The UW-Oshkosh women’s basketball team advanced to its third straight sectional round in the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament last weekend at the Kolf Sports Center March 6 and 7.
The No. 4 Titans did it by beating the St. Louis Intercollegiate Conference champions in Webster University (Missouri) 53-47 and Wisconsin Lutheran College 65-56 in the regional round of the tournament.
The Titans opened the tournament against Gorlocks. It was the first time that UWO faced the Gorlocks in the opening round of the tournament since 2024 (UWO beat Webster 57-42). Guard Sammi Beyer led UWO in scoring on the night with 10 points, shooting 4-for-11 on the night with a perfect 2-for-2 from the free throw line.
The first half ended with UWO only holding a 17-12 lead. Despite a good performance by the Titans on defense, it was a slow start for them shooting wise. The first UWO 3-pointer did not come until 2:06 remaining in the first quarter when Abby Inda made one.
The slow start was something that Beyer said she knew that the team could fix right away.
“I think all of that comes in rhythm,” Beyer said. “I think your shots start to fall when you take shots you practice on the daily. The first half we were sped up, frantic and in the second half we executed really well.”
That second half proved big for the Titans as immediately in the third quarter, when UWO outscored the Gorlocks 21-9 to go from a 17-12 lead to a 38-21 lead to end the period. The Titans used that gap to carry them to the win to advance to the Second Round.
Despite the slow start, what allowed UWO to be successful was the defense. The Titans outscored the Gorlocks with 16 points off of turnovers compared to Webster’s two points.
UWO head coach Brad Fischer credits the defensive performance on the Titans ability to get teams off track.
“We’ve been really good all year at making stuff difficult,” Fischer said. “Once you get people off page, we always feel like that’s an advantage with the defense.”
The Titans faced Wisconsin Lutheran College in their Second Round. It was the first time that UWO faced the Warriors since the Titans 62-27 victory over WLC last season.
Forward Paige Seckar led the team in the win against the Warriors with 21 points, shooting 7-for-11 while making all seven of her free throw attempts.
The Titans however had a hard time against Warriors’ forward Margie Stevens who led WLC with 17 points on the night.
UWO outshot Wisconsin Lutheran 44.9% to 38.2%, however the Warriors beat the Titans in fast break points and second chance points.
Despite being tied 14-14 in the first. UWO was able to pull away with a 22-14 second quarter by the Titans that gave themselves a 36-28 lead at halftime.
However, up 49-37 in the middle of the third quarter. The Warriors went on a 10-0 run to close the Titan lead to only 49-47. The Titans shut the Wisconsin Lutheran run down with back to back two point shots from Beyer and Seckar to build back the Titans lead and from there UWO was able to hold off the Warriors for the win and to advance to the program’s third straight Sweet 16 appearance.
The players said they credited the ability to stave off the Warriors run by just trusting in themselves.
“We all talk about not doubting each other and in every game in the NCAA tournament, the teams are going to be really good,” guard Avery Poole said. “They’re going to go on runs because they’re good teams. We talked before the game about just making sure we stay together in those moments.”
By making the Sweet 16 for the third straight year, this is also the first time in Fischer’s tenure that the Titans will host the sectional rounds at the Kolf Sports Center.
UWO will begin the sectional rounds with a Sweet 16 match against Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri). Then if the Titans win, they will play either Hope College (Michigan) or the University of Chicago (Illinois) in the Elite Eight round.
The Titans’ Sweet 16 matchup against Washington University will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday, March. 13. You can watch the game on NCAA.com and Titan TV or listen on 90.3 WRST FM.
