Box Score SALEM, Va.- The UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team made its return to the NCAA Division III Championship semifinal round on Thursday (March 20), facing Smith College (Mass.) at the Cregger Center in Salem, Va. The Titans led as late as midway through the fourth quarter before the Pioneers etched out a 49-47 win to reach the national championship game.
 
The Titans (27-5) reached the third Division III semifinal game in program history with wins over Calvin University (Mich.), Bethel University (Minn.), Illinois Wesleyan University, and Baldwin Wallace University (Ohio). Previous trips to the Final Four resulted in a national runner-up finish in 1995 and the 1996 national title.
 
UW-Oshkosh shot 34.5 percent (19-of-55) from the field including a pair of three-pointers, 70 percent (7-of-10) from the line and outrebounded the Pioneers (31-2), 39 to 30. The Titans also held a 25 to eight edge in bench points, 30 to 20 lead in points in the paint, and scored nine points off turnovers to Smith's six.
 
Sammi Beyer (So. • Appleton) was the Titans' leading scorer with 15 points off the bench, shooting 6-of-11 from the field with a three and 2-of-3 from the line. Paige Seckar (Fr. • Oshkosh) joined Beyer in double-digit points by adding a further 10 off the bench while Alex Rondorf (Grad. • West Bend) and Kayce Vaile (Fifth • Greendale) registered 12 and 10 rebounds respectively. Vaile also led the team with four assists.
 
The Pioneers opened the semifinal with four consecutive points, leading 4-0 through the media timeout. Vaile buried a layup with 4:01 left in the first quarter to get Oshkosh on the board and Rondorf hit a three to make the score 6-5 at 2:57. Smith outscored the Titans, 8-4 down the stretch and led 14-9 after 10 minutes of play.
 
Seckar and Beyer made four free throws early in the second quarter, making the score 17-13 with 7:43 on the clock and followed a Pioneer jump shot with eight straight points. The Titans held the Pioneers scoreless for nearly seven minutes while the run was capped off by a pair of free throws by Avery Poole (Jr. • Cottage Grove) that gave the Titans their first lead of the game at 21-20. Smith briefly reclaimed the lead on a driving layup with 37 seconds left in the half before Seckar's turnaround jumper at seven seconds solidified Oshkosh's edge headed to the locker rooms at 23-22.
 
Out of the break, the Titans added five consecutive points to their total, leading 28-22 before the Pioneers scored for the first time in the half. Smith clawed its way back into the game and took a 33-32 edge with 2:02 on the clock. Oshkosh responded with the last four points of the period on layups from Rondorf and Seckar. UW-Oshkosh led 36-33 with a quarter to play.
 
The Pioneers retook the lead on two jump shots early in the fourth quarter and grabbed the edge again after Beyer made a jump shot at 7:38. The teams were tied at 42-42 at the media timeout with 5:05 left in the game and Smith jumped out of the break with four points, leading 46-42 with 2:26 on the clock. Beyer then cut the deficit to a point with a three at 1:13 and Kate Huml responded to a pair of Smith free throws with a layup with 12 seconds again cut the deficit to a point, however the Pioneers converted a layup and rebounded an inbounds three attempted by Rondorf to secure the win.
 
For the second year in a row, the Pioneers advanced in the Division III Championship with a hard-fought two-point victory over Oshkosh after winning, 61-59 in last season's Sweet Sixteen matchup in Brunswick, Maine. Smith again faces defending national champion New York University (30-0) in the national championship game on Saturday (March 22). The Violets won their semifinal game earlier on Thursday by a score of 74-55 over UW-Stout which was making its first Final Four appearance in program history.
 
Vaile concluded her five-year career in white and gold with 1,094 career points, which ranks 17th in program history. She also ranks third with 824 points, third with 120 blocked shots, fifth with 91 games started, and is tied for most in program history with 119 games played.