Wisconsin
Wisconsin women basketball can’t recover from late third quarter run, fall to No. 9 Ohio State
An aerial view of the Kohl Center on the campus of UW-Madison
An aerial view of Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis., home of the Wisconsin Badgers.
MADISON – All it took was a 3-minute stretch for Wisconsin’s hopes of an upset to be put on life support Thursday night.
The Badgers women’s basketball team trailed No. 9 Ohio State by as many as 11 points in the third quarter before Serah Williams sparked a 14-6 run that cut the deficit to three points.
Ohio State’s response, however, was the difference. The Buckeyes scored 14 of the next 17 points, a run that proved critical in their 80-69 victory over UW at the Kohl Center.
Williams, a 6-foot-4 junior, finished with 20 points, grabbed a season-high 17 rebounds and tied a career-high with six assists. Graduate student Tess Myers finished with season-high 18 points and was 6 for 14 from three-point range. Junior Lily Krahn added 16 points and was 4 for 8 from three-point range.
Freshman guard Jaloni Cambridge finished with 27 points on 11-for-16 shooting for the Buckeyes. Chance Gray, a junior guard, added 22 points. Junior Cotie McMahon added 17 points and shared the team lead with Cambridge with eight rebounds.
The decisive run allowed Ohio State to increase a 54-51 lead with 2 minutes 12 seconds left in the third quarter to 68-54 just 33 seconds into the fourth quarter. Key to that run was a sequence during the final seconds of the third quarter when McMahon appeared to get away with a double dribble before junior Gray drew a foul on three-point attempt with .7 seconds to play.
Gray hit all the three free throws and opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer. Just like that UW’s deficit went from six points to 66-54.
The loss was Wisconsin’s sixth straight, though for the second straight game it showed promise vs. a top 10 opponent. The Badgers lost to then-No. 8 Maryland Saturday.
Check jsonline later for more on the game.