Exhibition Game With Division I Badgers Tips Off Titans' Season
The UW-Oshkosh women's basketball program commences the 2018-19 campaign with an exhibition contest at NCAA Division I member University of Wisconsin on Nov. 4 ahead of its regular season opener against Loras College (Iowa) on Nov. 9 in Kolf Sports Center.
The Titans are traveling to Madison for an exhibition game for the second time and first since a 106-39 loss in 2009. The Badgers, who used to be UW-Oshkosh's conference rivals in the late 1970s, compiled a 9-21 record last season and a 2-14 mark in the Big 10 Conference.
UW-Oshkosh (21-6 record in 2017-18) brings nine letter winners under seventh-year head coach Brad Fischer back as the Titans seek to return to the Division III Championship for the fifth time in six seasons and 15th time overall.
The Titans, winners of at least 20 games during each of the past six years, have finished among the top two in the WIAC standings six years in a row. UW-Oshkosh has produced a 6-4 record in the NCAA postseason since 2014, collecting at least one win during each of its four appearances in that span.
After the regular season opener at home against Loras College (17-10), the Titans travel to Eau Claire to play The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) (14-12) on Nov. 16 and Ripon College (17-8) on Nov. 17. Ripon College shared the Midwest Conference title a year ago while Loras College and The College of St. Scholastica both placed fourth in the newly named American Rivers Conference and Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, respectively.
The Titans' slate of 25 games features trips to Florida, Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio. UW-Oshkosh will play programs from six different states this season, including three games against teams ranked in D3hoops.com's preseason top 25.
UW-Oshkosh returns to Kolf Sports Center to host St. Norbert College (10-5) on Nov. 26. The contest against the Green Knights is the second of 10 home games for the Titans this season. UW-Oshkosh also welcomes Finlandia University (Mich.) (5-21) on Dec. 4 before hosting seven conference foes beginning in the January.
Completing the Titans' non-conference schedule are road contests at Saint Mary's University (Minn.) on Nov. 29 and Wheaton College (Ill.) on Dec. 8, and trips to Miami, Fla., and Delaware, Ohio. UW-Oshkosh is set to play Pennsylvania opponents Thiel College (3-22) on Dec. 17 and Eastern University (6-19) on Dec. 18 in South Florida. The Titans then face Hope College (Mich.) on Dec. 28 and a to-be-determined opponent on Dec. 29 in Central Ohio.
Saint Mary's University (16-11) advanced to the semifinal round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs while Wheaton College (22-6) finished second in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin before receiving an at-large berth into the Division III Championship. Hope College (29-2), ranked third in the country by D3hoops.com, won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular season title and went on to play in the Elite 8 during last year's NCAA postseason.
The Titans enter conference action at UW-Platteville (6-19) on Jan. 2 before hosting UW-Stout (7-18) on Jan. 5 and UW-Stevens Point (14-12) on Jan. 9.
Completing UW-Oshkosh's home WIAC schedule are games against defending league champion and 21st-ranked UW-Whitewater (25-4) on Jan. 16, UW-River Falls (16-10) on Jan. 26, UW-Platteville on Feb. 6, UW-La Crosse (16-10) on Feb. 13 and UW-Eau Claire (18-9) for the regular season finale on Feb. 16.
The Titans round out conference play with road contests at UW-River Falls on Jan. 12, UW-La Crosse on Jan. 19, UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 23, UW-Whitewater on Jan. 30, UW-Stout on Feb. 2 and UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 9.
UW-Whitewater won last year's WIAC title with a 12-2 record. The Warhawks were followed in the league standings by second-place finishers UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse and UW-Oshkosh at 9-5. UW-Stevens Point finished fifth with an 8-6 league record while UW-Platteville placed seventh at 2-12 and UW-Stout eighth at 0-14.
UW-Whitewater, which went on to win the WIAC postseason title with a 68-65 win over UW-Oshkosh in the final, lost in the opening round of the Division III Championship.
Leading the UW-Oshkosh returners are guards Chloe Pustina and Olivia Campbell, and senior forwards Isabella Samuels and Melanie Schneider.
Pustina, a senior, and Olivia Campbell, a junior, started each of the Titans' 27 games last season, averaging 5.1 points and 3.6 points per game, respectively. Campbell ranked second in the WIAC with 75 assists while Pustina was fifth with 73. Campbell earned All-WIAC Defensive Team honors after recording a team-leading 47 steals.
Samuels and Schneider both received All-WIAC honorable mention recognition last season. Samuels, who had a WIAC-best .618 field goal percentage last season, is the top returning scorer for the Titans, averaging 9.6 points to go along with 5.2 rebounds per contest. Schneider produced 8.4 points per game and a team-high .771 free throw percentage and 29 steals in a reserve role last year.