MADISON, WIS. — The Wisconsin women's basketball team secured a 70-60 victory over Illinois State on Thursday evening. Taking an early lead, the Badgers led the Redbirds throughout the entire game, with the largest lead of 17 points at the start of the fourth quarter.

This victory at the Kohl Center snapped a five game losing streak for Wisconsin.

Junior Sydney Hilliard and senior Katie Nelson each finished with 17 points each. Both Badgers shot 71 percent from the field and Nelson went 5-6 (80%) from 3-point range while putting up five assists.

Wisconsin pulled away from Illinois State thanks to shooting 53.8 percent (28-52) from the field, putting up a 50 percent from the 3-point line.

Illinois State shot 25-61 (41%) from the field, with 23.9% from three-point range.

The Badgers held a 11-point lead at the half, paced by Nelson and Hillard. Halle Douglass joined Hillard in also finishing the second quarter shooting a perfect 3-3 from the field. Douglass capped the game with 12 points and nine rebounds. Teammate Julie Pospisilova also chipped in 10 points for the Badgers.

Illinois State was led in scoring by Juliunn Redmond and Deanna Wilson with 16 points each.

STRAIGHT OFF THE COURT

Wisconsin Head Coach Marisa Moseley

"First time we had all five of our players on the court for all four quarters. We really locked in trying to understand what the game plan was and we did a great job of executing that. We still need to take care of the ball better, we shot 53% from the floor and shared the ball really well."

Katie Nelson

"We came out really aggressive and excited; my teammates made really good passes to me. The whole season we have been working really hard from start to finish, and we still have some work to do, but we are excited about this one."

UP NEXT: The Badgers will face Eastern Illinois at home to conclude their non-conference matchup for the season on December 23 at 12 p.m. at the Kohl Center.