Either Danielle Ward is incredibly good at moving on, or she's blocked out the moment.

Because when Ward and the rest of the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team travel to Evanston, Ill., for tonight's Big Ten Conference game against Northwestern, it would be logical to think what happened two years ago at Welsh-Ryan Arena would pop into her head.

"I don't remember much at all about that game," the senior forward said of the Badgers' 58-56 loss to the Wildcats on Feb. 5, 2006. "Two years ago? I've played a lot of games since then, so I can't really remember."

It was a rather forgettable performance all around for UW, which was in the midst of what turned out to be an 11-18 season that saw it finish ninth in the Big Ten.

Ward missed a point-blank putback with less than 5 seconds left that would have put the Badgers up by one, and likely would have won the game.

Instead, Northwestern got its sixth and final win of the season.

So in case UW (12-11, 5-8 Big Ten) needs a cautionary tale entering today's matchup with the Wildcats, still winless in 13 conference games and just 4-21 overall, the Badgers can look at what happened two seasons ago.

UW beat Northwestern 75-45 Jan. 27 at the Kohl Center in a game in which the Badgers were never seriously threatened. But they had beaten the Wildcats by 29 earlier in the 2005-06 season.

"We're not going to take them lightly," UW coach Lisa Stone said. "They're a (NCAA) Division I team that's thirsting for a win and you don't want to become the victim of that. You want to make sure you go in there and take care of what you've got to take care of."

The business at hand for the Badgers is getting what could be a pivotal -- and definitely grueling -- week off to a good start.

UW plays three games in six days, a stretch that could see it get back to .500 in conference play. That would put the Badgers in the hunt for fifth place in the league standings, meaning they wouldn't have to play until the second day of the Big Ten tournament.

And for a team that will in all likelihood need to win the conference tournament to reach the NCAA tournament, playing one less game would be significant.

"It's definitely a huge week," Badgers senior guard and leading scorer Jolene Anderson said. "We've got three games in six days, probably the toughest week that I've been here for (in) four years, especially (because) it's coming at the end of the season. Our bodies are wearing down. ... I think the message this week is, This week's going to be huge.' "

A loss to Northwestern, though, would stifle any progress UW has made while winning four of its last six games.

"You never take anyone for granted regardless of what their record looks like," Ward said. "I don't ever look at anyone's record or standings because they don't really tell what they're capable of. I think anywhere outside of your home, it's going to be tough to play."