In the last 13 days, the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team may have turned around its season.

Yes, the Badgers, who began this five-game homestand with their record standing at 2-3, have gotten well against a group of teams they probably were supposed to beat.

That process continued Friday night, when UW capped the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 66-62 victory over South Dakota State in front of 5,960 at the Kohl Center behind 20 points from senior guard Janese Banks.

And the Badgers will gladly take the 14-day break that's ahead of them after surviving a stiff test from the Jackrabbits.

"It was a grind, it really was," said UW coach Lisa Stone, whose team won despite getting just 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting from senior guard Jolene Anderson.

But, with 14 days without a game until their Big Ten Conference opener at Purdue

Dec. 28, the Badgers will enter conference play carrying a five-game winning streak.

Only barely, though.

UW (7-3) built an early 12-2 lead, and it looked like the Badgers might just run away from South Dakota State (6-4). But the Jackrabbits fought back, going on a 9-0 run midway through the half to forge a 20-all tie, and UW only led by four at the half.

"We got in a couple of holes in the first half and one in the second half that we had to dig out of," said South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnston, whose team has lost four of its last six. "It's tough coming back on the road from being down eight and 10."

The Jackrabbits grabbed the lead on four occasions in the second half, the last a 46-45 advantage after a putback by senior center Courtney Grimsrud with 9 minutes, 5 seconds remaining.

The Badgers, though, answered each time with a spurt of their own. They followed Grimsrud 's basket by scoring 16 of the next 21 points, holding the 3-point happy Jackrabbits -- they attempted 31 but hit just nine (29 percent) -- to two points in a 5:16 span.

"We knew we had to come down and get quality shots on offense," said Banks, who had 12 of her 20 points in the second half, and scored six to help fuel UW's run to a 61-51 lead. "Miss or make, they need to be quality. We needed to execute our plays, run the shot clock down some and then on the defensive end, we just needed stops. We couldn't trade baskets; we needed stops."

From there, the Badgers managed to withstand one last South Dakota State run despite shooting just 14-for-25 from the free throw line (56 percent), and 5-for-9 in the final 2 minutes.

"We're definitely satisfied (with) the way we finished the non-conference season," said Anderson, whose point total was her lowest since Nov. 28, 2006, when she had five points against UC-Riverside, "but there's still so many things that we can still work on going into the Big Ten season."