On 50 percent shooting from both the field and beyond the arc, the UW Oshkosh women’s basketball team cruised to a 72-60 victory over UW-Platteville at the Pioneers’ Williams Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
The Titans (18-1, 7-1 WIAC), ranked No. 6 in the nation by D3hoops.com and No. 7 by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, outscored Platteville (8-11, 2-6 WIAC), 43-20, in the first half. The Pioneers held scoring edges in both of the final two quarters, however the 23-point lead for Oshkosh outlasted Platteville down the stretch, sweeping the season series.
UWO went 25-of-50 from the field, 10-of-20 from three, and 12-of-19 from the line on the night and led the Pioneers in rebounds (27 to 23) and assists (14 to nine). Thirty-nine of UW-Platteville’s points came off the bench and 16 were scored both in the paint and off turnovers.
Oshkosh’s Kayce Vaile, who is averaging 12.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game this season, scored 22 points on 9-of-14 from the field, 3-of-6 from three, and 1-of-2 from the line with nine rebounds (three offensive) and four assists to pace the Titans in all three categories.
Paige Seckar was Oshkosh’s second highest scorer with 12 points and Sarah Hardwick pulled down six boards to follow Vaile.
Oshkosh went 13-2 in the first 5:24 of play with two 3-pointers and a pair of jumpers from Vaile and a three from Alex Rondorf. The Titans continued to hold the Pioneers to a single basket at a time and increased their edge to as much as 17 points when Seckar hit a jump shot with 1:03 left in the first quarter before two late free throws made the score 26-11.
The second quarter saw the teams trade short runs, the longest of which was back-to-back 3-pointers for Kate Huml and Hardwick. Oshkosh reached double the Pioneers’ point total as Vaile converted a jump shot with 35 seconds left before halftime. Avery Poole extended the Titans’ lead to 43-20 when she hit two free throws before the half and Huml sealed the score with a steal with two seconds remaining.
In a low-scoring third quarter, Platteville scored eight straight points between 6:46 and 2:29, cutting the Titans’ lead to 17 points. Oshkosh went 8-4 in the last two-and-a-half minutes with four points from Huml, entering the final period up 52-30.
Seckar ended an 8-0 Pioneer run with two free throws with 5:58 left in the game and Rondorf again pushed the Titans’ edge to 20 points with a 3-pointer half a minute later before a 7-point spurt made the score 64-51 just past the 3-minute mark. Platteville scored nine points to Oshkosh’s eight down the stretch, and the Titans won their 13th game of the season by at least 10 points.
After the league-wide off day on Saturday, the Titans will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. as they host No. 20 UW-Whitewater (15-4, 5-3 WIAC) at home. UWO h will also be celebrating National Girls & Women in Sports Night and Team Fellows Night next Wednesday.
In the first meeting between Oshkosh and Whitewater, the Warhawks pulled ahead late before Vaile forced the first overtime period for the Titans since 2023 on a successful and-1 opportunity with 11 seconds left in regulation before Oshkosh scored all seven points of the extra time to win 59-52.
