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Riding the momentum of a 16-point victory against Drake, the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team captured their second win in a row, beating the Canisius Golden Griffins 69-54 Sunday at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers were led by freshman guard Jamie Russell and sophomore Alyssa Karel, who scored 16 and 10 points, respectively. Freshman Jade Davis also scored her first career points as a Badger on a day when 10 UW players tallied points and the team shot 49 percent from the floor while committing only 12 turnovers.

Wisconsin held Canisius to 42 percent shooting — including 31 percent in the first half — and forced 21 turnovers. The Griffins’ leading scorer, Marie Warner, came into the game averaging 19 points per game. The Badger defense held her to just five points Sunday. Free-throw shooting, an issue in the previous two games for Wisconsin, also improved as UW was 10-of-14 from the line.

The Badgers trailed only once the entire game, for a minute early in the first half. They led by as much as 24 points after a 17-0 run to end the first half and start the second.

“We don’t need a 25-point scorer,” Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. “We just need a lot of people to chip in. I like the fact that we have a lot of weapons and if we can continue shoring up the stagnancy of our offense, that’s going to help us get more people involved as well.”

Coming off the bench, Russell was the main weapon for the Badgers on Sunday. She shot 60 percent from the floor in 26 minutes of action with two 3-pointers. She was all over the court both offensively and defensively, hustling on every play and diving for loose balls.

“I was a little more comfortable today,” Russell said. “It’s just been a learning experience for me. Once the team gets going, everything just falls into place. Not only me, but the team effort, as well is what is going to win us games. We can’t just rely on talent.”

Stone, however, wasn’t as pleased with effort by the team as a whole.

“A win is a win,” Stone said. “The fashion that we won, however, is hopefully uncharacteristic of our team. I didn’t think we played with a whole lot of energy throughout the game. The stat sheet makes it look like a pretty balanced game, but I really hope that we can pick it up because the competition will get even stiffer as we go along.

“We have a long way to go and we’ve got a challenging schedule ahead of us, so we’ll find out what we’re made of.”

Karel also had a big game for the Badgers, adding five rebounds and two steals to her point total. Karel, who played point guard before this season, is adjusting to the shooting guard position this year and has averaged 10.7 points and 5.3 rebounds so far.

“I’ve really enjoyed playing the two guard this season. It’s really fun to play with Rae Lin [D’Alie] when she’s out there,” Karel said. “We read each other well and get stuff going. It takes some time to get used to the position because I’ve never played it in my life, but I’m getting more comfortable with it and am enjoying it.”

Sunday’s game was also a homecoming of sorts for Canisius junior forward Ellie Radke. A native of Monroe, Wis., Radke earned the Wisconsin “Miss Basketball” honor following her senior season in 2006 before heading to Buffalo, N.Y. She finished with 13 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes of action.

“I think Ellie is a great player,” Stone said. “She’s very physical. She’s very good around the basket and is a great free-throw shooter, very similar to when she was in high school. She’s going to have a great junior and senior year.”