MENOMONIE, Wis.- UW-Oshkosh women's basketball and UW-Stout traded two leads early in Saturday's (Jan. 24) WIAC contest in Menomonie before the Titans claimed a lead they would never relinquish, eventually winning by a score of 75-49.
 
The Titans (18-0, 7-0 WIAC), one of just six NCAA Division III women's basketball teams remaining without a loss and one of 17 in the NCAA regardless of division or gender, are now off to the third-best start to a season in program history, passing the 17-straight-win 1994-95 and 2024-25 squads.
 
The only two teams to get off to a better start that this year's unit were the 1995-96 and 1998-99 teams. In 1995-96, Oshkosh won all 31 games on its way to the only national championship in program history. In 1998-99, Oshkosh won 20 games at the start of the campaign before reaching the quarterfinal round of the national tournament.
 
The loss was UW-Stout's (10-8, 1-6 WIAC) third by at least 20 points this season. The Blue Devils lost, 80-59, to Ripon College on November 8 and fell, 79-50, to UW-Stevens Point on January 14.
 
Oshkosh entered the contest ranked first in Division III with just 9.1 turnovers per game, third by allowing 44.9 points per game, fourth with a 1.41 assist-to-turnover ratio and ninth with 11.9 fouls committed per game. The visitors turned the ball over nine times to the hosts' 18 and recorded 10 steals against five while committing 13 fouls against 19.
 
The Titans shot 50 percent (26-52) from the field, 28.6 percent (6-21) from 3-point range and 85 percent (17-20) from the line across 40 minutes. They led from the field and the line while the Blue Devils shot 35.7 percent from 3, making five shots on seven less attempts.
 
UW-Oshkosh also paced UW-Stout in rebounds (30-25), assists (12-9), blocks (3-2), bench points (24-16), points off turnovers (29-8), points in the paint (32-24) and second chance points (18-10).
 
Sammi Beyer (Appleton/Appleton East) led all scorers with a season-high 23 points, going 9 of 15 from the field including a 5-for-9 mark from beyond the arc.
 
Mallory Hoitink (Hartford/Slinger) added a season best of her own, tallying 11 points on 4 of 6 from the field and 3 of 3 from the line.
 
Kate Huml (Janesville/Janesville Craig) quietly collected nine points with seven free throws and a jumper.
 
Sarah Hardwick (Green Bay/Notre Dame Academy) led all players with seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks while being one of three Titans with at least two steals. Olivia Argall (Dodgeville/Dodgeville) matched Hardwick with a pair of steals and Paige Seckar (Oshkosh/Oshkosh West) swiped three possessions.
 
Addy Verhagen put Stout ahead early with a jump shot and Maraya Wiltrout kept the Blue Devils ahead after Argall knotted the score at 2-2 with a layup. Hardwick tied the game again at 4-4 and Beyer started an 11-point Titan run when she put Oshkosh up, 9-8, with 5:20 left in the first quarter. The run featured four more points from Seckar and five consecutive points from Hoitink. After the Blue Devils ended their 5-minute scoreless streak with a free throw, Hoitink added two more points at the line to create a 19-10 lead headed into the second period.
 
Avery Poole (Cottage Grove/Monona Grove) put Oshkosh up by double digits for the first time at 9:44 in the second quarter. Following seven traded baskets in the next three-and-a-half minutes, the Titans strung together another 13 points across 3:50, leading, 41-21, when Hoitink made a layup at 0:48. Stout cut the deficit to 41-24 with a trio of points before Beyer and Huml combined for four points to end the half. Oshkosh led, 45-24, after 20 minutes.
 
UW-Oshkosh put together a 6-0 run before the halfway mark of the third quarter, but the Blue Devils responded with eight in a row, decreasing the Titans' lead to 51-34 with 1:51 left in the period. Beyer made a 3-pointer and Argall went 2-for-2 in a trip to the line to push the lead back to 20 points. Brooklynn Birt and Huml traded two free throws apiece in the last 32 seconds of the quarter.
 
Hoitink helped the Titans to their first 3-point lead of the day with a layup in the middle of Oshkosh fourth quarter-opening 10-0 run. Seckar concluded the run with two layups that created the largest deficit of the game at 68-36. Stout put together three pairs of baskets in the last 4:27 of regulation to drive the gap down to 26 points by the final buzzer.
 
The Titans will head on the road Wednesday (Jan. 28) to face No. 11/9 UW-Whitewater (15-3, 5-2 WIAC) in Kachel Gymnasium at Williams Center at 7 p.m. In the teams' WIAC opener in Oshkosh on January 3, Oshkosh defeated the Warhawks, 71-63.
 
Since 1974-75, UW-Oshkosh is 66-47 against the Warhawks and has won four of the last five matchups.