From the start, there was a bounce in their step.

Sure, some shots still were rimming out and there were some shaky moments.

But the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team, for the most part, played like a group that knew how badly it needed a win after two road losses to open the Big Ten Conference season last weekend.

And the energized effort the Badgers put forth Wednesday night at the Kohl Center led to an 84-71 victory over Michigan State.

They did it with leading scorer Jolene Anderson still enduring her fair share of struggles — though she recovered nicely to finish with 18 points on 6-for-16 shooting.

They did it with an aggressive defense that forced 21 turnovers and by pushing the tempo when they could to limit Spartans 6-foot-9 sophomore center Allyssa DeHaan's effectiveness on the defensive end.

And they did it behind strong showings from two freshmen, Alyssa Karel (career-high 19 points, three steals) and Jefferson native Lin Zastrow (nine points, five rebounds), who made the kind of plays they showed back in the exhibition season.

"Before the game (coach Lisa Stone) told us that we could really run on these guys and play in transition," Karel said. "We saw the open players and were able to push it. When we transition, I think that gives us the most energy."

By doing all that, the Badgers, who had 19 assists versus nine turnovers, avoided a 0-3 Big Ten start that would have made the idea of a run at the league title rather laughable.

No team ever has recovered from a 0-3 start to win the Big Ten crown.

Then again, no one has come back from a 0-2 start, either.

But if UW (8-5 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) is going to live up to its preseason billing and make the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2001-02 season, the Badgers needed to turn their fortunes around quickly.

A 5-0 spurt to close the opening half and a 23-8 run midway through the second helped UW do just that against a Spartans squad also expected to be among the conference's best.

"Obviously we knew we were going to face a pretty urgent Wisconsin team," Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant said. "So we knew we were going to get their best effort."

Michigan State (9-6, 1-2), which got a game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds from DeHaan, made a late push, closing to within six on two free throws from freshman forward Kalisha Keane with 2 minutes, 22 seconds left.

But the Badgers steadily pulled away by making their free throws — they made 21 of 27 for the game and seven of eight in the final 2 minutes — to secure the win.

"This was our most complete game we've played all year, our best game thus far," Stone said, "and it, I think, shows how good we can be."