After winning the last two home games — the most recent a 67-61 upset over No. 17 Minnesota — the Wisconsin women's basketball team is feeling pretty good about itself.

For a team that has struggled immensely throughout the entire season, the recent success has been great for the team morale.

However, head coach Lisa Stone insists nothing has changed in her game plan and strategy.

"You just stay the course," Stone said. "If you try to reinvent the wheel at this time of year, you're going to get a flat tire. I'm very proud of our players for the fact that they're staying with it.

"Practices have been business as usual with preparation for games," she added. "Maybe a couple of different drills. You want to keep things fresh, but as far as changing things, we haven't done that."

The real change has come from the team itself.

In the last two weeks or so, the Badgers have come together and simply clicked.

"I think over the last two weeks we've really put some things together," Stone said. "Practices have been very focused. The kids are smiling, happy and working hard."

Also, the team has showed great composure in tight situations.

No longer is the team blowing leads in the final minutes with turnovers and costly fouls, as they have learned from their mistakes over the year.

"Our composure down the stretch has broke through," Stone said. "We broke through that barrier that we have been looking for. Our whole goal is to get better every day and we have, and [the Minnesota game] is proof.

"Hopefully, that breakthrough that we have been looking for for quite some time will give us some momentum that we need going into the Big Ten tournament," she added.

The biggest difference in Stone's opinion, though, is that the players finally understand their roles on the team.

Jordan Wilson has emerged as a solid starter, contributing a great amount of hustle and hard rebounds Wisconsin has been missing up front.

Also, Danielle Ward continues to improve in just her sophomore year and has worked her way into the starting lineup.

"People are understanding their roles," Stone said. "Jolene (Anderson) and Janese (Banks) have to do a lot, obviously, but I can't say enough about our players and their understanding of their roles right now."

While the whole team has emerged during the Badgers' recent run, Ashley Josephson has been the most noticeable improvement in the team's play.

"Ashley's our best shooter and she's one of the school's history-best shooters," Stone said. "When she's on, it helps us, obviously, because she's a perimeter threat, and also it always helps us to have driving lanes because we can put her on the perimeter and have Janese, Jolene or any of our guards penetrate right at their defender."

Even though she is a streaky shooter at times, Stone still wants her out behind the 3-point line, taking the shots she always has been.

"Ashley has, even back to the Penn State game, a slow start in the first half, but stays with it," Stone said. "She's a shooter. She needs to catch and shoot. I think her confidence is built up."

Senior Night: Next Sunday's game at the Kohl Center against Purdue will not only be the Badgers' last game of the season, but also the last for seniors Kjersten Bakke, Ashley Josephson, Annie Nelson, and Jordan Wilson — all of whom have been in Madison even longer than Stone.

With it being an emotional time for them all, Stone is planning on commemorating the senior quartet by putting them all in the starting lineup Sunday, with Bakke playing small forward and the fifth starter yet to be determined in practice.

However, Stone believes the team's recent success has been an even bigger honor for them.

"I was touched by Josephson's emotion after the [Minnesota] game," Stone said. "She fought back tears because we have not felt that type of experience that we had. I'm happy for them. I'm just so pleased for our seniors that they're tasting some success and hopefully feel that they have an input of where this program wants to go."