UW WBB: Indiana downs Badgers at the free throw line

January 15, 2009 BLOOMINGTON, Ind.  – It all came down to the free throw line as the Wisconsin women's basketball team lost at Indiana 64-61 on Thursday night. The Badgers fall to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers (12-3, 5-1) won the game at the free throw line where they were 24-of-32, including 12-of-12 down the stretch. Indiana didn't make a field goal over the last three minutes. Wisconsin was called for 27 fouls in the game while Indiana was called for 19 fouls. The Badgers went to the line only 21 times, making 14.  "It was just very unfortunate that we hold them to absolutely no field goals and get some tough (baskets) down the stretch," said UW coach Lisa Stone. "Put them at the free throw line and they make them." Wisconsin struggled in the game with foul trouble as Alyssa Karel and Tara Steinbauer both fouled out of the game. Karel, who picked up two fouls in the first minute of the game, finished only 2-4 from the field in 13 minutes. Steinbauer finished with 10 points and four rebounds. Lin Zastrow led the Badgers with 13 points and just missed a double-double as she led the team with nine rebounds. Mariah Dunham also added 10 points. Zastrow, Dunham and Ashley Thomas all had four fouls in the game.    The Badgers also struggled with turnovers, totaling 20 in the game while the Hoosiers had only 10 turnovers. "We had all kinds of foul trouble the first half. We had some tough turnovers in the first half," said Stone. "I thought our freshmen did a real nice job. Ashley Thomas gave us unbelievable quality minutes, both offensively and defensively." Thomas scored four points, pulled down three rebounds and also had two blocks.  Freshmen Jade Davis and Jamie Russell both saw significant playing time, scoring four points and pulling down four rebounds between them.  "I'm so proud of our kids; they fought tooth and nail," said Stone." We had to address a lack of rebounding effort early in the first half and a lack of energy early in the second half but our kids fought. They played very, very well on the road. They came in here with a much different demeanor, a much different approach and really wanted this one." Wisconsin, which falls to 2-26 in Bloomington, outrebounded Indiana 40-37 and also shot 42.9 percent (21-49) from the field while the Hoosiers shot just 33.3 percent (19-57). The Badgers also had five blocks.    Wisconsin jumped out to early leads of 3-0 and 5-4 but Indiana went on a 7-0 run to take an 11-5 lead with 17:12 on the clock. Thomas had eight points early to lead the Hoosiers. Karel also picked up her second foul in less than a minute of play so the UW freshmen had to step up. Jade Davis came in for Karel, scoring a jumper which was followed up by a Tara Steinbauer layup to pull Wisconsin within two (11-9) with 15:27 left. The Hoosiers took their biggest lead of the period (19-12) with a little less than 10 minutes to go in the half before the Badger freshmen stepped up. Baskets from Ashley Thomas and Jamie Russell pulled the UW within 19-16 with 9:10 remaining. Gant hit back-to-back buckets, including a 3 pointer, to tie the score at 21 with 5:38 left. The score was knotted at 23 and again at 27 as the two teams entered the lockerroom. Indiana kicked off the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 37-29 lead with 15:14 remaining. Wisconsin slowly came back, pulling within two (42-40) with 9:49 remaining on a Karel layup. The Hoosiers led 45-40 on a Whitney Thomas layup with 8:46 left but UW went on an 8-2 run to take its first lead of the game with 6:20 remaining. Zastrow scored on a putback and was fouled to put the Badgers up 49-47. Wisconsin had its biggest lead of the game at 52-48 with 4:40 remaining on a Dunham 3 pointer. Indiana made only one field goal over the last four minutes but went to the line 14 times, making all 14 for the win.   The game was tied 58-58 with 45 seconds remaining but IU's Whitney Thomas made two free throws after a D'Alie foul.  Wisconsin had a chance to tie the game once again but Gant turned the ball over on a travel call with 23 seconds remaining.  Kim Roberson made two free throws with 21 seconds left after being fouled by Dunham to put Indiana up 62-53. The Badgers missed a 3-point attempt with 11 seconds left before another UW foul sent Davis to the line for two more free throws. A last-second 3-pointer from Gant ended the game. The Badgers host Illinois on Sunday at 5 p.m. in the Kohl Center.