STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Every time its cause looks completely lost, the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team shows a flash.

And maybe Sunday was just another one of those flashes, a glimpse of what might have been this season. Either way, though, the Badgers got a much-needed win -- their first on the road in Big Ten Conference play this season -- by beating Penn State 77-59 in front of a crowd of 7,036 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

If UW (11-10, 4-7 Big Ten) is going to make a late run at an NCAA tournament berth, it will need to put together more performances like this one, which the Badgers used to trounce the Lady Lions (13-9, 4-6) for the second time in 11 days.

UW had never won here in 14 previous tries, and after an 86-62 loss at Indiana Thursday -- dropping the Badgers to 2-25 in Bloomington, Ind. -- the signs weren't real promising for a bounce-back triumph.

"The last couple days, it's been hard in practice and you wonder whether their confidence is wavered," UW coach Lisa Stone said in her postgame radio interview. "(They) didn't show any of that tonight."

After one early hiccup that saw Penn State make a 10-0 run to grab an early 10-6 lead, the Badgers rode a big first half from senior guard Jolene Anderson to build a 40-28 halftime lead.

Anderson scored 18 of her game-high 30 points in the opening half. With seniors Janese Banks and Danielle Ward saddled with foul trouble -- both played only four minutes after picking up two fouls each -- freshman forward Lin Zastrow (12 points, seven rebounds in the first half) helped UW grab control.

The Badgers never let go, either, pushing the lead to as many as 22 on freshman forward Tara Steinbauer's layup with 12 minutes, 38 seconds remaining.

The Lady Lions got within 14 three times after that, but UW pulled away, using an 8-2 spurt to make it 72-52 with 3:56 left. The Badgers shot 50 percent (32-for-64) from the field, and outrebounded Penn State by 16 thanks in large part to Anderson's 14 rebounds, which matched her career high.

"She put this team on her back, she really did," Stone said of Anderson, who shot 13-for-20 from the field, including 3-for-5 from behind the 3-point line.

"She rebounded for us, she defended, she scored for us. I can't say enough about her, and it's something that we've got to have consistently the rest of the way."

Zastrow added her first career double-double, with career bests in points (18) and rebounds (10).

Behind her and Steinbauer (seven points, four rebounds, two steals), UW's bench outscored the Lady Lions' 25-8.

"We came in here with our backs against the wall after a not very good performance down in Bloomington," Stone said. "I'm so proud of these kids. I believe in them every day and they show me why I keep coming back to stay positive with them. They're a great group. We did whatever we had to do."