UW WBB: Badgers fall 52-51 in final seconds against Purdue

MADISON, Wis. http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/wbb/headlines/story.html?sportid=135&storyid=16622 Wisconsin led for a majority of its game against Purdue Thursday night but a 3-pointer by Brittany Rayburn with just eight seconds left gave Purdue the 52-51 win in front of 5,115 fans at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin has now lost three-straight games and drops to 14-8 overall, 4-7 in the Big Ten Conference while Purdue improves to 14-7, 7-3. COMPLETE POST-GAME COVERAGE:     * Final Box Score     * UW Combined Stats     * UW Big Ten Stats     * UW head coach Lisa Stone post-game quotes     * Purdue head coach Sharon Versyp post-game quotes     * Post-game press conference (video)     * Courtside Blog     * Archived BigTenNetwork.com Web stream     * Game Notes The Badgers had the 51-49 lead with 1:20 left and had the chance to extend the lead with junior guard Rae Lin D'Alie at the line for the bonus. D'Alie missed her free throw shot and Purdue came down to score the 3-pointer off a second-chance opportunity. With 7.6 seconds left, the Badgers put the ball in sophomore guard Alyssa Karel's hands. She drove the length of the court but her layup came up short and Purdue grabbed the rebound and the win in the final seconds. Wisconsin led by as many as 11 points in the game and Rayburn's 3-pointer gave Purdue its first lead since the 8:33 mark in the first half. Two Badgers scored in double figures including a game-high 15 points by Karel. Sophomore forward Lin Zastrow chipped in 12 points while Tara Steinbauer added seven points in her first start since Nov. 27, 2008. As a team, Wisconsin finished 20-of-51 for 39.2 percent from the field. Two Boilermakers finished in double figures. Lakisha Freeman led the team with 13 points while Rayburn added 11. Purdue finished 19-of-40 from the field for 47.5 percent. Purdue won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding Wisconsin 30-28. The Badgers had the 8-4 advantage on the offensive glass, with all four coming in the final 3:30 of the game. The Badgers out-scored Purdue 22-16 on points in the paint. After turning the ball over nine times in the first half, Wisconsin finished with 12 turnovers compared to 15 for Purdue. The Badgers scored 17 points off turnovers while Purdue finished with 16 points off UW giveaways. The Badgers started the game 4-for-4 from the field and moved the ball well to take the 10-0 lead with 17:30 showing. Four different Badgers scored in the stretch, including 3-pointers from Karel and D'Alie. Purdue didn't make a field goal until the 15:10 mark, missing three shots and turning the ball over three times during its drought. Purdue didn't stay down for long and outscored the Badgers 12-1 to take the 12-11 lead with 12:58 left in the first half. After going 4-of-4 to start the game, Wisconsin cooled off and missed its next six attempts before Zastrow nailed a 3-pointer to give the Badgers the lead back at 14-12 (12:10 left in the half). Purdue then took advantage of back-to-back turnovers by Wisconsin to get back out to a 18-14 lead with 9:45 left. Wisconsin took advantage of a scoring drought of more than seven minutes for Purdue and four different Badgers scored once again as they went on a 7-0 run to take the lead at 23-18 with 3:08 left in the half. Purdue scored four more points the rest of the half and the Badgers took the 28-22 lead into the locker room after Karel hit a floater in the lane as time expired. The Badgers finished the first half 11-of-25 for 44 percent while Purdue was 9-of-17 for 52.9 percent. Both teams took advantage of points off turnovers in the first half as Wisconsin scored 12 points off 11 Purdue turnovers. The Boilermakers scored nine points from the nine UW turnovers. The Badgers opened the second half strong and maintained at least an eight-point lead for the opening seven minutes. Junior guard Teah Gant made a jumper in the paint to give the Badgers their biggest lead of the game of 11 at 38-27 with 14:27 remaining. That lead quickly diminished as Wisconsin hit another cold spell and did not score a point for more than three minutes. Purdue took advantage by out-scoring the Badgers 10-0 to pull within two (38-36) with 11:33 remaining. Gant converted on one-of-two free throws to break the scoring drought at 11:01 but the Badgers were still without a field goal until Steinbauer connected on a hook shot in the lane at the 7:40 mark. Despite the drought, Purdue was unable to take the lead as Wisconsin hit 3-of-6 free throws to maintain the lead before Steinbauer broke the drought to put the score at 43-39. Purdue stayed within one or two points until Karel and Zastrow both hit jumpers to give the Badgers the four-point advantage with (49-45) with 3:57 remaining. Purdue again came back to knot the score at 49 with 1:46 remaining. Another Karel jumper broke the tie (51-49) with 1:20 left to play but that was the final field goal for Wisconsin as Rayburn hit the back-breaking 3-pointer to give Purdue the 52-51 victory. The Badgers look to snap their three-game skid Sunday as they travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan. Game time is scheduled 1 p.m. and airs live on the BigTenNetwork.com.