OSHKOSH, Wis.- For the second time in three seasons, the UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team has started its season with a 6-0 record. The Titans earned their sixth win on Saturday (Nov. 23) by defeating Wheaton College (Ill.), 56-54, in the UW-Oshkosh Classic at Kolf Sports Center.
 
The Titans (6-0), ranked No. 8 in the nation by D3hoops.com and No. 13 by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, came back from an early deficit and led for most of the game but the Thunder (3-3) came back and brought the score within a basket late before UW-Oshkosh put the game away.
 
UW-Oshkosh shot 37 percent (20-of-54) from the field, 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from three and 77.8 percent (7-of-9) from the line, led by Paige Seckar (Fr. • Oshkosh) with a season-high 12 points off the bench. She shot 4-of-7 from the field, 1-of-2 from three, and 3-of-4 form the charity stripe. Also off the bench, Sammi Beyer (So. • Appleton) recorded 10 points for the second-most on the team. Alex Rondorf (Grad. • West Bend) paced Oshkosh with nine rebounds. Kate Huml (Jr. • Janesville) and Sarah Hardwick (Jr. • Green Bay) both had four assists while Hardwick blocked two shots. Four Titans recorded a steal.
 
The Titans were outscored 13-8 in the first five minutes of play with two baskets coming from Vaile. She scored the first basket of the game with a layup at 8:17 and hit a three just after the 5-minute mark.
 
The Thunder's lead quickly evaporated in the second quarter, as UW-Oshkosh scored eight straight points on 3-pointers from Rondorf and Huml and a Hardwick layup to hand the Titans the lead at 18-15. The teams traded a pair of 3-pointers and a set of field goals, heading into the half up 23-20.
 
Wheaton tied the game at 28-28 with 7:22 to go in the third quarter and took small leads in the middle of the period, trading the edge with the Titans. Avery Poole (Jr. • Cottage Grove) sunk a pair of three throws to tie the game and up UW-Oshkosh up by a point at 5:22, and the next eight points were scored by the Titans to extend their lead to 41-33 at the start of the fourth quarter.
 
A 3-pointer from Sammi Beyer put UW-Oshkosh up nine points with 8:48 to play in the game, the largest edge of the contest for either team. The Thunder slowly closed the deficit over the final eight minutes and trailed up just two points with 1:51 on the clock, however Seckar's layup put the Titans up four points to make it a two-score game. Wheaton made a layup with 42 second remaining and shot for the win as time expired and Rondorf pulled down the rebound to secure the win.
 
The Titans will return to the court in the UW-Oshkosh Titan Classic on Dec. 20-21 at the JustAGame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells. They will face Augustana College (Ill.) on Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. and the University of Northwestern (Minn.) on Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.