MADISON – This game of catch up isn’t working for the Wisconsin women’s basketball team.

For the second straight game, a slow start laid the foundation to a Big Ten loss. Tuesday in a New Year’s Eve late afternoon matinee at the Kohl Center the Badgers didn’t have a basket in the first quarter when they fell behind by as many as 21 points.

The result was an uphill climb for the final 30 minutes and in the end a 59-50 loss to Minnesota.

The recipe for defeat included 14 turnovers, seven in each half. Wisconsin also got out-worked on the boards and continued to struggle to get opportunities from three-point range.

As a result the Badgers (10-4 overall, 1-2 in the Big Ten) are searching for answers after getting off to the program’s best 12-game start in 15 years.

“It really starts in practice, everyone coming in hungry,” junior guard Ronnie Porter said. “Our last two games weren’t our best two games. Obviously you’ve seen from the beginning of the season until now a lot has changed and what we were good at we’re not doing now and it’s given us the results we’ve gotten these last two games.”

Wisconsin’s four-game winning streak over the Gophers snapped

Serah Williams, a 6-foot-4 junior forward, finished with 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds. Porter posted 13 points on 4-for-12 shooting, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out four assists.

Minnesota (14-1, 2-1 Big Ten) never trailed. Three Gophers reached double figures including former Kettle Moraine standout Grace Grocholski, a 5-10 sophomore guard who finished with 12 points, went 2 for 5 from three-point range, and grabbed five rebounds.

Minnesota has played without standout Mara Braun (foot) but even without the 6-foot junior guard the Gophers had plenty of size inside and length across its lineup to make it difficult for Wisconsin to move the ball, get off passes cleanly and clean the boards as well as it would like.

“Honestly I think the biggest thing for us is we’ve killed people on the boards. We had four offensive rebounds (today)” Badgers coach Marisa Moseley said. “For us that is not our game. We’ve got to be able to go get second- and third-chance opportunities, getting to the free throw line.

“Starting down 19 points (after one quarter), you’re not going to win many games like that. I’ll take responsibility.  We’ve got to have better starts,”

At Indiana, the Badgers trailed by as many as 15 points in the first quarter before an 11-0 run allowed them to cut the lead to four. The Hoosiers led by 19 at the half.

Tuesday Minnesota enjoyed runs of 10 and 13 straight points in the first quarter. Wisconsin settled into the game in the second quarter, but never enough to pull closer than 13 points. The halftime deficit was 17.

UW had a few chances in the fourth quarter to pull to within 10 but the outcome was never in jeopardy down the stretch.

Cutting turnovers, increasing three-pointers key to improving

As Wisconsin tries to get back on track, two areas will be key.

* Turnovers. Williams finished with six to lead the Badgers for the second straight game. Porter had four for the second straight contest.

Williams has been getting smothered in the paint, which has caused her to attempt a lot of passes through traffic.

“I just think I’ve got to be more patient with it and see the thing develop,” she said.

* Three-point shooting: At one point this season the Badgers had a run of four straight games with at least 20 three-point attempts. Thursday marked fourth straight game they didn’t reach that mark.

UW had 12 attempts against Indiana, six less than its season average, and was on track for that total in the first half Tuesday before going 3 for 11 in the second half when they were playing catch up.

“We know how good we are and how good we can be,” Porter said. “These games just show us what we need to work on. We play in one of the best conferences in the country so it’s just about how we respond and be as one while respond.”

Upcoming Big Ten schedule filled with challenges

Porter isn’t kidding about the Big Ten.

Up next is a trip to west coast to face Oregon on Saturday and Washington on Tuesday. After that comes two games against opponents ranked in the USA Today coaches poll – vs. No. 7 Maryland Jan. 11 and No. 9 Ohio State Jan. 16 – before back-to-back road games at Nebraska Jan. 20 and Minnesota Jan. 26.

“You can’t ride that rollar coaster and be so high then get so low,” Moseley said. “We’ve got to find that midpoint to say, how do we dissect this and how do we get better.  

“We’ve got three months to figure this thing out. I told them that’s a lot of time and for us to continue to grow. We’ve made big leaps, but we obviously still have a long way to go to really become the team we want to become.”