MADISON, Wis. -- An explosive third quarter propelled the Wisconsin women's basketball team to a 89-62 win over Northern Illinois in the Kohl Center on Wednesday night. The Badgers improved to 4-6 on the season and snapped a three-game losing streak.
 
"We wanted to go into Christmas break and finals feeling good about ourselves," UW Head Coach Bobbie Kelsey said. "NIU is a scrappy team, they were down a player or two, but we're down a player or two as well so everybody's fighting injury and fatigue and all kinds of things. You gotta keep fighting and scrapping until you can get yourself back on track."
 
After escaping with a 35-33 lead at the half, the Badgers put up 36 points in the third quarter while holding the Huskies (4-4) to just 11. Fueled by 12 points, including three 3-pointers, from senior Nicole Bauman the Badgers unleashed their offensive weapons to run away from the Huskies.
 
"We were taking care of the ball, taking shots that were open and available, making them fight through screens, some of that is just fatigue on their part maybe," Kelsey said. "If you get screened every time, you're like, 'Gosh!' and they weren't switching so we just told our guards to hesitate and turn the corners if you can and if you can't, kick it out."
 
Two free throws by junior Avyanna Young and a bucket by Michala Johnson put the Badgers up 39-33 to start the third quarter. Wisconsin led 46-37 with 6:40 to play on a Nicole Bauman 3-pointer but NIU cut it 46-40 with 5:51 remaining off three straight free throws.
 
A 3-pointer by Roichelle Marble at 5:12 kicked off an 11-0 run to put UW up 57-40 with 3:01 left in the quarter. Back-to-back triples by Bauman upped the Badger lead to 69-44 with 36 seconds left. Marsha Howard added a lay-up with five seconds to go, putting Wisconsin up 71-44 after three quarters.
 
"I thought we broke out in that third quarter which we've been waiting to do," Kelsey said. "We've had a history of coming out in the third quarter not very energetic and focused."
 
Five Badgers scored in double figures led by Bauman with 19 points. Johnson (16), Young (15), senior Dakota Whyte (13) and Marble (12) marked the first time this season five players reached double figures.
 
Bauman was a perfect 5-5 from 3-point range to tie a school record previously set by Alyssa Karel (5-5) against Ohio State on March 6, 2010.
 
The Badgers shot 50 percent from the field (32-for-64), including a season-high 75 percent from 3-point range (9-for-12). The 3-point percentage ranks second all-time on UW's single game record list.
 
NIU shot 35 percent from the field (25-for-71) and 25 percent from 3-point range (4-16). The Huskies were led by Jazzmine Harris with 12 points while Mikayla Voigt and Kelly Smith added 11 apiece.
 
Wisconsin outrebounded NIU 41-39 behind a career-best nine boards from Howard. Johnson and junior Tessa Cichy each added eight boards. The Huskies Smith led all players with 10 rebounds.
 
The Badgers turned the ball over nine times to mark a season low and dished off 16 assists, including a game-high seven from Whyte.
 
Two made free throws by Young got the Badgers on the board first to start the game but the Huskies went on a 7-0 run to lead 7-2 with 7:49 to play in the first quarter. NIU led by five two more times, including an 11-6 with 6:11 to play before a 9-0 run put UW up 15-11 with 3:58 on the clock. Northern Illinois cut the lead to two (19-17) at the end of the first quarter.
 
Neither team led by more than three points in the second quarter as the score was knotted four times. The Badgers led 35-31 with 2:35 to play in the half but wouldn't score the rest of the way as the Huskies cut the lead to 35-33 with 1:24 remaining.
 
Following the 36-point third quarter, the Badgers cooled down in the fourth quarter but the balanced UW offense proved to be too much for the Huskies as seven Wisconsin players scored six-or-more points.
 
The Badgers kick off Big Ten Conference play on Dec. 31 to take on Indiana at 2 p.m. in the Kohl Center.