Wisconsin took a lead into halftime for the fourth time all season, but the 29-26 advantage proved not to be enough as Wisconsin dropped it's 2nd game of the season, 60-55, to the Washington Huskies at the Kohl Center on Thanksgiving Eve. With the loss the Badgers dropped to 2-2 on the young season while the other UW improved to 3-1 overall.
A game high 22 points from Jazmine Davis led a trio of double digit scorers for the Huskies in the win. Wisconsin was led by their own trio of Taylor Wurtz, Morgan Paige, and reserve AnnMarie Brown who all had 11 points each.
Wurtz is now just 16 points away from the 1,000 point scoring mark in her career.
As you'd expect with five point margin everything was close, but in the end it was the Badgers committing 22 turnovers on the night that hurt them. The Huskies took advantage of those turnovers, scoring 20 points off turnovers, and besting the Badgers by a six point margin in that category.
The game started off well for Wisconsin as they built a 15-5 advantage on a three pointer by AnnMarie Brown at the 15:13 mark for the 1st half, but it wasn't a lead they could build off of and the Huskies began to fight back as they would rattle off an 11-0 run to take a brief lead at 16-15.
Wisconsin and Washington would continue to keep it close the rest of the half, but the Badgers would take the slim 29-26 lead into half as they hoped to build off of it coming out of the locker room.
It appeared as if the Badgers would be able to stay on top early in the 2nd half as they grew their lead to as many as 7 points in the first 9 minutes of the half. However, that's when things unraveled a bit for the Badgers as the Huskies began to get hot from deep and eventually with just over 5 minutes remaining the Huskies took the lead for the first time in the half at 50-48.
That basket to retake the lead was part of a 10-0 run that saw the Huskies stretch their lead to 58-50 with 1:43 left in the game. Wisconsin could get no closer as the Badgers missed a late three point attempt and turned the ball over on the ensuing rebound. Down by 5 the Badgers were forced to foul and hope for misses from the free throw line.
Unfortunately for Wisconsin the Huskies leading scorer on the night, Jazmine Davis, would seal the deal with a pair of free throws to put them up 60-53. AnnMarie Brown would score on a layup with just three seconds remaining for the final score of 60-55.
This game was a hard fought battle that saw the Huskies edge the Badgers 41-38 in rebounding and outshoot the Badgers from beyond the arc (6-16 for 37.5% to 5-25 for 20%). 2nd chance points also hurt the Badgers in this close one, losing that battle 12-6 on the night.
Wisconsin will look to start a new winning streak with a home game on Sunday at 2pm CT against Evansville.
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