Titans Trounce Eagles In Home Opener
Leah Porath scored a season-high 20 points, Isabella Samuels notched her first career double-double and the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team rolled to a 93-31 home-opening victory over Edgewood College on Tuesday (Nov. 21) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh (3-0), ranked 11th in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, held the Eagles to more than 50 points below their season scoring average and owned a 59-26 rebounding advantage, including 28-5 on the offensive end.
Edgewood College (2-1) entered the contest averaging 82.5 points per game this season.
The Titans, who opened the season with wins by scores of 77-48 over Otterbein University (Ohio) on Nov. 17 and 95-27 over Manchester University (Ind.) on Nov. 18, surpassed 90 points in consecutive games for the first time since the 1984-85 season.
UW-Oshkosh scored more than 90 points in three straight games during the 1984-85 campaign, downing Carthage College by a 99-77 count on Feb. 16, 1985, before defeating UW-Eau Claire, 91-72, on Feb. 19 and UW-River Falls, 94-81, on Feb. 22.
The Titans, who have won 11 of their 12 meetings with Edgewood College, beat the Eagles by a 69-28 score last season in Madison.
Porath connected on 8 of 15 shots from the field and collected eight rebounds, including six on offense, in 19 minutes off the bench.
Samuels added 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor to go along with a career-high 11 rebounds.
All 14 Titans in uniform recorded at least one rebound and 13 contributed points as UW-Oshkosh received 61 points, 26 rebounds and 13 assists from its reserves.
Nikki Arneson had nine points for UW-Oshkosh while Emma Melotik, Jaimee Pitt and Karsyn Rueth each chipped in eight points, and Eliza Campbell registered seven points, seven rebounds and a game-high four assists.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the contest with considerable advantages in field goal percentage (.439 to .250), assists (19-8), turnovers (28-10), blocks (6-3) and steals (18-4).
The Titans scored the first seven points of the game and built leads of 21-8 after the first quarter, 39-18 at intermission and 64-22 entering the final period. UW-Oshkosh limited the Eagles to just 13 points during the second half on 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) shooting from the field.
UW-Oshkosh held a 24-8 lead with 8:33 remaining in the second quarter before Edgewood College closed to within 27-16 at the 4:41 mark. The Titans responded with 10 consecutive points, including four from Porath and three apiece from Olivia Campbell and Pitt, to extend their lead to 37-16 with 2:26 left before halftime.
A three-point play cut the Eagles' deficit to 41-21 less than three minutes into the second half, but Edgewood College missed 12 consecutive field goal attempts and committed eight turnovers during a stretch of more than 10 minutes that spanned the final two quarters as UW-Oshkosh's 30-1 scoring run increased its lead to 71-22 with 7:28 remaining in the game.
Eight different players contributed points during UW-Oshkosh's 30-1 scoring surge, including five apiece from Pitt and Erin Vande Zande, before Abby Shane hit a jumper that ended the Eagles' drought without a field goal, which lasted from the 7:31 mark of the third period until the 7:11 mark of the fourth.
UW-Oshkosh had its largest lead of 63 points at 92-29 on a layup by Taylor Dagon with 1:33 remaining.
Allison Gordon paced Edgewood College with seven points while Riley Larson chipped in five points and a team-leading six rebounds.
UW-Oshkosh heads to La Crosse for a pair of games this weekend. The Titans play Viterbo University on Saturday (Nov. 25) and Luther College (Iowa) on Sunday (Nov. 26).