It ends at 10, Badgers fall to Iowa, 73-63

Wisconsin's 10-game winning streak came to an end Monday night as the Badgers opened up the Big Ten Conference season with a 73-63 loss to Iowa in front of 5,553 fans at the Kohl Center. The Badgers are now 10-2 overall and 0-1 in conference action while Iowa improves to 8-4, 1-0. COMPLETE POST-GAME COVERAGE Visit the following link to view comprehensive post-game coverage: http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/wbb/headlines/story.html?sportid=135&storyid=16176     * Box Score     * Wisconsin cumulative stats     * Wisconsin cumulative stats in Big Ten Conference games     * Post-game notes     * Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone post-game quotes     * Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder post-game quotes     * Courtside Blog     * Archived BigTenNetwork.com Web stream     * Post-game news conference (video) The Badgers had three players finish in double figures with sophomore forward Lin Zastrow registering 18 points, which ties a career high and is a new season high. Zastrow finished 6-of-11 from the field, which included two field goals from beyond the 3-point line, which is a new career best. Junior forward Mariah Dunham and sophomore guard Alyssa Karel chipped in 14 and 11 points, respectively. Despite the three players finishing in double figures, Wisconsin struggled offensively, going 24-of-65 for just 36.9 percent from the field. Iowa on the other hand came out on fire and never let up. Four Hawkeyes finished in double figures, led by a 20-point performance from Wendy Ausdemore. She was 6-of-8 from the field, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Iowa went 23-of-44 for 52.3 percent on the game, which is the highest field goal percentage for any UW opponent this season. The Hawkeyes also won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding the Badgers 37-32. Two Iowa players finished in double-digit rebounding, led by 11 boards from Kachine Alexander. Dunham led Wisconsin with eight rebounds while Zastrow and Rae Lin D'Alie added five rebounds each. The Badgers finished with more assists than turnovers (12-10) and had eight steals, three of which came from D'Alie. She also dished out four assists and had just two turnovers in 36 minutes. Iowa turned the ball over 16 times but both teams had eight points off turnovers. The Hawkeyes, who lead the Big Ten in free throw percentage, continued to dominate at the line by going 22-of-30 for 73.3 percent, below their season average of 80 percent. Wisconsin made just 9-of-15 for 60 percent. Iowa jumped out to an early 18-9 lead in the first half by going on an 11-0 run. Four different Hawkeyes scored during the stretch which included five points by Ausdemore. The Badger defense then stepped up by forcing a turnover and grabbed four offensive rebounds to eventually pull within five points. Dunham and Tara Steinbauer each scored to put the tally at 18-13 with 9:50 left. Iowa stayed hot in the opening frame by shooting 75 percent midway through the half. The Hawkeyes went on another 6-0 run to take the 12-point lead at 25-13 with 6:48 showing and the Badgers got no closer than eight points the rest of the half. Iowa took the 35-23 lead into halftime and finished 13-of-23 from the field for 56.5 percent. The Badgers had 10 more shots but were just 10-of-33 for 30.3 percent. Wisconsin had trouble closing the gap during the second half. The Badgers got as close as 10 (37-27) after buckets by Zastrow and Teah Gant early on at the 17:44 mark but the Hawkeyes went on a 17-9 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 20 points (56-36). Ausdemore scored eight points during the stretch, includuing two 3-pointers. At that point, the Badgers were shooting a season low 32.6 percent from the field with less than 12 minutes remaining in the game. The Badgers began chipping away at the lead and pulled within 13 points after D'Alie scored five points in a row, which included a 3-pointer and a fast-break layup after a steal. An offensive foul on Kristi Smith gave the Badgers the ball back and Zastrow took advantage by scoring on a second chance opportunity to put the tally at 58-47 with 6:53 remaining. Zastrow's layup finished off a 9-2 run for the Badgers. Iowa got back out to a 16-point lead (63-47) with 5:10 remaining by capitalizing on 3-of-4 free throw opportunities and a layup by Alexander. Wisconsin did not give up though and cut Iowa's lead to nine points with two minutes remaining after Karel made a layup in the paint. The Badgers pulled within nine again with 32 seconds left and within eight after a 3-pointer by Zastrow with 19 seconds left but Iowa hung on for the 73-63 win. The Badgers return to Big Ten action next Monday when Minnesota comes to town for the lone meeting between these two teams this year. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game will air on the Big Ten Network.