The 2,300 fans in a near-filled Zorn Arena Saturday night saw a game of back-and-forth basketball. The Blugold women’s basketball pleased the home crowd with a 78-68 victory over UW-Oshkosh.

With this win over Oshkosh, the Blugolds improve their WIAC record to 12-4 and a 19-5 overall mark. They are tied with Oshkosh for first place. As a result of the win, the Blugolds also gained the No. 1 seed in the WIAC playoffs, which assures them home-court advantage.

Monday the Blugolds will host No. 8 seed UW-Whitewater start the first round of WIAC playoffs action at Zorn Arena.

“At the beginning of the season no one would have expected we’d be tied for first,” senior Vanessa Schley said. “It really helps us with our confidence.”

After losing three consecutive games at mid-season, the Blugolds came back to win eight of their last nine games.

“During our slump in the middle of the season, we’d never thought we’d be in this position,” senior Megan Murphy said.

For the Blugolds, this is their second consecutive conference victory but the first under head coach Tonja Englund.

Seniors Jessie Brantner and Schley each contributed 22 points to the scoreboard.

Murphy contributed 15 points, seven of which were scored in the final two minutes, seven seconds of the contest to help the Blugolds lock in the win.

Brantner tied Eau Claire’s school three-point record for the second time in eight days. She has converted 16 of her last 22 three-point attempts over the past three games.

“We played them twice before and both times the games have been really close,” Schley said.

The Blugolds trailed the Titans at halftime 36-31. The Blugolds came back and scored the first 12 points of the second half.

Oshkosh momentarily reversed the momentum and took a short-lived one point lead – 49-48 – its only lead in the second half.

Eau Claire outscored Oshkosh 13-4 during a four-minute stretch that gave it an eight-point advantage with only 7:44 remaining in the game.

Oshkosh keyed in on Schley, who scored a record-setting 36 points in the first meeting. Oshkosh held Schley to just nine shots, but she earned 15 trips to the free-throw line, completing 12 of the 15 shots. She also led the Blugolds in rebounds with nine.

“We were expecting a physical and tough game,” Schley said. “We had to take care of business.”

The difference in the game came from behind the free-throw line where the Blugolds nailed 30 of 39 attempts while Oshkosh completed six of 13.

The Blugolds also shot better from the field, completing 51 percent of their shots while the Titans completed only 47 percent.

“We have to keep our heads high,” Schley said. “We’ve really lucked out, and we’re building our confidence.”

The Titans did better than the Blugolds in turnovers. Eau Claire had 11 while Oshkosh limited its to nine.

“We’re playing a lot better right now, almost our best basketball,” Schley said. “Our conference is really tough, so for every game we play we have to be ready to go.”

The winner of Monday’s contest will play at the highest seed Wednesday with the championship game scheduled for Feb. 24 at the site of the highest remaining seed

Murphy said, “We’ve had our bumps and bruises this season, but we’re peaking right now when it’s important.”