Needing a win to restore their confidence, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team got just that Sunday, defeating Big Ten bottom-feeder Northwestern 69-53 at the Kohl Center.

After a slow start, the Badgers found their shooting touch and committed a season low of nine turnovers to earn a victory over the Wildcats.

“Nine turnovers is pretty noteworthy,” UW head coach Lisa Stone said. “At the half we only had three, but I didn’t tell them that. I told them that we had an opportunity to break a school record for turnovers, and they responded pretty well.”

The Badgers (8-9, 2-5) denied the Wildcats (7-11, 0-7) their first win in conference play and first win over the Badgers since the 1996-97 season. Northwestern has now lost seven games in a row since finishing their non-conference season with a respectable 7-4 record. With the victory, Wisconsin ended a two-game losing skid and eclipsed the seven wins the team posted last season.

“For our team, it feels a lot better to win,” Stone said. “Bouncing off a tough loss on Thursday, it was important for us to come out. Northwestern jumps out right away and makes a three and a two and they’re off on fire, and we didn’t lose our confidence at all.”

The Wildcats, dropping back-to-back overtime games over the past week, started out strong against the Badgers. Looking like they were still feeling the effects of Thursday’s loss, the Badgers surrendered a 5-0 lead in the opening minute.

Wisconsin kept their poise, though, and after missing four out of their first five shots, finally found their rhythm. Before the game, Stone once again reshuffled her starting lineup and gave sophomore forward Jordan Wilson the nod over Lello Gebisa.

The sophomore did everything that was asked of her. Wilson connected on consecutive baskets to give the Badgers their first lead that they would never relinquish, with 15:24 remaining in the first half.

The Badgers finished off a 34-10 run to end the half and put together their best defensive effort this season in holding the Wildcats to just 15 first half points. The Badgers dominated the smaller Wildcats in the paint the first half 20-4, and stalled the Northwestern offense to just 26 percent shooting.

Northwestern would try to make a run on Wisconsin in the second half by shooting 48 percent, but could never get the lead below 13 points. Jordan Wilson notched career highs for the Badgers with 15 points and five assists. She finished off her strong effort by posting the second double-double of her career with 12 rebounds, including six on the offensive end.

Ashley Josephson once again led Wisconsin in scoring with 16 points, and ended Northwestern’s comeback hopes by drilling a career-high four three-pointers. Emily Ashbaugh added to Wisconsin’s strong inside game by hitting seven of eight field goals en route to 14 points.

The Badgers’ starting frontline of Wilson and Ashbaugh found each other open inside often with an effective high-low game.

“I was down low posting up and she [Emily Ashbaugh] found me great,” Jordan Wilson said. “It was so much fun to play with her.”

Both were also sound defensively in limiting the Wildcats’ center and leading scorer Sarah Kwasinski to just three shots in the first half and harassed her into two early fouls. Kwasinski finished with 11 points, but most came late when the game was well in hand. Northwestern was paced by guard Melissa Culver’s 17 points, including four for eight from three-point range.

Forward Ifeoma Okonkwo tallied 12 in a losing effort. Northwestern had no answer for Wisconsin’s inside-outside game; the Badgers ran their offense effectively throughout.

“I really thought we could get the ball inside,” Stone said. “We had a definite size advantage, and we went inside and ran high-low quite a bit. Obviously that drew the defense and that opened up Steph [Rich] and Ashley [Josephson] on the weak side.”

With a double-digit lead throughout the second half, Wisconsin was able to substitute freely and everyone on the roster saw action, with ten players cracking the scoring column.

Stone was especially pleased with being able to empty her bench this late in the season. “We finished the game with people that don’t get as many minutes without turning it over,” Stone said. “That says a lot about our entire team, and in particular our reserve players.”

The Badgers hope the win will give them some momentum as they take to the road for game three out of their next four contests.

“There is a lot of good to take from this game and build some confidence and get our blood flowing the way we want,” Stone said.