MADISON, Wis. — Facing one of the nation's top teams in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the Wisconsin women's basketball team fell to Virginia Tech, 70-60, in a hard-fought contest Wednesday night.
The Hokies (7-1), a team receiving votes in the national Associated Press and women's basketball coaches' polls, came out of the gate shooting lights out from the field, hitting 10-14 (71.4%), including 6-9 from (66.7%) the 3-point line, in the first quarter. Tech led 27-17 at the end of the first quarter before the Badger (2-6) defense turned up its play, allowing only one more 3-pointer the rest of the game.
The Badgers cut the lead to six (29-23) with 6:37 to play in the second quarter before VTU outscored Wisconsin 12-4 over the final six minutes to lead 41-27 at the half.
Wisconsin outscored the Hokies 33-29 in the second half, including 10-11 from the free-throw line, but it wasn't enough as the Badgers dropped the contest.
Junior guard Sydney Hilliard led the way for the Badgers with 16 points but it was junior Sara Stapleton who had a big game both offensively and defensively. The forward netted 15 points while limiting Virginia Tech leading scorer Elizabeth Kitley to 13 points and three rebounds, well below her season averages of 20.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
As a team, Wisconsin had one of their best shooting outings of the season. UW shot 20-48 (41.7%) from the field and hit a season-high 94.4% (17-18) from the free-throw line. Stapleton was perfect from the line on the night, shooting 5-5, alongside Halle Douglass, who posted six points on 4-4 shooting from the free-throw line. Julie Pospisilova added 11 points.
The Hokies shot 50% (26-52) from the field, including 7-22 (31.8%) from 3-point range. Azana Baines was one of four Tech players to score in double figures with a game-high 19 points.
Both team recorded 27 rebounds with Wisconsin being led by Hilliard with eight boards.
The tough Badger defense forced 13 turnovers, tallying eight steals in the game with graduate veteran Katie Nelson swiping three of them. Pospisilova added two steals.
With the Badgers shutting down the Hokies' top scorers, Virginia Tech had to turn to its bench for scoring and it came through. The Hokies outscored Wisconsin 29-13 in bench points on the night.
Straight from the court
Head Coach Marisa Moseley
"I'm extremely proud of my team this evening. We definitely have to give credit to Virginia Tech. They came in and they're tough team in the ACC you but I think we showed some really great strides especially in those last two quarters. We outscored them and held them without a field goal for about three minutes at the end of the game.
"I think offensively for us our execution the second half was much better and I'm proud of our kids with our rebounding. We tied them in rebounding which has been an area that we definitely want to focus on. I think we still have to be able to take more shots and we can't go stretches like we did in that first quarter when we got down so much. I'm really proud of the teams' effort and I think we're definitely moving in the right direction."
Notes to know
- Sophomore Brooke Schramek tied her career high with three assists.
- The Badgers shot a season-best 17-18 (94.4%) from the free-throw line, which ranks ninth on the UW single-game record list. Junior Sara Stapleton led Wisconsin with a career-best 5-5 from the line while Halle Douglass shot a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe.
- Virginia Tech pulled down an opponent season-low 27 rebounds, nearly 13 fewer rebounds than its season average of 41.7 rebounds per game. The Hokies also dished off just 12 assists, more than five below their season average 17.6 assists per game.
Up next
Wisconsin kicks off Big Ten Conference play when it travels to Northwestern on Sunday. Tip off against the Wildcats is scheduled for 2 p.m. from Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois. The game will be streamed on B1G+.
