Morgan Paige scored 18 points, including two free throws with 3 seconds remaining, and 11th-seeded Wisconsin beat Illinois 58-57 in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday.
Illinois, which trailed 54-44 with 6 minutes left, took a 57-54 lead on Amber Moore's 3-pointer with 42 seconds left. Tessa Cichy made two free throws to get Wisconsin within a point.
The Badgers (12-18), who will play Purdue in Friday's quarterfinals, were 21 of 21 from the free-throw line, led by Paige who made all 10 of her foul shots. Jacki Gulczynski had 15 points and eight rebounds and Cassie Rochel had 10 points and 13 rebounds. Wisconsin out-rebounded Illinois 41-29.
Ivory Crawford led the sixth-seeded Illini (16-13) with 14 points. Moore scored 13 and Adrienne GodBold had 12 points and eight rebounds.
Illinois led 30-20 at halftime. Crawford had nine points in the half to lead all scorers.
