The UW Oshkosh women’s basketball team, ranked fourth nationally by D3hoops.com and eighth by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, took down UW-Platteville 60-44 Jan. 11 at the Kolf Sports Center.
Oshkosh (14-0, 3-0 WIAC) is off to their best start since the 2004-05 campaign where it started that season 15-0 before falling to UW-Stout 88-58 on Jan. 12, 2005.
Saturday afternoon, the Titans posted an efficient field goal percentage by going 19-of-48 (39.6%) to the Pioneers’ 16-of-61 (%). UWO also outshot Platteville from beyond the arc, 4-of-13 (30.8%) to 3-of-19 (15.8%) and from the charity stripe, 18-of-23 (78.3%) to 9-to-16 (56.3%).
The Titans were led by forward Kayce Vaile, who posted her fourth double-double of the season with 16 points, 10 rebounds and a block in her 23 minutes on the floor. Vaile was an efficient 6-of-9 from the field. Guard Kate Huml notched 10 points, four rebounds, and four assists, while going a perfect 4-of-4 from the line. Forward Sarah Hardwick was also big for the Titans, tallying four points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Platteville opened the contest with the ball and jumped out to an early 2-point lead. The two teams then did not score again until 5:41 left in the first quarter when Paige Seckar tied it up at 2-2 with a jumper. Platteville then hit two free throws and the two teams traded buckets to put the score in favor of the Pioneers, 6-4, with 4:18 remaining. Oshkosh and Platteville traded buckets again until Hardwick cashed in on her two free throws tying the contest at 8-8. Oshkosh then took the lead heading into the second quarter off a Mallory Hoitink three to put it up 11-8.
Both teams traded buckets to start the scoring in the second and Hoitink extended the Titans’ lead 15-11 at 8:44. Over the next three minutes Platteville produced a 5-4 run to tie it up at 19. Sammi Beyer then extended the Titans’ lead to 27-23 with 2:11 to go in the half. After the teams exchanged baskets, Beyer hit another three with two seconds left to send the Titans into the locker room with a 31-24 lead.
Platteville opened the second half by climbing within three points of the Titans, 33-30 with 6:18 left in the period. Oshkosh then closed the quarter on a 7-3 run and was leading, 40-34, heading into the final quarter.
Oshkosh came out hot in the fourth period, producing a 9-4 run to go up by 11 points (49-38) with 6:08 left in the contest, closing out the matchup with an 11-6 run to put the Pioneers away by a final score of 60-44.
The Titans are slated to play on the road on Wednesday at Kachel Gymnasium for another WIAC matchup against UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.
