BEMIDJI, Minn. – After falling behind 1-0 in the first period, the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team scored four goals in the final 35 minutes to earn a 4-2 win over Bemidji State on Saturday at the Sanford Center.

After giving up a first-period goal, junior Emily Clark scored Wisconsin's (26-2-1, 21-2-1-1 WCHA) first goal with five minutes left in the second to tie the game with Bemidji State (9-16-3, 5-16-3-1 WCHA) 1-1 before scoring the game-winner early in the third period. The junior ended the weekend with four goals, two of which were game-winning efforts.

Junior Annie Pankowski and freshman Mekenzie Steffen also scored in UW's 12th-straight win. Pankowski now has 27 points during UW's winning streak and has recorded at least one point in each game of the run. 

Bemidji State drew first blood as Alexis Joyce found the back of the net through traffic to put the Beavers up 1-0 in the first.

"When you're playing Bemidji you have to work hard," UW head coach Mark Johnson said. "They capitalized on a mistake we made so the big thing was to try and get some momentum in the second period."

Clark did just that for the Badgers in the second frame, as the junior continued her dominant offensive performance by burying a rebound from a Steffen shot to draw even with the Beavers.

Just minutes later, Pankowski put UW up 2-1 after taking the puck in on a rush and beating BSU goaltender Brittni Mowat low blocker-side. 

With less than a minute left in the second, BSU tied the game when Summer Thibodeau scored a goal for the Beavers. 

"We had a good talk in between periods about getting back to our game and holding each other accountable," Clark said. "We need to recognize that it's not always going to be smooth sailing."

All tied up and heading in to the final frame, it was Clark who stepped up and netted her second goal of the game to put the Badgers up 3-2. With the tally, Clark leads all UW skaters with seven game-winning goals this season. 

"We always kind of get the opportunity late in the game when we need a goal," Pankowski said of Clark and Nurse as her linemates. "It just seems like the three of us are on the same page right now."

Steffen provided the final goal after stuffing a loose puck past Mowat to help seal the win for Wisconsin late in the third. 

"We haven't been tested that much so we all knew that we had to start playing our game and we had to start pumping each other up," said Steffen. "We knew we had to keep it in their zone and keep it simple to come out with a win."

Senior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens passed Jessie Vetter for second in program history in career wins, earning her 92nd career triumph on Saturday. The senior stopped 16 of the 18 shots she faced to improve to 22-1-1 this season. 

"Everyone's really excited about what we have going on in the locker room and the cohesive group that we have," said Pankowski. "Moving forward, we just have a lot of talent and a lot of depth going for us right now."

UW outshot Bemidji State 43-18, including a 23-3 margin in the final period.  

The Badgers await one of their toughest tests of the season next week as No. 1 UW hosts No. 2 Minnesota Duluth at LaBahn Arena. Faceoff on Saturday is set for 2 p.m. while Sunday's game starts at noon.