Sweet Sixteen Loss Ends Titans' Season
Mary Merg scored 23 points while Kristen Ruchti and Reilly Stewart combined for another 23 off the bench as UW-Whitewater defeated UW-Oshkosh, 69-57, in a third-round game of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship held Friday (March 14) in Greencastle, Ind.
UW-Whitewater (25-4) remains in Greencastle to be a quarterfinal guest of defending national champion DePauw University (Ind.) on Saturday. The Tigers (30-1) qualified for their 7 p.m. contest by ousting Carthage College, 73-54, in Friday's second game of the Greencastle Sectional.
UW-Oshkosh had its second season under head coach Brad Fischer end with a 26-4 record. The Titans, who lost three games to UW-Whitewater and another in overtime to UW-La Crosse, have gone 46-10 the past two years after winning just 34 of 101 games from 2009-12. This year's NCAA postseason berth was UW-Oshkosh's first since 2000.
Merg scored her game-high 23 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 accuracy from the free throw line. She also recorded five rebounds, four steals and three assists. The Warhawks received 12 points and eight rebounds from Ruchti and 11 points and three rebounds from Stewart.
UW-Oshkosh had four double-figure scorers, including Morgan Kokta who scored 12 points off the bench. The Titans also obtained 11 points and seven rebounds from both Katelyn Kuehl and Sarah Stecker and 10 points from Taylor Schmidt. Marissa Selner led all players with 10 rebounds.
UW-Oshkosh scored the game's first four points and held an 8-6 lead before UW-Whitewater tallied five straight points to take an 11-8 advantage.
The Warhawks led 16-14 before a pair of Merg three-pointers put UW-Whitewater ahead, 22-14, with 1:32 left in the opening period. A Schmidt lay-up with one second remaining cut UW-Oshkosh's deficit to 24-20 at intermission.
UW-Whitewater scored four of the first six points in the second half to go in front, 28-22. UW-Oshkosh pulled within 28-27 with 16:21 left and eventually tied the score at 33 with 12:34 remaining.
The deadlock didn't last long, as the Warhawks scored nine of the next 10 points to take a 42-34 lead with 9:28 left. UW-Whitewater didn't allow the margin to drop below five points the rest of the way.
UW-Oshkosh shot 40 percent (20-50) from the field and 76 percent (16-21) from the free throw line. The Titans made just 1-of-6 three-point shots (17 percent). UW-Oshkosh won the rebounding battle, 39-37, but turned the basketball over 20 times.
UW-Whitewater overcame 33 percent (20-61) shooting from the field with 10 less turnovers than UW-Oshkosh. The Warhawks finished the contest converting 33 percent (7-21) of their three-pointers and 79 percent (22-28) of their free throws.