INDIANAPOLIS — There was no second-half run, no last-gasp effort to come to the rescue.

Not this time.

What was present Thursday night at Conseco Fieldhouse was another troubling first half, one that couldn't have come at a worse time for the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team.

The Badgers' NCAA tournament hopes almost assuredly died with a lifeless performance in their opening game of the Big Ten Conference tournament, a 73-58 loss to ninth-seeded Illinois.

Eighth-seeded UW came into the tournament in all likelihood needing to win four games in four days — thus securing the conference's automatic NCAA tournament bid — to earn a spot in the field of 64.

You wouldn't have known it from how the Badgers started the game.

They led only once — after senior forward Danielle Ward scored 1 minute, 4 seconds in for a 2-0 advantage — and trailed by nine after just 4:35.

"It definitely wasn't there, first 4 minutes of the basketball game. … Illinois came out of the gates strong. You have to give them credit. They were ready for this basketball game," UW senior guard Jolene Anderson. "I think when it boils down to it, all eight players or nine players that Illinois has, they were all in it together. I think some of us were in it together on our team, but as a whole boat, everybody just didn't come ready to play."

And when the Badgers' defense stiffened — the Fighting Illini (17-13) were stuck on 23 points for a stretch of 5:50 midway through the first half — UW couldn't take advantage. The Badgers pulled within three, but Illinois quickly pushed its lead to 27-20.

For all of its problems in the opening 20 minutes, though, UW only trailed by six at halftime.

"As poorly as we played in the first half with no energy, I'm feeling pretty good at halftime actually," said Badgers coach Lisa Stone, whose team had battled back from larger deficits in its previous two games.

The feeling wore off.

Anderson scored 1:29 into the second half to bring UW within 34-30, but the Fighting Illini responded by rattling off a 20-5 run. The Badgers, who got a game-high 24 points from Anderson but struggled to find other sources of offense, never again got within single digits.

Illinois, by comparison, used a balanced attack spearheaded by sophomore center Jenna Smith (21 points and 10 rebounds) and senior guard Rebecca Harris (19 points and 10 rebounds).

Now UW has to hope its 16-13 overall record and 9-9 finish in the Big Ten is enough to secure a Women's National Invitation Tournament bid.

"It's unbelievable that we can come out and play like that, especially when this is the Big Ten tournament. We had so much to prove," Badgers sophomore point guard Rae Lin D'Alie said.

"Even though we started off 1-6 (in the conference), it's like we get to redeem ourselves a little bit. We get to come out, get another shot at the NCAA tournament, and then come out and play like that, you can't say nothing about it."