Titans Capture Third Straight WIAC Championship Title
Taylor Schmidt matched her season high with 23 points, including four on crucial late free throws, as UW-Oshkosh clinched its third straight WIAC Women's Basketball Championship title with a thrilling 65-64 victory over UW-River Falls in a battle of nationally ranked teams on Saturday (Feb. 27) in River Falls.
UW-Oshkosh (22-5) won the WIAC Championship for the third consecutive season and the fourth time in program history. With Saturday's triumph, the Titans secured the league's automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA Division III Championship that begins on Friday (March 4).
The Titans, ranked 15th nationally by D3hoops.com, will learn their NCAA postseason schedule during an online selection show at 1:30 p.m. on Monday (Feb. 29).
In Saturday's game, second-seeded UW-Oshkosh scored the first 17 points of the second half to take a 41-24 lead, but the Titans had to withstand a late flurry of points by top-seeded UW-River Falls.
The Falcons whittled their deficit to three points at 56-53 with just under three minutes remaining.
UW-Oshkosh's Ashley Neustifter drove baseline and converted a contested layup to extend the Titans' advantage to 58-53 with 98 seconds to play, but Brynn Liljander knocked down a pair of free throws 11 seconds later to make it a one-possession game once again at 58-55.
Schmidt split a pair of free throws for a 59-55 UW-Oshkosh lead at the 1:17 mark. Following a missed 3-pointer by UW-River Falls' Richell Mehus, Titan Marissa Selner finished a layup in traffic to push the Titans' lead to 61-55 with 30 ticks remaining.
Liljander drilled a 3-pointer to make the score 61-58 with 21 seconds left, and Titan Morgan Kokta missed both of her free throws two seconds later.
A layup by UW-River Falls' Kate Theisen cut the UW-Oshkosh advantage to 61-60, but Schmidt made two free throws to push the Titan lead back to 63-60.
Liljander split a pair of free throws with less than 10 seconds to go, and Schmidt sealed the victory with two more free throws for a 65-61 advantage. A 3-pointer by Liljander at the buzzer capped the scoring.
Schmidt made 7 of 11 shots from the floor and 7 of 8 free throws.
Eliza Campbell and Emma Melotik added nine points apiece for the Titans, who also received seven points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals from Neustifter. Kokta and Selner both tied for the team lead with six rebounds.
UW-Oshkosh ended the game shooting 44.7 percent (21-47) from the field, including 61.9 percent (13-21) in the second half. The Titans connected on 7 of 19 attempts (36.8 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc and 16 of 24 (66.7 percent) free throws.
The Titans jumped out to a 7-3 lead less than three minutes into the game, but UW-River Falls ended the first quarter with nine unanswered points for a 12-7 advantage.
UW-Oshkosh snapped a scoreless stretch of nearly eight minutes when Isabella Samuels hit two free throws to trim the Titan deficit to 12-9 at the 9:29 mark of the second period.
UW-River Falls held its largest lead of six points at 15-9 on a 3-pointer by Katie Messman, but Melotik came off the bench and connected on three 3-pointers during a span of two minutes to pull the Titans even at 21. UW-Oshkosh reclaimed a 24-21 lead on a 3-pointer by Campbell, but the Falcons knotted the score at 24 at intermission on a three-point play by Liljander.
UW-Oshkosh took control by making 5 of 6 shots from the floor and 6 of 7 free throws in the first 4:14 of the third quarter, while UW-River Falls missed five straight field goals and committed three turnovers during the Titans' 17-point skein.
Messman was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter, and she knocked down all three foul shots to cut the UW-River Falls deficit to 48-37.
UW-River Falls ended the contest shooting 41.7 percent (20-48) from the field, including 26.1 percent (6-23) from behind the 3-point line. The Falcons also connected on 18 of 27 (66.7 percent) shots from the free throw line.
Liljander paced three Falcons in double figures with 24 points. Theisen added 19 points and Taylor Karge 10 as UW-River Falls received just one point from its reserves. Mehus, who scored 30 points in the teams' first meeting this season, was held to one.
UW-River Falls won both meetings with UW-Oshkosh during the regular season. The Falcons defeated the Titans, 76-69 on Jan. 6 in Oshkosh and 63-56 on Feb. 20 in River Falls.
UW-Oshkosh will be making its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championship and 13th appearance overall. The Titans also won last year's WIAC Championship at UW-Superior (66-61), the 2014 title at home over UW-Superior (75-69) and the inaugural event in 1999 at home over UW-Eau Claire (79-60).