Behind stifling pressure defense and the offensive resurgence of junior forward Tara Steinbauer, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team (15-4, 5-3) never relinquished the lead in a 63-51 win over the Illinois Fighting Illini (11-6, 3-4) Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center.

With a career- high 23 points from Steinbauer, as well as 11 from freshman guard Taylor Wurtz and nine from junior guard Alyssa Karel, the Badgers extended their winning streak to four games after jumping on the Illini early with an 8-2 run.

“One of the greatest things about our team is that we have so many different threats, and on any given night, one person can kind of be the star,” Steinbauer said. “Today, I scored 23 points, but I give a lot of credit to my teammates. They found me in the post, and they’re always threats on other days.”

For Illinois, freshman forward Karisma Penn led the way with 13 points, while freshman guard Adrienne GodBold chipped in nine.

On the defensive end, Wisconsin successfully pressured an athletic Illinois team throughout. In the first half alone, the Badgers forced 10 turnovers, including five traveling violations. For the game, the Illini turned the ball over 16 times, which the Badgers converted into 18 points.

“We play team defense, I don’t think there’s one thing,” UW head coach Lisa Stone said of her team’s defensive effort. “I think we did a good job on the ball. I thought we were pretty active in the gap. I thought we did a good job on our double teams. But we talked at Michigan State about the x-factor; loose balls, second chance points, not beating yourself, taking care of the ball, and I thought we did a nice job of that.”

Up 27-23 at halftime, Wisconsin came out hot in the second half and shot 58.8 percent from the field. Steinbauer picked up where she left of in the first half, with 14 of her 23 points coming in the second half. For Illinois, their size kept the game close until the final minutes.

The Illini boast a starting lineup that features three players 6 foot-1 or taller and that height advantage was on display as Illinois out-rebounded Wisconsin 36-29. However, UI senior center Jenna Smith, the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer with an average of 19.5 points per game, was limited by a hamstring injury and was held to eight points on 1-8 shooting.

“Mostly when I try to kick in another speed, try to sprint out or stride,” Smith said of the effects of her injury. “It’s mostly breaking my stride.”

After trailing by as many as 11 in the first half, Illinois recovered to cut the deficit to 32-30 with 16:44 remaining in the game. But the Badgers held on to their lead with a 13-4 run, which saw Steinbauer and Karel score all 13 points. Karel, the team’s leading scorer, was held scoreless in the first half, but keyed the run with a jumper from the foul line.

After again trimming the lead, this time to 52-46 with six minutes remaining, Illinois scored only five more points as Wisconsin put together an 11-5 run to end the game.

“I’m very proud of our basketball team,” Stone said. “I know I open up with that each time, but I am. They’re a group of young women that are very levelheaded, very committed to each other. They play with energy and focus; they have a defensive identity that is special. It’s very special.

“They come to work every day to try to do what they did today in terms of preparing for a game, executing the game plan, doing our best to take care of the ball and playing tremendous team defense.”

In front of a raucous 8,097 fans at the Kohl Center, the Badgers improved their home record to an impressive 8-1 mark. As usual, Wurtz, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, provided a spark off the bench by making all four of her field goals, including two three pointers. Senior guard Rae Lin D’Alie contributed eight points and two steals and was all over Illinois guards Lydia McCully and Whitney Toone on defense.

“You can see in the way we play defense, the fact that we’re helping everyone out, and like we say, we really have to rally to the ball,” Karel said of the team’s success. “I think we have a lot of energy every day, and we have fun together; if you come watch practice, we’re laughing all the time and it’s not so serious. I think it’s just a great group of girls and we really want to work hard for each other.”