OSHKOSH, Wis.- A strong defensive effort late and a balanced offense led nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh women's basketball to a 64-52 victory over UW-Eau Claire in a matchup of the WIAC's top scoring defense hosting the league's top scoring offense Wednesday (Jan. 21) in Kolf Sports Center.
 
Oshkosh (17-0, 6-0 WIAC), ranked third in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com and fourth by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, maintained a lead for the final 25 minutes to remain among the six unbeaten teams in the division.
 
The Titans eliminated a 20-12 deficit early in the second quarter with 14 unanswered points and never trailed after reclaiming a 21-20 advantage at the 5:52 mark of the second period.
 
Eau Claire (11-6, 1-5 WIAC) pulled within 47-46 early in the fourth quarter, but the Titans held the Blugolds to just one made field goal over the final five minutes of the contest as Oshkosh closed out the game on a 17-6 scoring run. Eau Claire did not score for a three-minute stretch late in the final period.
 
Oshkosh, which has downed the Blugolds during the past four meetings, also won its first 17 games of the season in 1994-95, 1995-96, 1998-99 and 2024-25.
 
Sammi Beyer (Appleton/Appleton East), Sarah Hardwick (Green Bay/Notre Dame Academy) and Paige Seckar (Oshkosh/Oshkosh West) each scored 13 points to lead the Titans, who also received eight points from Bridget Froehlke (Wrightstown/Wrightstown) and six from Kate Huml (Janesville/Janesville Craig).
 
Hardwick, who moved into sole possession of second in program history with her 106th career start, grabbed a game-high rebounds while Beyer and Seckar both dished out five assists. Beyer, who headed into the game as the league leader in assist-to-turnover ratio, also notched three steals without committing a turnover and knocked down three 3-pointers.
 
Olivia Witkowski led all players with 14 points for Eau Claire. Kyla Overskei, the WIAC leading scorer at 17.1 points per game entering the night, was held to eight points while committing five turnovers. Overskei, who also paced the league in made 3-pointers, went 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.
 
Oshkosh finished the game shooting 39.2 percent (20-51) from the field, 32 percent (8-25) from 3-point range and 69.6 percent (16-23) at the free throw line. The Titans owned advantages of 13-5 in assists, 8-15 in turnovers and 5-1 in blocks. Both teams had six steals. Oshkosh went into the defense-versus-offense matchup pacing the nation with 9.2 turnovers per game while ranking third in the country in scoring defense (44.4) and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.40).
 
Eau Claire went 20-for-52 (38.5 percent) from the floor, 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc and 10-for-10 (100 percent) at the foul line while owning a 39-29 rebounding advantage.
 
The Blugolds, who matched their lowest scoring output of the year, were averaging a WIAC-best 70.8 points, 12.3 steals, 13.38 made free throws and 19.13 free throw attempts per game before Wednesday.
 
Eau Claire scored its first 12 points either in the paint or at the free throw line on the way to building a 16-10 lead after one quarter. The Blugolds later built their largest advantage of eight points at 20-12 with 8:28 left in the second period following back-to-back Witkowski layups.
 
Oshkosh responded with its 14-0 scoring run that began with a Seckar layup and ended on Avery Poole's (Cottage Grove/Monona Grove) free throw for a 26-20 Titan lead with 2:26 to go until intermission. After building their eight-point cushion, the Blugolds missed eight consecutive field goal attempts and committed four turnovers over the next eight minutes until getting a late layup to cut their deficit to 29-26 at intermission.
 
The Blugolds pulled within 29-28 early in the third quarter. However, Oshkosh answered with eight straight points, including four from Seckar, to extend the lead to 37-28 with 3:20 left in the stanza.
 
Eau Claire once again cut its deficit to one point at 47-46 with under six minutes to play in the game, but Froehlke drilled a 3-pointer on the ensuing Oshkosh possession and a 3-pointer by Avery Poole (Cottage Grove/Monona Grove) later provided the Titans a 55-50 advantage with 2:15 left.
 
A Witkowski layup trimmed the Titan lead to 55-52 with under two minutes to go, but the Blugolds were held scoreless the rest of the way as Beyer, who scored seven of her 13 points during the final minute, all but put the game away with a four-point play for a 59-52 Oshkosh cushion with 52 ticks remaining. Eau Claire committed turnovers on each of its final four possessions over the final 1:59 of the game.
 
Oshkosh, which owns a two-game lead in the conference standings through six contests, plays at UW-Stout (10-7, 1-5 WIAC) at 3 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 24). The Titans and Stout have split their last four meetings.