WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A last-second block by Brooke Schramek gave the Wisconsin women's basketball team a 63-62 win at Purdue on Sunday afternoon. The win gives the Badgers their most Big Ten Conference wins since the 2014-15 season and sets the team up for the Big Ten Tournament, which begins on Wednesday.

After the Badgers (8-20, 5-13 B1G) came back from a 22-point deficit to beat Purdue (16-13, 7-11), 54-52, on Feb. 13, today's rematch did not disappoint.
 
The Badger took over the game early, leading for just over 35 minutes of the game, including the whole second and third periods. Productive first-half shooting of 48.3% (14-29) from field goal range set up the Badgers with a 34-23 halftime lead.

Wisconsin led 40-26 with 6:38 to play in the third quarter before Purdue went on a 14-2 run to make it a two-point game (42-40) with 3:32 on the clock. The Badgers scored the last six points of the period to lead 48-40 at the end of three quarters.

The Boilermakers scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to tie the score at 48 with 8:14 to play. Wisconsin got its lead back up to six (59-53) with 3:03 remaining but Purdue continued to cut into the UW lead until two Boilermaker free throws made it a one-point game, 61-60, with 32 seconds left in the game.  Purdue took advantage of a Badger turnover to grab its first lead of the game at 62-61 with just 13 seconds remaining. On the next possession, Halle Douglass went coast to coast, making a driving layup with just six seconds on the clock, putting Wisconsin up 63-62. Purdue's last-second shot was blocked by Schramek, sealing the Badger win.

Julie Pospisilova led all scorers with 19 points while Douglass added 16 points. Schramek and Krystyna Ellew both added nine points.

Wisconsin shot 47.4% (27-57) from the field, including 25% (4-16) from 3-point range. Purdue hit 34.4% (22-64) from the field, including 39.1% (9-23) from behind the arc. The Boilermakers shot 9-12 (75%) from the free-throw line while UW was 5-8 (62.5%) from the charity stripe. Purdue had four players in double digits.
 
The Badgers won the rebounding game, 36-34, behind eight boards from Douglass. Douglass also dished off a team-best six assists as Wisconsin handed off 20 dimes. UW also outscored Purdue 44-24 in the paint.

Straight from the court

Head Coach Marisa Moseley
"I just can't say enough about this team. I told them in the locker room in pregame, I said 'I want at the end of this game to look at each other and to say that you left everything on the floor for each other, and that we finished better than we started' and we absolutely did that. I couldn't be happier or more proud of them... But for Halle (Douglass) that was a huge play. A huge block for Brooke (Schramek) to come over and rotate. It was just a complete team effort."

"They say you want to be playing your best basketball and February and March so I don't know if that was our best but we had enough to finish it and I'm really proud of the team effort."

Up next

The Badgers will find this evening their seed for the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, which runs from Wednesday-Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.