PEORIA, Ill. — In its first road contest of the season, the Wisconsin women's basketball team fell at Bradley Friday night, 64-57.
The game came down to the fourth quarter where the Braves (3-0) outscored Wisconsin (1-2) 19-13, including 11-16 from the free-throw line as the Badgers were forced to foul, picking up 11 fouls in the fourth quarter alone.
The Badgers jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, heading into the first media timeout up 11-4. Coming out of the timeout, Bradley found their rhythm as one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, outscoring Wisconsin 8-0 over the last 2:17 to lead 12-11 after one period.
Both teams found steady offensive production in the second period with the Badgers outscoring the Braves, 21-17, heading into halftime with a 32-29 lead thanks to a last-second Katie Nelson 3 pointer.
Wisconsin came out of the break with some cold shooting, hitting just 29.4% (10-34) from the field in the second half, including 11.1% (1-9) from behind the arc. Despite the poor shooting, UW trailed by just one point (45-44) at the end of three quarters.
The Braves led by as many as five points in the fourth quarter, including at 57-52 with 3:57 to play, before Wisconsin was forced to foul.
Julie Pospisilova returned for her first game with the Badgers this season after missing the first two games of the season, playing with the Czech National Team in the European Championship. The junior totaled 17 points on the night while adding a team-high eight rebounds and sharing team-high honors with Nelson, dishing off six assists.
Leading the way offensively for Wisconsin was junior Sydney Hilliard, who had 19 points while adding seven rebounds and two steals. Forward Sara Stapleton notched eight points and five rebounds while adding three steals.
Wisconsin shot 35.3% (24-68) from the field, including 29.4% (5-17) from 3-point range. The Badgers took just seven free throws, making four for 57.1%.
Bradley made fewer field goals than UW, hitting 19-55 (34.5%) but shot 9-25 (36%) from behind the arc. The Braves hit 17-28 (60.7%) from the free-throw line for the game. The Badger defense was able to hold Bradley to nearly 20 points below their season average, while also outscoring the Braves in second-chance points 18-10.
The Badgers dished off 15 assists while turning the ball over only 11 times. Wisconsin tallied 10 steals and forced 12 turnovers on the Braves. The Braves outscored the Badgers 19-6 on fast-break points and 13-7 off the bench.
Straight from the Court
Head Coach Marisa Moseley
"We have to have a different mentality, especially on the road. I told our kids, any team that we play, you've got Wisconsin across your chest, you're a Big Ten team, they're going to come at you with their best and you have to match and exceed their intensity and we just didn't do that tonight."
Up next
Wisconsin has a busy week ahead at it hosts Chicago State on Monday night in the Kohl Center. Tip time is 6:30 p.m. The Badgers travel to Milwaukee on Wednesday before heading to the Rocky Mountain Hoops Classic for two games in Boulder, Colorado, on Nov. 27-28.
