There have been so many times in the last couple months when basketball has seemed so secondary to Mariah Dunham.

She hasn't always been her energetic self — worrying has taken over at times. Her mind starts to wander, leading her back to the same place.

Dunham, a sophomore forward on the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team, learned in November that her aunt — a woman she said is like a second mother to her — had brain cancer after doctors found a tumor on the frontal lobe of her brain.

Suddenly basketball took a backseat.

"Family comes first in my life, even though basketball has always been the number one thing," the Watertown native said. "For a serious condition like this, there's a part of me that's just still at home thinking about my family."

Dunham had high hopes for this season. After averaging eight points in 36 games — and 14 starts — as a freshman, she concentrated on improving her conditioning.

Badgers coach Lisa Stone called Dunham a potential All-Big Ten Conference performer before the year and was thrilled with her work in the offseason. Instead, Dunham has started just six games for UW (11-11, 4-8 Big Ten) entering tonight's matchup with Illinois (14-10, 6-7) at the Kohl Center.

She's averaging 3.8 points per game and shooting just 30.5 percent from the field. Those struggles — unfamiliar ones for a player who's always been able to score — though, pale in comparison to what her aunt is dealing with.

"It's kind of like my inspiration to just keep going every day," said Dunham, who told her teammates and coaches on the Badgers' trip to Virginia in late November.

Dunham said she's coping with the situation better of late. She got a car for Christmas, so she's able to drive back to Watertown to visit her family.

"She's come a long way this year with where she was mentally," said sophomore guard Rae Lin D'Alie, one of Dunham's closest friends on the team. "She's battled a lot of things and she's getting better. You can see it in her game, it's reflecting."

After not playing in UW's 78-74 overtime loss Jan. 13 at Iowa, Stone and Dunham talked about putting together consistency in practice, and Dunham is using that game as motivation. She's been putting in extra time shooting, trying to build confidence in an outside shot that simply hasn't been falling this season — Dunham has only made two of her 25 3-point attempts (8 percent).

She had an open look from 3-point range in the first half of Sunday's home loss to Ohio State, only to see the ball dance around the rim and spit out.

But overall, Dunham's feeling better. She's focused on making the most of her minutes, pushing for more playing time and using that time on the court as a release.

"I'm starting to feel the love of basketball again," Dunham said. "I kind of just feel my body, I'm more energized. I have more energy and I want to be out there. My competitiveness is back and I'm not as worried about everything.

"That's how it was last year: I just didn't care, I just went out there and played. And that's how I'm starting to feel again. It's better late than never, I guess you could say."