NORMAL, Ill. – A dominant first quarter gave the Wisconsin women's basketball all the momentum it needed to surpass Illinois State 64-46 for its first road victory of the season. Three UW players scored in double digits for the second time this season to help UW to its third overall win.

"Anytime you can win on the road and one thing as you are working with a young team, in some ways we are 16 freshmen, is understanding the highs and lows," head coach Jonathan Tsipis said. "I was really proud about the way we came out. We were aggressive, we were balanced against the zone.

"We were able to get Cayla McMorris started from the perimeter. We got some good touches inside. I think that's the growth of our team. We let the offense dictate our effort and our energy."

Wisconsin (3-6) started hot against Illinois State (3-4), outscoring the Redbirds 27-9 in the first quarter, marking the second-highest amount scored by the Badgers in a quarter this year.

Thirteen seconds into the game, junior Cayla McMorris set the tone for Wisconsin, banking a quick 3-pointer off of an assist from Kendra Van Leeuwen. Not even 30 seconds later, she arced up another triple to give UW a fast 6-2 lead in the first minute of the contest.

The Badgers went up 10-2 just over two minutes in with a jumper from senior Avyanna Young and two made free throws from McMorris. Illinois State nearly bounced back from their deficit with a 3-pointer from Katrina Beck that cut the UW lead to 10-5 at the 7:35 mark.

But it didn't last long after treys from freshmen Courtney Fredrickson and Gabby Gregory elevated Wisconsin to a 12-point advantage (17-5) with less than five minutes on the clock in the first quarter.

The Badgers didn't let up after ISU scored two free throws to cut it back the lead to 10 (17-7) with 3:41 to play. Malayna Johnson forced herself through the paint to swing the Badgers' momentum back that started a 10-2 run to close the opening period with Wisconsin up 27-9.

However, the Redbirds weren't going down without a fight, outscoring the Badgers 17-6 in the second quarter. McMorris halted a nearly three-minute scoring drought by Wisconsin with a jumper at 5:30 to keep the Badgers up by double digits, 29-15. McMorris hit one more jumper less than a minute later but UW didn't score again for more than three minutes until a huge shot from Suzanne Gilreath at the two-minute mark. Gilreath's jump shot was the final shot of the half for both teams as Wisconsin led 33-26.

"Tip your hat to Illinois State for continuing to attack even when we got that early lead in the first quarter – to continue to push and push and push," Tsipis said. "Tip your hats to Illinois State because they stayed in front of us. Down the stretch we were able to get to the free-throw line. We have to do a better shot converting but we got to that five-shot bonus each of the third and fourth quarters."

Illinois State once again gave Wisconsin a hard run in the third quarter. But once again, Gilreath was there to keep the Badgers in the game with some big shots.

Gilreath knocked down a huge 3-pointer with 3:10 left the third quarter to make it a 43-38 game. The Redbirds made it a one-point game (43-42) off two free throws from Katrina Beck at 1:35 but Gilreath came to the rescue again. The 5-4 guard grabbed a defensive rebound and turned it into a fastbreak layup with 55 seconds to play Van Leeuwen sealed a six-point advantage headed into the fourth quarter for UW with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

"When it gets down to a one-point game in the third quarter, I thought the two huge momentum plays for us were Suzanne Gilreath's drive with about 55 seconds left," Tsipis said. "We got a stop then Kendra Van Leeuwen was able to knock down that three right at the buzzer."

???????Tsipis said Gilreath has become a real spark for his team off the bench.

"(Gilreath) had a great game on Thursday against North Carolina. I think the thing more than anything that I appreciate about her than anyone on our team is that she has really embraced her role," Tsipis added. "She comes in and she's going to shoot it. She'll put herself in position no matter what we run, to get open for her teammates.

"At times, we become too reliant on Cayla and Avy (Young) to carry us offensively. Suzanne, whether she's in for five minutes or 30 seconds, is really appreciative of her role. When she has an open shot, everyone on that bench believes it's going to go in."

It was all Cardinal and White in the final period. Young and McMorris hit offensive sparks, accounting for a combined 12 points. Van Leeuwen also added four and ended with a career-high tying seven points on the day.

Wisconsin didn't allow Illinois State to score until the 2:22 point in the fourth quarter, expanding a 20-0 run for the Badgers since the end of the third quarter.

The win was Wisconsin's largest margin of victory this season, outdoing Illinois State by 18 points.

The Wisconsin bench outscored the Illinois State bench, 18-4. The Badgers also outrebounded Illinois State 48-46. UW recorded a season-low 12 turnovers while forcing 18 Redbird turnovers with nine steals.

"Our hopes were that if we used our bench and really were able to change defenses could we wear them down," Tsipis said of the injury-depleted Redbirds. "I felt like in the fourth quarter, our defense was better and we were fresher. I'm excited for our kids because we're working off each game, each practice to get a little bit better. I think we got better than we were against North Carolina on Thursday."

???????McMorris led the Badgers with 21 points, making it her third 20-plus point game this season. Young also scored in double digits with 15 in addition to tallying a team-high nine rebounds. Gilreath rounded out the double-figure scorers, coming up just one point shy of her career high of 11 points.

Wisconsin is back in action for a three-game home stand at the Kohl Center beginning with Idaho State on Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center.