OSHKOSH, Wis.- The Titans are returning to the Final Four!
 
UW-Oshkosh scored 19 unanswered points during a nearly eight-minute span and cruised to a 73-56 victory over University of Chicago (Ill.) during the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday (March 14) in Kolf Sports Center.
 
Trailing 17-13 early in the second quarter, the Titans went on their 19-0 scoring run that began with an Avery Poole (Cottage Grove/Monona Grove) 3-pointer before Oshkosh took the lead for good at 18-17 on an Abbey Inda (Cottage Grove/Monona Grove) layup with 5:21 left in the second period. Oshkosh, which led by as many as 25 points midway through the fourth period, went on to hold Chicago scoreless for a stretch of 7:34 until the Maroons cut their deficit to 32-19 at the 9:38 mark of the third quarter.
 
Oshkosh (28-3), ranked fourth in the country by D3hoops.com and eighth by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, advances to play No. 8/12 Denison University (28-2) during the national semifinals Thursday (March 19) at the Cregger Center in Salem, Va. Denison punched its ticket to the Final Four with a 77-64 win at No. 3/3 Washington and Lee University (Va.) (31-1) on Saturday.
 
The Titans, who improved to 28-2 at home in the NCAA postseason will be making their second straight and fourth overall Final Four trip. Oshkosh, which fell during last year's national semifinals, finished as the 1995 runner-up and the 1996 champion.
 
No. 1/1 and two-time reigning Division III champion New York University (29-0) and No. 2/2 University of Scranton (Pa.) (31-0) also reached the semifinals and will face off Thursday. NYU won its 91st consecutive game on the way to downing No. 19/RV UW-La Crosse (21-10) at home, 72-47, in the quarterfinals, while Scranton also won at home, 67-42, over Concordia College (Minn.) (26-5) to advance to the Final Four.
 
Sammi Beyer (Appleton/Appleton East) led three Oshkosh double-digit scorers with 22 points, going 4-for-8 from 3-point range, to go along with three assists.
 
Paige Seckar (Oshkosh/Oshkosh West) recorded her eighth double-double of the season and 10th career with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Titans, who also received 12 points from Poole and eight apiece from Sarah Hardwick (Green Bay/Notre Dame Academy) and Bridget Froehlke (Wrightstown/Wrightstown). Froehlke went 3-for-3 from the floor, hit both of her 3-point attempts and dished out three assists to tie for the team lead with Beyer, Hardwick and Seckar.
 
Oshkosh shot 51.9 percent (27-52) from the field, 47.1 percent (8-17) from beyond the 3-point arc and 78.6 percent (11-14) at the free throw line. The Titans owned advantages of 34-29 in rebounds, 15-3 in assists and 5-0 in blocks. Both teams had four steals.
 
UChicago, making its second Elite Eight appearance and first since 2011, went 21-for-56 (37.5 percent) from the floor, 4-for-10 (40 percent) from 3-point range and 10-for-14 (71.4 percent) at the foul line. The Maroons had a 7-10 turnover edge despite the Titans entering the contest leading the entire NCAA, regardless of division, at 9.6 turnovers per game. UChicago's three assists and seven turnovers were season lows.
 
Annabelle Spotts paced the Maroons with 22 points after shooting 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. UChicago's Kate Gross chipped in 12 points.
 
UChicago (20-8) built its largest lead of the night at 9-4 following a Spotts 3-pointer at the 6:23 mark of the opening period. The Maroons later held a 17-13 advantage after a Gross layup with 7:12 to go in the second quarter.
 
Then the Titans took over with their game-changing run as Seckar accounted for seven points during the 19-point spurt, which featured another five points from Beyer, four from Inda and three from Poole.
 
Oshkosh built its first 20-point cushion at 40-19 following a Beyer 3-pointer with 6:58 left in the third period. Another Beyer long-range jumper provided the Titans their largest lead of the night of 25 points (62-37) at the 5:20 mark of the fourth quarter.
 
UChicago was seeking its first Final Four appearance.
 
Hardwick, who is tied with Kate Huml (Janesville/Janesville Craig) for the Oshkosh record with 122 games played, made her program-record 120th career start to eclipse the previous mark of 119 held by Taylor Schmidt, who played for the Titans from 2014-17.
 
The Titans have won each of their three meetings with UChicago, including a 60-58 overtime decision during both teams' second game of the season November 8 in De Pere. Oshkosh won the first matchup in the series, 63-55, on January 16, 1987, in Chicago.
 
Oshkosh's 28 victories are tied for second most in program history with the national finalist squad that went 28-3 in 1995. The 1996 national champion Titans went a program-best 31-0.
 
The Titans will be playing Denison for the first time.
 
A full Final Four preview will be published Sunday (March 15).