EAST LANSING – Michigan State women’s basketball (10-6) returned to the Breslin Center Wednesday night to take on the Wisconsin Badgers (5-11). Despite making an 11-point comeback in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime, the Spartans fell to the Badgers 84-80.

Inconsistency was the downfall of MSU. In the first half, the Spartans shot 1-10 on 3-pointers. However, MSU turned it around in the fourth quarter, shooting 5-8 from behind the arc to help force overtime. 

MSU head coach Suzy Merchant wasn’t pleased with the team’s performance and said there needs to be consistency from everyone.

“The problem is we don’t have players right now that are playing full games,” Merchant said. “I’m just really disappointed in how we played the first half and how slow and through the motions that we went.”

Wisconsin freshman Serah Williams made her presence known early for the Badgers. She opened the game with 11 points in the first quarter and finished the night with a career-high 31 points and 13 rebounds. Wisconsin led the Spartans 16-13 at the end of the first. 

Offensive woes continued for MSU into the second quarter as the team went 5-13 from the field, including graduate senior guard Kamaria McDaniel, who went 1-6. The Spartans leading scorer at halftime was sophomore guard Dee Dee Hagemann with five points, as MSU trailed 32-25.

With seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Badgers lead stretched to 11 points, but the Spartans answered with an 8-2 run over the next two minutes. MSU went on an 8-0 run later in the quarter, which included two clutch free throws from senior forward Taiyier Parks to tie the game at 66 with 1:43 remaining. 

Parks stepped up big a minute later, going 2-2 at the line again to tie the game again at 0:43. Parks came into Wednesday night shooting 45 percent from the free throw line, but finished the game 7-8 from the line, along with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

With 23 seconds left, Parks gave MSU its first lead of the game with a layup, but the lead would only last for 14 seconds. Williams answered with a layup of her own to even the score, and send the game to overtime.

Hagemann stepped up for the Spartans in overtime with seven points, but it wasn’t enough as the Badgers pulled out an 84-80 win. 

Despite the disappointing loss, senior Moira Joiner scored a season-high 20 points and played a big part in the Spartans’ comeback. Joiner scored 16 of her points in the second half, and was a perfect 6-6 from the field and 4-4 from beyond the arc. 

“I’ve really been impressed with how she’s been playing on both sides of the ball,” said coach Merchant. “I wish everybody on my team played as hard as Mo Joiner.”

The Spartans will have to bounce back quickly. MSU will take on in-state rival No. 17 Michigan on Saturday at 2 p.m.