Titans Swat Yellowjackets To Take WIAC Lead
Marissa Selner scored a career-high 20 points as the UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team never trailed in a convincing 86-52 victory over UW-Superior on Saturday (Jan. 3) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (11-1, 3-0 WIAC) is the lone unbeaten team in conference play after downing UW-Superior (8-4, 3-1 WIAC) for the fourth straight time, including last season's WIAC Championship final. The Titans have now won 61 of 66 meetings with the Yellowjackets, who had their eight-game winning streak snapped.
Selner paced four Titans in double figures by shooting 7-for-7 from the field while adding six rebounds.
Taylor Schmidt had 17 points and three steals for UW-Oshkosh, which shot 56.9 percent (29-51) from the floor, 40 percent (6-15) from behind the 3-point arc and 71 percent (22-31) from the free throw line.
The Titans also received 12 points from Katelyn Kuehl and 10 from Alex Richard.
UW-Oshkosh, which entered the contest ranked 12th in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, opened the game with a layup by Richard on the opening possession of the game. Reigning WIAC Player of the Year Sally Linzmeier answered with a basket on UW-Superior's first shot, but a Kuehl 3-pointer put the Titans ahead for good at the 19:01 mark.
The Titans went on a seven-point run to push their lead to 14-4 and a six-point surge to go up 20-6 with 12:27 left in the first half. Selner and Schmidt combined to score all 13 points during the two runs.
UW-Oshkosh limited UW-Superior to one Linzmeier free throw during a nearly five-minute stretch that saw the Titans' lead increase to 27-14 with less than five minutes remaining in the opening period.
Selner, Schmidt and Richard combined for 29 points in the first half to give the Titans a 36-25 lead at the break.
The Yellowjackets pulled within 36-27 on a quick basket to begin the second half, but UW-Oshkosh put the game out of reach by scoring 16 unanswered points for a 52-27 lead with 14:31 to play. The Titans made 6 of 7 shots from the floor during the skein while UW-Superior missed six straight attempts and committed three turnovers. The decisive run began with a jumper by Richard, ended with a layup by Kuehl and featured six points by Selner.
An 8-2 run by the Yellowjackets cut their deficit to 54-35 with 12:44 to play, but two free throws by Schmidt put the Titans up, 56-35, at the 11:43 mark, and UW-Oshkosh led by more than 20 points the rest of the game.
Emma Melotik's 3-point basket with just over one minute to play provided the final score and gave the Titans their largest lead at 34 points.
Linzmeier paced UW-Superior with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Brynn Liljander added 11 points for the Yellowjackets.
UW-Superior, which has won in Oshkosh just once, ended the game shooting 37.5 percent (18-48) from the field, 10 percent (1-10) on 3-pointers and 71.4 percent (15-21) from the foul line.
UW-Oshkosh is back in action on Wednesday (Jan. 7) when it travels to UW-River Falls.