Connect with us

Basketball

Wisconsin Women’s Basketball Falls Short Against Saint Louis in WNIT

The Badgers fought hard but fell short in the WNIT quarterfinals.

Published

4 weeks ago

on

Wisconsin women's basketball
Ronnie Porter (13) and Sania Copeland (15) celebrates with D'Yanis Jimenez (23) and Halle Douglass (10) during a WNIT game at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday March 28, 2024.

The Wisconsin women’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to Saint Louis in the WNIT quarterfinals on Monday night at the Kohl Center. After losing Serah Williams to injury on their first possession, and Sania Copeland to injury just before halftime, the Badgers fought back from a double-digit deficit to take a late lead but couldn’t hold on.

Here is the full WNIT Great 8 recap:

Final Score

Wisconsin women’s basketball (15-17 overall, 6-12 Big Ten): 60
Saint Louis Billikens (20-18 overall, 8-9 Atlantic Ten): 65

Four Factors

eFG%: 40.6
Turnover%: 25.0
Off. Rebound%: 28.1
FTA/FGA: 39.6

Key Stats

FG%: 35.8 (19-of-53)
Opp. FG%: 40.7 (24-of-59)
3P%: 21.7 (5-of-23)
Opp. 3P%: 26.7 (4-of-15)
FT%: 81.0 (17-of-21)
Opp. FT%: 76.5 (13-of-17)
Points Per Possession: 0.833
Opponent Points Per Possession: 1.000
Rebounds: 32 (nine offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 33 (10 offensive)
Turnovers: 18
Forced Turnovers: 11



Team Leaders

  • Ronnie Porter: 17 points (5-of-14 FG, 0-of-3 3P), four rebounds (one offensive), one assist, -6
  • D’Yanis Jimenez: 12 points (4-of-5 FG, 0-of-1 3P), two rebounds, two assists, two steals, +9
  • Natalie Leuzinger: nine points (3-of-10 FG, 1-of-4 3P), three rebounds (two offensive), one assist, one steal, -9
  • Halle Douglass: seven points (3-of-6 FG, 1-of-3 3P), seven rebounds (two offensive), four assists, three steals, -2

Saint Louis Team Leaders

  • Kennedy Calhoun: 10 points (4-of-6 FG, 1-of-1 3P), two rebounds, four assists, six steals, +4
  • Tierra Simon: seven points (3-of-5 FG), eight rebounds (two offensive), two assists, two blocks, one steal, +6
  • Peyton Kennedy: 15 points (6-of-16 FG, 1-of-7 3P), seven rebounds (two offensive), one assist, one steal, +3
  • Julia Martinez: six points (2-of-6 FG), seven rebounds (two offensive), five assists, two steals, -1

Three-ish Thoughts

  1. Serah Williams hurt her knee/leg/something in that general area on Wisconsin’s opening possession and was unable to return to the game. Losing your best player in the first minute of the game rarely ends well and the Badgers were pretty clearly shaken up for the rest of the first quarter.



    Williams was able to return to the bench but, as seen above, was obviously hurt and needed help moving around. I am absolutely devastated for Williams that this is how her excellent season ended and I hope that the injury ends up being nothing too serious. I will update everyone with any news I hear about the severity as soon as I find out any information.

  2. Speaking of injuries, Sania Copeland left the court late in the second quarter after being drilled in the face with an elbow (it looked inadvertent) and also did not return to the game. There is no update on her either, but one could safely assume she was in some sort of concussion protocol and that’s why she didn’t come back into the game.


    While UW may have been able to overcome the loss of one starter in this game, losing two starters, especially two who are so important to your defense, proved to be a bridge too far for the Badgers.

  3. While I haven’t had to discuss turnovers as often as I did last year, the Badgers really struggled with them against Saint Louis. Their turnover percentage was middle of the road for their season, but it was their worst number in the WNIT and the Billikens took advantage to the tune of 13 points off of turnovers.

    Wisconsin was consistent (nine turnovers in each half, never fewer than four or more than five in a quarter) in their miscues, but it was the final minute of the game that really sealed their fate. After Ronnie Porter sank two free throws to give UW a 60-59 lead with 59 seconds left the Badgers had four final possessions. Here are the results of those possessions:
    – Ronnie Porter turnover
     – Brooke Schramek turnover
     – Tessa Grady missed jumper
     – Natalie Leuzinger turnover

    Absolutely miserable stuff from Wisconsin women’s basketball who, obviously, didn’t score again after taking that one point lead. Schramek’s turnover was particularly bad because she hadn’t played at all in the fourth quarter after being benched with 3:51 to go in the third quarter due to…committing too many turnovers.

    Not entirely sure what Marisa Moseley was thinking there. She subbed D’Yanis Jimenez, who had just committed her fourth foul which we will discuss in a moment, out for Schramek despite Jimenez being a superior offensive option. I’m not sure if Moseley was trying to Teach A Lesson because Jimenez’s foul was ill-advised, but I think if that’s what she wanted to do…it could’ve waited until before overtime or after Wisconsin won.
  4. Now, that foul by Jimenez WAS bad, there’s no denying that, but it was a mistake that could’ve certainly been corrected later. Here’s what happened: Porter turned the ball over with 46 seconds left and Wisconsin only down one point, so there was enough time for Wisconsin to play defense straight up and still get the ball back with plenty of time to score, but Jimenez took a foul at 40 seconds to give Saint Louis free throws.

    Thankfully, the Billikens only made one of two freebies, but the damage had already been done and Moseley subbed Jimenez out for Schramek…who then committed her sixth turnover of the game.
  5. That one play should not diminish what else Jimenez did on Monday night, however. She had an excellent game (her second in a row) and will be a major part of the Wisconsin women’s basketball team’s rotation next year. She was efficient and patient on offense, she played solid defense in Sania Copeland’s absence, and she, most importantly, didn’t turn the ball over once.


    Her playing so much as a true freshman will pay dividends down the road and I could definitely see a big sophomore leap for her, especially now that the game appears to have slowed down a bit for her.

  6. Speaking of true freshmen! Tessa Grady provided a nice spark off the bench in this one. She played 15 minutes, made a pair of three-pointers, grabbed two rebounds, dished out an assist, and was +4 on the game. She had a few mistakes, as all true freshmen do, but acquitted herself nicely in a tense environment. Really wish we had seen more of her this year because she provides a shooting stroke that nobody else on the team has.
  7. There were so many great hustle plays (Porter diving out of bounds; Jimenez battling a bigger player for a jump ball; Douglass diving out of bounds to save the ball back to Jimenez for a layup) during Wisconsin’s comeback that had me hooting and hollering on the couch. This team did not quit once this season and watching them dive after loose balls with little to no regard for their own well-being shows how much they wanted to win and how much they loved playing with their teammates.


    That sort of play is also partly due to coaching and the culture that Moseley has been installing in Madison.

  8. There were some questionable officiating decisions during this game. They were not the reason Wisconsin lost (that would be turnovers) but it is worth mentioning nonetheless because it was a season-long adventure whenever the whistle blew and, quite frankly, I’m sick of it.

Final Thought on Wisconsin Women’s Basketball

This was a brutal game. I can’t think of any other way to describe it than that. Losing your best player under a minute into the game and then losing another starter before halftime and then coming back from a double-digit deficit to take your first lead later in the fourth quarter…only to then lose? Yeah, that’s brutal.

I’m not sure what the roster will look like next season. Tessa Towers and Sacia Vanderpool are already in the transfer portal, Brooke Schramek has exhausted her eligibility, and Halle Douglass and Natalie Leuzinger (who I believe each have one more season if they’d like) haven’t officially made any announcement about their respective futures. Wisconsin will also surely (hopefully?) bring in a few players via the transfer portal to go along with their new freshman class.

Despite all of those unknowns, I’m still looking forward to next year already. This team made progress this year. They won more games than they had in over a decade and they made a run in a postseason tournament. They have a nice collection of young, developing talent that SHOULD be appealing to players in the portal.

So far in Marisa Moseley’s tenure each season has been better than the one before it so…I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibilities that this Wisconsin women’s basketball team competes for an NCAA Tournament bid next year.

There will be four new teams in the conference and stalwarts like Caitlin Clark, Jacy Sheldon, Mackenzie Holmes, and many others will be moving on to the pros. There is a chance for a team like Wisconsin, who SHOULD be returning a bulk of their production, to make some noise as other teams search for consistency and new stars.

Next Game: next year 🙁 

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 listen to 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