MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — For the second-straight game,
Imani Lewis put up 27 points but that wasn't enough as the Wisconsin women's basketball team dropped a Valentine's Day Border Battle on the road at Minnesota, 68-63, Sunday afternoon.
A dominant performance for the Badgers in the paint, outscoring the Gophers 44-20 from inside, was not enough to overcome a Minnesota team that was lights out from the 3-point line, finishing with nine triples while Wisconsin made only one shot from deep.
Wisconsin shot 49.1% (26-53) from field-goal range, but just 14.3% (1-7) from deep, while Minnesota shot 39% (23-59) from the field and 37.5% (9-24) from behind the arc. The Gophers edged Wisconsin, 35-34, in rebounds with Minnesota pulling down 13 offensive boards, scoring 13 second-chance points. UM had three players in double-figure scoring led by 20 from Kadiatou Sissoko.
Minnesota led from the start, jumping out to a 12-4 lead, just over four minutes into the first quarter. The Gophers maintained the eight-point lead (18-10) at the end of the period and led by 10 (22-12) with 7:35 on the clock in the second quarter. Wisconsin went on an 8-0 run, including a 3-pointer by
Tara Stauffacher, that cut the lead to 22-20 with 5:31 remaining. A Lewis field goal with 2:12 to play in the half made it a one-point game (27-26) but that was as close as the Badgers were going to get.
The Golden Gophers led by 12 (53-41) just 10 seconds into the fourth quarter and were up 62-50 with 2:41 to play. Despite the Badgers scoring 13 points over the remaining minutes, Minnesota made 6-of-8 from the free-throw line to seal the win.
Totaling 27 points in back-to-back games and tying a new career high she set on Wednesday against No. 12 Ohio State, Lewis led all scorers in Sunday's contest. The forward shot 56.2% (9-16) from the field and 75% (9-12) from the free-throw line while adding a game-high 11 rebounds for her 11
th double-double of the season, which leads the Big Ten.
Sophomore
Sydney Hilliard extends her streak of double-digit scoring games to nine as the Monroe, Wisconsin, native finished with 15 points while dishing out three assists and grabbing five rebounds.
As a defensive unit, Wisconsin finished with six blocks and seven steals on the afternoon, scoring 15 points off 15 turnovers by the Golden Gophers. Three of UW's blocks were credited to sophomore Julie Pospisilova, who also added eight points and five assists.
Straight from the court
Head coach Jonathan Tsipis
"When you shoot 49% from the field (but) obviously we didn't shoot it well from the 3-point line. I don't think people were ready to shoot threes, I don't think people set themselves in that way. I think we're better offensively. When you shoot that percentage, you have to be able to convert on your possessions and that's where we got hurt by turnovers. For us, its disappointing to have the 19 turnovers. When you score 44 points in the paint, hopefully you're going to shoot a pretty good percentage. We did a good job, especially Imani, in the paint.
"I thought for a majority of the game we were behind rebounding of the basketball and that goes to the aggressiveness that (Minnesota) had. You look at it and say the 3-point shooting (made the difference). (Minnesota's) Sara Scalia, I thought the two (triples) that she hit in the second half were gigantic. And then you start getting some complimentary people helping a little bit and then you get someone like Bagwell Katalin, her jumpers were really key baskets for them.
"They had that third scorer and you look across the board and that's the difference in the game. Imani (Lewis) has 27 and Syd (Hilliard) gets 15 and we don't have another double-figure scorer. When you lose you a game by five points, I think that third scorer really helped them."
Up next
The Badgers have a bye week and don't return to action until next Saturday, when they head to Northwestern. Tip is scheduled for 2 p.m. from Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois, and can be found on B1G Network+.
