MANKATO, Minn. – The top-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team scored three times in the first 16 minutes en route to a 5-1 triumph on Friday afternoon at the Mayo Clinic Health Civic Center.

The Badgers (26-2-1, 16-2-1-0 WCHA) dominated action in the first period scoring three times while outshooting the Mavericks (10-15-5, 3-13-3-3) 16-2.

Junior Caitlin Schneider scored her eighth of the year nine minutes in before she assisted on junior Delaney Drake's goal two minutes later to give UW a quick 2-0 lead.

With four minutes to go in the first, sophomore Britta Curl scored for the third-straight game to give UW a 3-0 advantage after 20 minutes.

Wisconsin opened the second with a quick goal as senior Alexis Mauermann went top shelf on a shorthanded opportunity off a feed from senior Abby Roque.

Minnesota State answered late in the second period, scoring on a broke play to cut UW's lead to 4-1.

After a quiet first 10 minutes of the third, junior Brette Pettet found the back of the net lifting UW to a 5-1 triumph.

Three Notes of the Game

• Abby Roque moved to seventh place in school history in assists, passing Annie Pankowski in the process. Roque now has 111 assists, six shy of Brooke Ammerman, who sits in sixth place in school history with 117.
• Daryl Watts posted her NCAA-leading 43rd assist and has a point in 17-straight games for UW. The 2018 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner has at least one point in 27 of UW's 29 games this year and UW is 25-1-1 in games she has at least one point.
• Breanna Blesi improved to 4-0-0 in net for UW this year, stopping 11 of the 12 shots she faced.

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On the game:
"It was good. We played well at the start of the game. Third period, we did a lot of good things. Their goaltender played very well. Overall, it was a good win.

On the third line:
"A combination of a couple of things. Delaney [Drake] has been playing really well, distributing pucks. Cailtin [Schneider] and [Presley] Norby are aggressive on the forechecks, create the turnovers. That's how we capitalized on the first one. Caitlin was in good position and intercepted a puck and made a nice move on the goal. All three of them are playing very confidently which is nice."

Junior Caitlin Schneider
On her line:
"I think we just went out there and worked together as a line and each contributed to every goal, so I think that's really helpful -- as a whole contributing, not just as individuals.

"As a third line we're contributing energy on and off the ice. We brought the energy today and I think we really focused on as a team too was making sure we came out fast for this game. And that's what we did.

On Saturday's game:
"I definitely think they are going to come out fired up and ready to go, so we're going to have to bring it again, and it'll be another good game."

Up Next:
UW closes out its series against Minnesota State Saturday with a 2 p.m. game. The contest can be seen live on Fox Sports Wisconsin Plus.