MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin women's basketball team (15-17, 6-13 B1G) fell to the Saint Louis Billikens (20-18, 8-9 A10), 65-60, in the Great 8 round of the 2024 Women's National Invitation Tournament on Monday, Apr. 1 inside the Kohl Center.

The game got off to a scary start, with Serah Williams exiting the game with an injury less than a minute in. Rather than be complacent with their situation, the Badgers took charge and began to fight the 8-0 deficit they found themselves in early on. Wisconsin's scoring was initiated by Halle Douglass who dropped in a layup and this began an 8-2 scoring run for UW to shrink the offensive gap. Following this, four points from Ronnie Porter in addition to a Sania Copeland triple increased the Badgers' point total to thirteen, but the team found themselves trailing by four after the first quarter. 

The Badgers struck first in quarter two, with Natalie Leuzinger scoring an and-1 and completing the three-point play. Next up, Douglass drained a three-pointer as the shot clock ran out, but the Badger offense went quiet after this bucket. Saint Louis began to heat up, recording four unanswered baskets to put them up 11 with 38 seconds to play in the quarter. In a low-scoring first half for the Badgers, the team finished the first 20 minutes behind the Billikens, 30-22.

As the third quarter got underway, the Badger scoring continued to be slow and inconsistent. D'Yanis Jimenez got the Badgers going with a long two-pointer, but the team's next basket came more than three minutes later when Leuzinger drained a three for her eighth point of the game. With two minutes remaining in the quarter, Wisconsin found a spark that got both the team and the crowd riled up. The Kohl Center roared as Douglass and Porter delivered layups and a Jimenez buzzer-beating jumper brought the crowd to its feet. Despite being down 48-42, it seemed as though the Badgers had found their groove at precisely the right time of the game 

With the season on the line in the fourth quarter, Tessa Grady came off the bench ready to make an impact. The freshman drained a three-pointer two minutes into the quarter and the team fed off this infectious energy. Next up, Porter landed a layup, her 12th point of the game, and suddenly the Badgers found themselves within two, the smallest deficit they'd faced since 1:50 into the second quarter. Two Jimenez layups continued to invigorate the offense, and a free throw from Porter tied the game at 53-all with 3:59 on the clock. Grady struck once again, notching her second triple of the quarter and Porter followed with a pair of free throws to give the Badgers their first lead of the game with 59.2 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, this proved to be Wisconsin's final points of the season, as Saint Louis dropped six points to round out the game, defeating the Badgers, 65-60.

Wisconsin shot 35.8% (19-53) from the field and 21.7% (5-23) from 3-point range. The Badgers shot 81.0% (17-21) from the free-throw line. 

Saint Louis shot 40.7% (24-59) from field-goal range, including 26.7% (4-15) from behind the arc. The Billikens were 76.5% (13-17) from the charity stripe. The team was led in scoring by Kyla McMakin, who scored 18 points (6-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT).

Notes to know

• Halle Douglass tied her season-high in rebounds with seven. 

• The Wisconsin bench outscored Saint Louis', 26-13. 

• D'Yanis Jimenez scored 12 points, her most since Dec. 21 against Eastern Illinois. 

• Ronnie Porter moved into fifth all-time in single-season minutes played with 1,121.