MADISON, Wis.— The No. 3 Wisconsin women's hockey team put up a strong scoring game against Minnesota State on Friday night, defeating the Mavericks 5-2 in front of a sellout crowd at LaBahn Arena. 

Nicole LaMantia, Casey O'Brien, Daryl Watts and Makenna Webster all put up multi-point games to help Wisconsin (22-4-4, 17-4-3-2-0-2) take down Minnesota State (12-16-1, 8-16-1-1). O'Brien and Watts enjoyed two goals each, along with a goal from LaMantia.

The Mavericks opened up the game with an early goal. LaMantia answered, tying the game at 1-1 less than three minutes into play.

Watts then put up a goal halfway through the first to give Wisconsin the lead. Minnesota State then put up another goal to tie the game at 2-2.

O'Brien lit the lamp early in the second period to give the lead back to the Badgers. Watts found the back of the net again to double Wisconsin's lead and send them into the third up 4-2.

O'Brien scored another goal in the final frame to get the Badgers' lead to three and the game ended 5-2 in Wisconsin's favor.

Netminder Kennedy Blair made 20 stops and allowed no goals after the first frame.

Three Notes of the Game
- Daryl Watts is now the sole second-place holder for all-time points in NCAA history with 288 after two goals and two assists in Friday's game. She is just 16 points behind the all-time leader, Meghan Agosta.
- Makenna Webster finished the night with three assists, marking her 13th multi-point game of the season. 
- Casey O'Brien and Daryl Watts are tied for most goals in the nation this season at 23. Watts leads the league with 21 in conference play.

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On Daryl Watts:
"She probably could've had two or three more tonight."

On the Watts-O'Brien-Webster line:
"When they have the puck and they're moving the way they're capable of moving, it creates tough areas to defend. When they're getting quality shots off it's good to see.

On Casey O'Brien:
"The fifth goal was working and moving the puck well, creating opportunities by moving the puck and moving your feet then all of a sudden you have got this small window opening where she was and she picked the upper corner with a great shot similar to what she did with her first goal. It's nice to get her on the board and feeling better given her last probably four or five games in the past month."

Sophomore Casey O'Brien
On her line:
"The biggest thing with our line is our speed. Tonight as soon as we made a pass we were moving into an open space and I think that confused Mankato a lot. Sometimes we get a little lazy and we watch the pass and wait for our linemate to make a play. Tonight we were buzzing all around, everyone was moving, finding each other and I think that's when we're successful in the offensive zone."

Senior Daryl Watts
On her career points:
"I guess it's pretty cool. But I'm just so focused right now on helping my team win and hopefully reaching the end goal of winning a national championship. I'm really not concerned about individual accolades but it is nice I guess."

On Friday's game:
"It definitely felt like tonight there was way more open space than usual. Me, Casey and Mak, we were just having a lot of fun moving the puck around, skating it around and finding the back of the net. We could've probably had four more goals tonight. Tomorrow we'll be just as hungry to get back out there and score more goals."

Up Next:
The Badgers will face the Mavericks again tomorrow with puck drop at 4 p.m. Before the game, Wisconsin will celebrate its eight seniors in a Senior day celebration. Following the game, Wisconsin will also host its first CHUCK-A-PUCK canned food drive. For every two canned food items donated, fans will receive one puck, for every five items - three pucks, and for 10 cans you will receive SIX pucks. The maximum number of pucks that each fan is able to receive is SIX. Pucks will be chucked on the ice following the game.