MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin women's basketball team fell at home to No. 21 Iowa, 84-50, Thursday night at the Kohl Center.
Despite having three players in double figures, the high-powered offense of Caitlin Clark, the nation's leading scorer, and the Hawkeyes (15-5, 9-2) was too much for Wisconsin (5-16, 2-9) to overcome.
The Badgers came out of the gate with great defensive energy, holding the Iowa scoreless for nearly five minutes to start the game. Wisconsin led 4-0 less than two minutes into the first quarter before the Hawkeyes went on an 8-0 run to lead 8-4 with 3:41 on the clock. Iowa led 15-8 after the first quarter and nearly doubled up the Badgers, 23-12, in the second quarter to take a 38-20 lead at the half.
The Hawkeyes finished shooting 59% (36-61) from the field, including 41.7% (5-12) from 3-point range while Wisconsin shot 32.3% (20-62), including 33.3% (7-21) from behind the arc. Clark finished with her fifth triple-double this season with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Wisconsin was led by Julie Pospisilova and Krystyna Ellew, who started in place of Sydney Hilliard, with 13 points apiece while Brooke Schramek added 10 points. Hilliard missed the game after UW announced that she was taking a hiatus from the team due to a personal issue.
Iowa outrebounded the Badgers, 41-26, while outscoring UW 54-16 in the paint, 25-2 on fast breaks, and 18-0 off the bench.
Schramek led Wisconsin with seven rebounds while adding a career-high four assists. Katie Nelson dished off a team-high five assists.
Defensively, Wisconsin tallied a season-high eight blocks, including a career-high four stops from Sara Stapleton.
Straight from the Court
Head coach Marisa Moseley
"I'm really appreciative (of the fans). Our kids work really hard so for them to be able to come out and play in front of a crowd... There were different points when the crowd got pretty loud after plays that we made, which was awesome. For a home crowd you want that. I think we are on the rise and I think you can see there are different glimpses and plays that we make or extra passes, and the way that we compete for 40 minutes. There are young kids in the crowd that probably have aspirations to play for the Badgers one day and I think we owe it to them to give them the best we can and know that they keep coming back and they see something and this program changing.
"I think we take it one game at a time. We played Illinois even in the first five minutes up at their place and I think our kids know that we gave one away down there. In addition to having a great crowd on Sunday, we have an opportunity to get a home win. We did that against Penn State and it felt great for (our players), for everybody. For us we have to turn the page and focus on Illinois and then once we get that we will go to the next one. This is just about Sunday's game. One game at a time for us."
Up next
The Badgers host Illinois on Sunday as Wisconsin Athletics celebrates National Girls and Women in Sports Day at the Kohl Center. Fans will enjoy a fun-filled, pre-game featuring Badger athletes from several teams participating in interactive events on the consourse. Tip off is set for 1 p.m. with doors opening two hours before.cross women's athletics. Tip off is set for 1 p.m. with doors opening two hours before tip off.
