OSHKOSH, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team erased an eight-point deficit at halftime to defeat No. 24 UW-Oshkosh 68-66 on the road Wednesday night. The win secures UW-Whitewater's spot in the six-team WIAC Championship to begin next week. 

Trailing 55-45, the Warhawks strung together 11 straight points to take their first lead since the opening bucket of the game 56-55 with 4:40 remaining. 

Just under two minutes later, Oshkosh held a 60-58 advantage when UW-Whitewater put together a 7-0 run, courtesy of four points from Trewyn and three free-throws by Andrea Meinert (West Bend/Kettle Moraine Lutheran), to make it 65-60 in favor of the Warhawks with just 37 seconds left in the game. 

UW-Oshkosh's Katelyn Kuehl dropped in two free-throws with 25 seconds on the clock but Brooke Trewyn (Whitewater/Whitewater) negated one with a free-throw on UW-Whitewater's end of the floor leaving just 17 ticks of the second hand. 

Ashley Neustifter hit a jump shot with 11 seconds remaining to cut the lead to two, 66-64 but Malia Smith (Bolingbrook, Ill./Neuqua Valley) sealed the game for the Warhawks with two free-throws to make it 68-64. 

Alicia Tollefson made good on a layup with just two seconds remaining for the final score, 68-66. 

The Warhawks shot a blistering 61.5 percent from the floor in the second half making 16-of-26. Trewyn posted 15 of her 18 points in the second 20 minutes on 6-for-10 from the field. Meinert dropped in nine points on 3-of-5 from the field and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. She added seven rebounds in the final half.

Meinert ended with her second straight double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass, and added two blocks and a steal. Smith hit 4-of-6 from the floor for 10 points and added six boards, three assists and a steal. 

Seedings for the WIAC Championship will be determined Saturday with eight teams in action. With three teams holding a league record of 7-8, the Warhawks could finish as high as the number four seed. UW-Superior secured at least a share of the title with a win Wednesday. 

The Warhawks will wrap up the regular season at home against UW-Stout (6-18, 4-11) Saturday at 3 p.m.