After enjoying a tournament title and the warm weather in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team returns Tuesday to the cold and the Kohl Center for a matchup with in-state rival UW-Milwaukee.

Wisconsin (5-1) won all three of its games in the Paradise Jam Tournament — including a 59-58 upset over then-No. 6 Baylor — en route to winning its first tournament title since claiming the 2006 Lady Rebel Shootout in Las Vegas.

“We played well together, and it just felt so good because we all believed that we could win and we went out there and did it,” freshman Anya Covington said. “You can’t beat another team with one person. It took us, as a team, to beat another team and that’s what we did.”

Aside from three wins, the biggest thing the Badgers brought back with them from their trip is a boost in confidence. By beating a team like Baylor and holding the Bears to a season-low point total, the Badgers know they can play with any team.

“It was a great feeling to have some success against good teams,” sophomore guard Alyssa Karel said. “It gave us a lot of confidence knowing that, as a team, if we stick to our principles and stick to what our coaches are telling us, we can really do anything.”

Karel, who leads the Badgers offensively with 12.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, earned tournament MVP honors after scoring 44 points in the tournament, including the game-winning jumper against Baylor with seven seconds left in the game.

The 5-foot-7-inch guard has emerged as a leader for Wisconsin, working well with fellow guard Rae Lin D’Alie and leading the team in scoring in four of UW’s six games so far this season.

“She’s got an amazing ability to create in the open court, [and] defensively she has grown leaps and bounds from last year to this year,” head coach Lisa Stone said of Karel. “[D’Alie and Karel] work very well together, and they can find each other. I think it’s a good duo out there on top.”

Despite all the success on the weekend, the Badgers know they have no time to enjoy the tournament title, as they have to face the Panthers in tonight’s game. UW-Milwaukee (3-2) enters the Kohl Center having won its last three games after opening the season with a pair of tough losses at the Wolfpack Invitational in Raleigh, N.C.

Leading the way for the Panther offense is senior center Traci Edwards, who averages 19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Edwards is also the only UWM player to have started all five games so far this season.

“Traci Edwards is the real deal,” Stone said. “She really can play inside and has. She’s a preseason all-Horizon [honoree] and is getting some All-American notice.”

Much like they did against Baylor and senior forward Rachel Allison, the Badgers will likely need to use a steady rotation of forwards to guard Edwards. Among those guarding Edwards will be Covington, who pulled down 10 and 11 rebounds against Villanova and Central Florida, respectively.

“We just have to stick to our identity, which is defense,” Covington said. “If we play strong defense for 40 minutes, then we’re going to win. Every team has its challenges, but if we play our defense then we’ll be fine.”

With UWM riding a three-game winning streak and Wisconsin having a five-game streak of its own, Tuesday’s game is sure to fuel the in-state rivalry between the two teams. With the Badgers receiving votes in this week’s AP poll, both teams will be eager to continue their streaks and prove their worth.

“It’s a big one,” Karel said of the rivalry. “Obviously we want to beat every team in the state since we’re the biggest university in Wisconsin. We definitely want to get this win and just keep on winning.”