Badgers upset No. 24 Michigan State, 79-62
UW takes down first ranked team since 2013
MADISON, Wis. – After jumping out to an 8-0, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team was nearly unstoppable, taking down their first ranked team since 2013. The Badgers upended No. 24 Michigan State, 79-62, in the Kohl Center on Thursday night.
Wisconsin (12-13, 3-10 BIG) set the tone of the game early, leading 8-0 less than four minutes in. The Badgers used three 3-pointers to outscore Michigan State (17-7, 7-6 BIG), 22-8, in the first quarter.
By the second quarter, the Badgers grabbed a 22-point lead (35-13) at the 5:59 mark, forcing MSU into a full-court press. Senior Marsha Howard answered with 15 points in the second quarter alone to stretch the lead to 46-27 at the half. UW also outrebounded MSU 22-16 in the first half.
MSU got into foul trouble in the first half as the Spartans picked up 11 fouls compared to four for UW. Two MSU players had three fouls at the break.
State would get no closer than 17 points the rest of the night as Wisconsin led by as many as 27 (70-43) with 8:09 left in the game.
UW shot 42.2 percent (25-59) from the field, including 35.7 percent (5-14) beyond the arc and a season-high 77.4 percent (24-31) from behind the line. MSU would only shoot 30.3 percent (20-66) from the field, including 23.8 percent (5-21) from 3-point range. The Spartans also shot 77.3 percent (17-22) from the charity stripe.
Howard led the Badgers with a game-high 28 points, including shooting a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line while senior Kelly Karlis recorded her second career double-double with 13 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Karlis also tied a career-high with five blocks on the night.
Sophomore Niya Beverley added 12 points while junior Kendra Van Leeuwen led all players with eight assists.
UW forced 16 turnovers, scoring 20 points off MSU giveaways as the Badgers tallied 10 steals. Wisconsin also took down one more board than MSU, 42-41.
UW tallied a season-high 11 blocks as freshman Imani Lewis added a career-high four stops.
Shay Colley led the Spartans with 24 points and nine rebounds.
Straight from the court
“We started the game with seven stops, and even though Michigan State came back and had a couple of drives, we were able to finish the quarter on a 12-2 run. We were getting to the free-throw line and we were taking advantage of getting to the free throw line.
“We played a very talented Michigan State team, but the way Marsha (Howard) was scoring all over the place, hitting the three, scoring against the zone, just a really unselfish game from our team.
“I thought the best thing our team did today was respond when something didn’t go our way. We had great second-half effort, and I’m really proud that we could finish that off. That’s a credit not only to these three, but to the work that’s being done in practice day in and day out.”
– Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis
“We have the same message every game, we are big enough. We just have to play to our strengths, continue to hit shots and continue to battle.”
– Senior Marsha Howard
“We just have to know that we have to keep working hard. Just keep doing what we’ve been doing in practice and, like Coach (Tsipis) said, our emphasis was on boxing out, and we just have to keep doing that and we will be good.
“It feels great (to beat a ranked opponent), but we aren’t done yet. We still have five more games and then the Big Ten tournament, so we just have to keep fighting and playing hard.”
– Sophomore Niya Beverley
Up next
The Badgers head to Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday for the first of two match-ups against Ohio State this season. Game time is 1 p.m. CT from the Schottenstein Center.