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Wisconsin Badgers WBB Battled Against the Hoosiers But Fell Short in the End

Wisconsin Badgers WBB couldn’t get it done against Indiana

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Wisconsin Badgers Women’s Basketball
Photo: Courtesy of UW Athletics

The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team played one bad quarter on Wednesday night at the Kohl Center and that, unfortunately, was enough for Indiana to pick up the win. Serah Williams had a nice game and the defense acquitted itself nicely, but the Hoosiers left Madison with a 14-point victory.

Here is the full recap:

Wisconsin Badgers WBB Falls to Indiana at Home

Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (11-12 overall, 4-9 Big Ten): 54
No. 14 Indiana Hoosiers (21-3 overall, 12-2 Big Ten): 68

Four Factors

eFG%: 44.0
Turnover%: 30.6
Off. Rebound%: 26.9
FTA/FGA: 50.0

Key Stats

FG%: 42.9 (18-of-42)
Opp. FG%: 44.4 (24-of-54)
3P%: 14.3 (1-of-7)
Opp. 3P%: 50.0 (10-of-20)
FT%: 81.0 (17-of-21)
Opp. FT%: 62.5 (10-of-16)
Points Per Possession: 0.871
Opponent Points Per Possession: 1.063
Rebounds: 32 (seven offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 26 (seven offensive)
Turnovers: 19
Forced Turnovers: 11 


Team Leaders

  • Ronnie Porter: 11 points (4-of-7 FG, 1-of-3 3P), one rebound (one offensive), two assists, -16
  • Serah Williams: 18 points (6-of-16 FG), 14 rebounds (four offensive), one assist, one block, -11
  • Brooke Schramek: 10 points (3-of-7 FG, 0-of-1 3P), five rebounds, -14
  • Sania Copeland: four points (0-of-0 FG, 4-of-4 FT), four rebounds (one offensive), two blocks, one steal, +6

Indiana Team Leaders

  • Mackenzie Holmes: 24 points (11-of-19 FG, 1-of-1 3P), eight rebounds (three offensive), four steals, one block, +8
  • Chloe Moore-McNeil: 12 points (4-of-6 FG, 4-of-4 3P), four rebounds (one offensive), five assists, one steal, one block, +5

Three-ish Thoughts on the Wisconsin Badgers WBB Loss to Indiana

1. The Badgers were aggressive during the first quarter in attacking the basket and I think that helped them get settled in against a very good Indiana team. UW scored eight points in the paint and added six more on free throws, due to drawing fouls in the paint, in the first period and that adds up to 14 of their 19 points scored due to getting to the tin.


Serah Williams is obviously the top scorer when you look at “points in the paint,” so it was nice to see players like Sania Copeland and Ronnie Porter put the ball on the deck and get in amongst the trees. D’Yanis Jimenez also got two free throws from going to the basket, but she is never shy about getting to the rim and her teammates could take a lesson from that.

2. Wisconsin entered the second quarter down 20-19. They entered halftime down 41-25. Two scoring droughts, one from 6:51 to 2:40 and then one from 2:39 until halftime, put UW in a deep hole that they couldn’t climb out of. The Badgers turned it over seven times in the second quarter and shot 3-of-11 from the field (0-of-3 from 3P) which, advanced analytics tell us, is bad.

The Hoosiers didn’t even have to do much in the period to extend their lead. They took what the Badgers gave them, made a pair of open threes, and let Mackenzie Holmes go to work in the post. That’s a recipe for a 16-point halftime lead if ever I saw one.

3. For the second straight game the Badgers had a great third quarter and it allowed them to slowly chip away at IU’s lead. Within the first two minutes the Badgers were already within 10 and halfway through the period they had cut the Hoosier lead to six, but that would be as close as they got.


After Halle Douglass made the layup to make it a six point game, only three shots were made in the final five minutes of the third quarter…by both teams combined! IU’s Lilly Meister made a layup, Douglass made a jumper in the lane, and Sara Scalia nailed a three to make it a nine-point game heading into the final quarter. The Badgers had a TON of chances to make this one much closer but couldn’t get out of their own way to make it happen.

With the Badgers in position to make it a one possession game, Brooke Schramek had a brutal sequence where she committed a turnover, got beaten down the floor by Meister (who she was guarding) for a layup, and then committed an offensive foul on the very next possession. As a team, the Badgers committed five turnovers in the last half of the third quarter and from there things were pretty academic.

4. It is something that has been harped on since Marisa Moseley took over three years ago, but turnovers were brutal all game. Schramek had six and Douglass and Jimenez each had three to contribute to UW’s 19 miscues on the night, but everyone who played (except Sania Copeland) contributed at least one turnover.

While the 19 turnovers is a middle-of-the-road number for the Badgers this year, their turnover percentage of 30.6 was the fifth worst of the season and their assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.37 was tied for their worst mark of the year. Their 38.9% assist rate was, by far, their worst of the season and shows that UW just had issues passing the ball against Indiana. Some of that can be ascribed to the fact that Wisconsin got fouled a lot and scored a season-high 31.5% of their points from the free throw line, but they also weren’t moving the ball as well as they normally do.

5. Some quick mini-thoughts: this was the first game Wisconsin lost this year when attempting 19 or more free throws or when making 15 or more freebies; Serah Williams recorded her tenth straight double-double; Sania Copeland played 29 minutes and didn’t attempt a single field goal; Copeland was also the only Badger to have a positive plus/minus; IU’s Sara Scalia set the single-season program record for three-pointers made with 79 (and counting); I love watching Chloe Moore-McNeil (five assists and zero turnovers in 34 minutes!) play and I think she is one of the most underrated players in the country

Final Thought

A familiar refrain this year, at least in my head, is that this Wisconsin team is racking up a number of “moral victories” that obviously won’t show up in their end-of-season win total. Wednesday night’s game against Indiana is another one to add to the list. For 75% of the game, the Badgers went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the country and actually outscored them by one point. Sadly, women’s college basketball games are played to 100% completion and the 25% of the game where Wisconsin wasn’t so good…really wasn’t so good.


This team is young and they fight for each other though and that is as good a base as any to build something new. While this is Moseley’s third year at the helm in Madison, I think we can safely say that her first season was a “Year Zero” and that she should be evaluated more on what she has accomplished in the last two seasons.

They’ve already matched last season’s win total and have five more regular season games (plus at least one Big Ten Tournament game) to surpass it. There is progress being made here, however incremental, and I think it could pay off in a big leap next year.

Next Game: Saturday, Feb. 17; at Rutgers Scarlet Knights; 1:00 p.m. CT; B1G+; Jersey Mike’s Arena; Piscataway, N.J.

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Drew Hamm is a seasoned sports journalist with an extensive background in covering the Wisconsin Badgers. He has previously held positions as the site manager at Bucky's 5th Quarter and founder of Badgers Ball Knower. Currently, he contributes as a staff writer for BadgerNotes.com.

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