Women's Basketball Edged By No. 19 Wisconsin, 56-55

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MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Kyle Black couldn't let a miserable first half get her down.

Black scored 19 points, all in the second half, as No. 19 Wisconsin rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat intrastate rival Marquette 56-55 Wednesday night.

"Kyle was pretty much unstoppable in the second half," Wisconsin coach Jane Albright said. "I'm just really happy to get out of here with a win."

Marquette (2-5) led 38-21 after scoring the first basket of the second half. It was 53-39 with 8:39 to play, but the Golden Eagles managed only two free throws the rest of the game as the Badgers (6-1) scrambled to victory.

Black made four 3-pointers in the second half and scored Wisconsin's final five points. Her 3-point play brought the Badgers within 55-54 with 1:41 left. Then she worked herself free for a layup on a pass from Tamara Moore on what Albright said was "a broken play" with 23 seconds left for the winning points.

"I don't think I've ever had a half like that," Black said. "When we were walking off the floor someone said, 'You know what, you could have had 40 if you'd shot like that in the first half.' But I wasn't looking for the shot enough in the first half, and I'm just glad I could help our team win."

"We stepped up to help and she made a great cut," Marquette guard Kristi Johnson said. "In a situation like that, it just comes down to getting one stop. We didn't rotate ... and they made a good play."

The Golden Eagles had two shots at victory, but Katie Alsdurf missed inside and Johnson misfired from 16 feet on the rebound just before the final buzzer.

"It was an awesome game to be a part of and we had every opportunity to win," Marquette coach Terri Mitchell said. "We let them come back, hit that last shot, but we still had the opportunity and it didn't happen."

Jessie Stomski had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Wisconsin, which didn't lead until Black's winning basket.

Rachel Klug scored 17 points, and Alsdurf had 15 for Marquette, 0-4 this season against Big Ten opponents.

"It's definitely a heartbreaker," Klug said. "We just let it slip away."

Wisconsin got off to a horrible start, scoring only two points in its first 18 possessions. That enabled the Golden Eagles to build 17-2 lead.

Although Wisconsin made three straight shots, including back-to-back 3-pointers to get within nine, the Badgers trailed 36-21 at halftime on 8-of-32 shooting.

Klug had 13 points and Alsdurf 10 as they outscored Wisconsin in the first 20 minutes.

"Marquette really came out poised and took us out of our game," Albright said.

Wisconsin finished 20-of-57 from the field. Marquette, which had a 43-35 rebounding advantage, made 20 of 61 shots and hit its last field goal with 8:39 left.

"What we did to them in the first half, they turned around and did it to us," Marquette coach Terri Mitchell said of the drought down the stretch.

"We played tough defense the whole game," Klug said. "But we let our offense slip a little bit and we just couldn't finish it off."