Connect with us

Basketball

Wisconsin Badgers WBB Battles Back in Second Half But Falls to Maryland on the Road

The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball program came up short against the Terps on the road.

Published

2 months ago

on

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

Happy (day after) Leap Day! The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team went on the road Thursday night and fell to a Maryland Terrapins team trying to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume. Wisconsin was down by as many 22 points in the game but battled back in the third quarter to make it a six-point deficit. Obviously, sigh, it didn’t get any closer than that.

Here is the full recap:

Wisconsin Badgers WBB Drops Final Road Test of the Season

Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (13-14 overall, 6-11 Big Ten): 63
Maryland Terrapins (17-11 overall, 9-8 Big Ten): 79

Four Factors

eFG%: 47.3
Turnover%: 28.6
Off. Rebound%: 31.3
FTA/FGA: 19.6

Key Stats

FG%: 42.9 (24-of-56)
Opp. FG%: 44.6 (25-of-56)
3P%: 25.0 (5-of-20)
Opp. 3P%: 46.7 (7-of-15)
FT%: 90.9 (10-of-11)
Opp. FT%: 81.5 (22-of-27)
Points Per Possession: 0.900
Opponent Points Per Possession: 1.129
Rebounds: 32 (10 offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 33 (11 offensive)
Turnovers: 20
Forced Turnovers: 15


Team Leaders

  • Ronnie Porter: 15 points (6-of-12 FG, 1-of-1 3P), four rebounds (one offensive), five assists, two steals, -16
  • Serah Williams: 14 points (5-of-11 FG), 10 rebounds (four offensive), two assists, one block, -16 (14th straight double-double)
  • Brooke Schramek: nine points (3-of-10 FG, 1-of-7 3P), five rebounds (one offensive), four assists, one block, one steal, -8
  • Natalie Leuzinger: 16 points (6-of-13 FG, 2-of-8 3P), two rebounds, one assist, -15

Maryland Team Leaders

  • Jakia Brown-Turner: 18 points (7-of-12 FG, 2-of-3 3P), 10 rebounds (two offensive), four assists, one block, +16
  • Shyanne Sellers: 16 points (5-of-9 FG), two rebounds, five assists, three steals, +12

Three-ish Thoughts on the Badgers Loss to the Terps

1. In the first quarter of the game I wasn’t sure what defense Wisconsin was in and that, to me, is bad. Were they playing zone? Man? Box-and-one??? I couldn’t decipher it and it seemed like the players were confused too. On just about every possession multiple UW players were frantically pointing at different Terrapin players or areas and switching positions. Like…what is going on here?


At a different point Brooke Schramek and D’Yanis Jimenez had a miscommunication, which led to a wide-open Maryland three, that was so egregious, Marisa Moseley immediately called a timeout after the ball went through the net. A number of times Maryland players found themselves wide open under the basket for a layup due to missed assignments.

What is even more bizarre to me…Wisconsin’s defense WAS able to lock Maryland down for long stretches of the game, most notably the entire third quarter, but they allowed too many open three-pointers and fouled too much which offset any of the good they did on that end. Missing Sania Copeland, their best perimeter defender, for most of the game certainly didn’t help either.

2. As they have in so many games over the past three seasons, turnovers reared their ugly head early and often for UW. A ton were forced by Maryland’s length and Wisconsin attempting to throw tough-to-catch passes across the court, but there were also your run-of-the-mill traveling violations and bobbling the ball out of bounds.

Maryland’s ¾ court press bothered Wisconsin, but didn’t force many of the turnovers. It mostly just slowed them down while getting into their offense and caused the Badgers to maybe take more risks than they normally would since they had to get into their offensive sets with less time on the clock.

Serah Williams had a tough game catching the ball in the post. Some were due to poor entry passes but just as many were due to her having butterfingers. Hand strength will be something she should focus on this offseason.

3. Sania Copeland went down in the first quarter with what appeared to be an ankle injury and D’Yanis Jimenez had a similar injury in the second quarter. Neither player returned to the game, but they both also stayed on the bench so it doesn’t seem like any further evaluation was immediately needed. 


First and foremost, I hope both players are ok and make full recoveries. Secondly, I hope both players are ok and make full recoveries…because Wisconsin does not have any proven depth behind them. With Copeland (two minutes) and Jimenez (12 minutes) only playing a combined 14 minutes, Ronnie Porter ended up playing all 40 minutes and Natalie Leuzinger played 35.

The only players who received more minutes than usual were Tessa Grady (nine minutes) and Ana Guillen (three minutes) and neither of them are ball handlers. If Copeland and Jimenez can’t go against Michigan State this weekend we might see Leena Patibandla or Lily Krahn (if healthy) get some run too.

4. Sometimes games are pretty easy to figure out just by looking at the box score. The first half of this game painted a clear picture of one team (Wisconsin) shooting zero free throws and only making one three while the other team (Maryland) were 12-of-14 from the charity stripe and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. UW shot their first two free throws with eight minutes left in the third quarter, FWIW, and ended up making 10 of their 11 attempts from the line.

5. Wisconsin came out of halftime and looked like an entirely different team. They scored 25 points in the third quarter, while holding the Terps to 13, and even whittled the lead down to six points (twice) early in the fourth quarter. A hot third quarter has been a recent trend for Wisconsin that I hope continues. It shows that they’re making adjustments in the locker room at halftime and that they players don’t give up, even when down 20 points.

6. Serah Williams recorded her 14th straight double-double and is now one away from tying the Big Ten mark (currently held by Iowa legend Megan Gustafson) of 15 straight. With one regular season game, and at least one Big Ten Tournament game left, Williams could set a pretty impressive record in just her second season in the league.


It was nice to hear the Big Ten Network commentators give Williams her flowers and mention how they thought she was a surefire All-B1G First Team player this year. I’ve also noticed fans online have been taking notice of her game and, as they say, all press is good press, especially for a team like Wisconsin who often gets overlooked.

7. Speaking of Serah Williams, she was taken out of the game at 5:14 left in the fourth quarter after picking up her fourth foul. I noted this because I wanted to see when she came back in and whether or not it was the right move to take UW’s best player out of the game preemptively. Here is what happened while she was “fouled out” by Moseley:

– Allie Kubek made her two free throws resulting from Williams’ foul
– The Terps made a three off a UW turnover
– Maryland then made three straight layups, one of which came off an offensive rebound that also resulted in an and-one
– Wisconsin’s offense actually played well, scoring on a Ronnie Porter layup, a Tessa Grady three, and a Natalie Leuzinger layup


But the damage had been done by the time Williams came back in with 3:22 left in the game. Maryland’s lead went from 12 to 17 and the game, which was mostly over when Williams went to the bench, was completely over when she came back in. Williams picked up her fifth foul with 1:19 left so she ended up missing a bulk of crunch time on the bench. I think you have to trust your best player to not pick up a fifth foul in this scenario, especially when you have no backup post players that you trust to play.

8. However, if I had to pick a play where the game was “over” it would’ve been much earlier in the fourth quarter. Bri McDaniel had made two free throws (8:17 left in the game) to give Maryland an eight-point lead, but Wisconsin had recently clawed their way back to within six a pair of times and had the Terps running scared a bit.

The Badgers brought the ball up the court and Ronnie Porter missed a jumper. Halle Douglass grabbed the offensive rebound and whipped it over to an open Natalie Leuzinger for three…which missed. BUT! Porter swooped in, grabbed another offensive rebound, and smartly went to reset the offense. Porter then made a horrible cross-court pass that was picked off by Shyanne Sellers. Sellers was fouled by Leuzinger and Maryland scored on their next two possessions (the start of a five-possession run of made field goals) to make the lead 12 with 6:48 to go.

Wisconsin had their chances, but could never quite get out of the hole they dug themselves in the first half. This loss severely damages their chances at earning an NIT bid while, at the same time, strengthens Maryland’s case for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Final Thought

This loss can be filed under “Learning Experience; Frustrating” in Marisa Moseley’s Wisconsin Career Cabinet, which I’m assuming someone is updating after every game. The Badgers were on the road against a short-handed, but still more talented, team and needed a marquee, late-season win to impress the NIT committee.

After being blown out at home by Purdue in their last game, while also needing a win, you’d think the team would come out in the first quarter with a fire lit under their asses. And yet…you’d be wrong! 3:59 into the game the Badgers found themselves down 12-2 and had as many turnovers as minutes played! Even with Maryland going the next five plus minutes without scoring, Wisconsin only ever got the lead down to four points.

Whatever happened in the locker room at halftime must’ve lit that aforementioned fire, because the Badgers were a different team in the second half and probably could’ve pulled the upset if they played that way all game.

Losing a starting guard (and best perimeter defender) and also the top offensive option off the bench in consecutive quarters surely played a part in Wisconsin’s first half struggles, but someone on the bench needed to step up and make some plays. It’s a little disheartening that Moseley has such little trust in the bench that when the second and sixth leading minutes per game players go down, only 12 bench minutes, split amongst only two players, are used the rest of the game.

Despite all of this…Wisconsin STILL had a chance in the fourth quarter to steal a win, but couldn’t. I’m sure fatigue had something to do with it. Porter played all 40 minutes, Williams played 36 (and would’ve played more if she hadn’t been in foul trouble), Leuzinger played 35, and Douglass played 33. Respectively that is five, five, six, and 14 more minutes per game than their season averages for those players.


UW has one last regular season game left and it, like the last two, is a big one. It’s Senior Day at the Kohl Center and a win over an “also receiving votes” MSU team would get the Badgers to .500 for the season and make them legit contenders for an at-large NIT bid. A win also gives Wisconsin a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan State, while squarely in the NCAA Tournament, needs a win (and a Nebraska loss) to get the double-bye in the BTT so they certainly won’t be coasting on the final day of the season.

Next Game: Sunday, Mar. 3; vs. RV Michigan State Spartans; 1:00 p.m. CT; BTN; Kohl Center

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read our work at BadgerNotes.com. For more Wisconsin Badgers Basketball and Big Ten content, follow us on Twitter & Facebook. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also follow Drew Hamm on Twitter @DrewHamm5.

Also, be sure to check out our shop, subscribe to our newsletter, and the BadgerNotes After Dark podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms. Because of your support, we have become one of the fastest-growing independent media outlets focused on giving a voice to the fans!

Related Topics:

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.

Trending