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The No. 11 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's basketball team punched its ticket to the program's eighth appearance in the championship game of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament (presented by Culver') with a 67-59 win against UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday night at Kachel Gymnasium.
 
With the victory, the top-seeded Warhawks (23-3 overall) advance to host No. 3 seed UW-Eau Claire in the the title game this Friday at 7 p.m. inside Kachel Gymnasium.
 
Aleah Grundahl (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) posted 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lead UW-Whitewater, which closed the game on a 12-4 run. Rebekah Schumacher (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with just under two minutes to play and tallied 12 points with two blocks.
 
Johanna Taylor (Wauwatosa, Wis./East) registered 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) collected 11 points and five rebounds.
 
UW-W held the fourth-seeded Titans (19-6) to 35.0 percent shooting, including 29.4 percent in the fourth quarter.
 
The Warhawks jumped out to an 8-0 advantge, holding the Titans scoreless until the 5:11 mark of the first quarter.
 
Carollo gave UW-Whitewater a 14-5 advantge with 3:06 left, but UW-Oshkosh finished the quarter on a 10-0 run for a 15-14 lead.
 
The Warhawks responded with a 9-0 run to start the second, including five points from Grundahl, for a 23-15 advantage with 7:14 on the clock. UW-W led throughout the final 9:16 of the quarter, but the Titans drew to within 32-29 by halftime.
 
UW-Oshkosh scored the first eight points of the third and led by as many as six points in the quarter. UW-Whitewater took the lead at 43-42 with 2:49 left on a 3-pointer by Carollo, and back-to-back jumpers by Veronica Kieres (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) and Schumacher gave UW-W a 49-46 lead headed to the fourth.
 
The Warhawks started the fourth with six straight points for a 55-46 advantage with 6:54 on the clock, but the Titans responded with seven straight points to trim their deficit to 55-53 near the halfway mark of the period.
 
One minute after UW-Oshkosh tied the game with 3:12 on the clock, Schumacher put UW-W ahead for good with a 3-pointer, and Grundahl's 3-point play made it a six-point game with 1:25 remaining.
 
After a basket by the Titans, Grundahl pushed the lead back to six with just under a minute to play. Carollo hit a pair of free throws with 29 seconds to go, and Maggie Trautsch (Sun Prairie, Wis./DeForest) hit two more with 20 seconds left.
 
UW-Whitewater and UW-Eau Claire will match up for the third time this season. The two teams split a pair of games, with the Blugolds taking the most receng game 81-71 on Jan. 22 in Eau Claire.
 
The Warhawks seek their third WIAC Tournament championship in program history.