The No. 11-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes entered the Kohl Center looking to upset the Badgers using their size and strength. In terms of sheer mass, the Badgers were severely overmatched by a huge Buckeye squad.

"You have to make yourself hard to cover," head coach Mark Johnson said. "If you stand still and someone's bigger and stronger than you, it's easy to cover, but by moving the puck and using our speed and skills, it becomes more challenging for them."

Friday the Badgers matched the physical play of Ohio State while using their speed and skills to will their way to a come-from-behind 4-3 overtime victory.

Sunday the Badgers came out of the locker room on fire, peppering Ohio State goalie Liana Bonanno with a plethora of first-period shots. The Badgers finally cashed in with two goals late in the first period on their way to a 5-1 win.

At 15:30 into the first, junior defender Meaghan Mikkelson hit senior Nikki Bruish with a nifty cross-ice pass for the goal. Less than three minutes later, Bauer cleaned up a juicy rebound for her 18th goal of the season.

Wisconsin came out shooting again in the second period, scoring three goals on 18 shots. Slusar and Kenyon helped to make the score 5-1 while Mikkelson recorded her first goal of the season at 4:22 into the second.

"It was nice to get one," Mikkelson said. "Having played forward before, I know what it's like to score more goals and contribute more offensively, but playing defense I'm just concerned with keeping the puck out of our net more than putting the puck in theirs."

Mikkelson, Slusar and the rest of the blue-line gang did their job and more Sunday as they neutralized OSU's offensive attack while also contributing offensively.

The Badgers held the Buckeyes to 21 shots and goaltender Christine Dufour stopped all but one of them.

"Dufour did well. We got stunned there to start the game, they forced a turnover and added a short-hander to make it 1-0, but the penalty kill did a really nice job and the defense did a good job of protecting the scoring areas and blocking shots," Johnson said. "We didn't give up any real scoring threats and the ones they did get Dufour was able to stop, so overall it was a really good performance. I liked the effort and I liked the intensity."

When Sunday's contest was all said and done the Badgers connected on five of their 46 shots for a 5-1 victory.

While Friday's game ended with the same winning result, the game did not run nearly as smoothly for the Badgers. After returning home for the first time since Nov. 5, the Badgers showed some signs of rust early in the game.

"I don't think either [of the] teams played well to start the game. One of things you fall into when you are on an extended road trip is that first game back at home you don't usually play as well as you can," Johnson said. "So we talked about it, but it's a tough thing to control because all the sudden, you are more comfortable in a hotel than sleeping in your own bed. Hopefully we'll learn from it and, most importantly, we found a way to win."

Sophomore forward and leading goal scorer Jinelle Zaugg ended the first period stalemate with a power play goal at 19:33.

OSU responded with a quality second period, scoring two unassisted goals by Lisa Chesson and the team's leading scorer, Jana Harrigan.

An early third-period goal by the Buckeyes had the Badgers looking at a 3-1 deficit with just over 18 minutes remaining in the game. Although the top-ranked Badgers were in unfamiliar territory being two goals down, they kept their composure and willed their way back into the game.

Thirteen seconds after the Buckeyes' third goal, Zaugg scored on a twisted-wrister for her second goal of the game and her 20th of the season.

With the clock ticking away on the Badgers, Johnson went to his bench for a spark and got a fire.

After a neutral-zone turnover, fourth-line forward Phoebe Monteleone found herself with the puck on her stick and only the goalie in front of her. Monteleone went to her backhand and netted her first goal of the year to tie the game at 3.

"I had no idea why no one was around me," Monteleone said. "We practice breakaways in practice and I went to my main move, and it was fun to contribute that way."

With momentum on their side entering the extra frame, the Badgers wasted no time picking up the win as Sara Bauer scored another breakaway goal 1:12 into overtime.

This weekend Wisconsin proved it can play the finesse or physical game in order to win. The Badgers did not back down from the physical Buckeyes, matching OSU's 10 penalties with nine of their own.