were making shots, getting stops for us on the other end, and once we got the lead you could see they were putting in everything they had.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to play Michigan tomorrow because we are still playing and have the chance to move on."

     - Head coach Jonathan Tsipis 

 

Up Next

The Badgers continue Big Ten Tournament play against fourth-seeded Michigan in the quarterfinals tomorrow, Friday, from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Game will tip off at approximately 1:30 p.m. CT.