Titans Clip Eagles With Last-Second Basket

Karsyn Rueth's 3-point basket with two seconds remaining gave the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team a 57-56 victory over Eastern University (Pa.) on Tuesday (Dec. 18) in Miami Shores, Fla.

Eastern University (4-7) overcame a 51-39 deficit and regained the lead at 55-54 on Regie Robinson's layup with 41 seconds to play. The lead was the Eagles' first since owning a 7-5 advantage midway through the first quarter.

Following a missed 3-point shot by UW-Oshkosh's Jessie Rabas, Eastern University's Da'Naziah Brown converted one of two free throws to put the Eagles ahead 56-54 with 11 seconds remaining. UW-Oshkosh then called a timeout, passed the basketball around the court and scored when Rueth drained a long-range jumper from the top of the key with two seconds on the clock. Eastern University had an opportunity to win the game, but a Brown 3-point shot from 35-feet out bounced off the rim as time expired.

UW-Oshkosh, which is unbeaten in two meetings with Eastern University, entered the contest ranked 19th in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com.

The Titans (9-0) outscored the Eagles in every quarter but the fourth when Eastern University posted a 17-8 advantage. UW-Oshkosh owned a 29-22 lead at intermission.

UW-Oshkosh's Melanie Schneider scored a career-high 18 points while counting six rebounds, one assist and one blocked shot. Schneider made seven of her 11 shots from the field and three of her four free throws.

Rabas came off the UW-Oshkosh bench to score a career-high 14 points, including four 3-point baskets.

Rueth and Nikki Arneson, both reserves, had seven points apiece for the Titans while starter Chloe Pustina had four points and a pair of assists. Rueth also managed four rebounds and three assists.

Starter Olivia Campbell had two points and six rebounds for UW-Oshkosh while reserve Brooke Freitag contributed four assists, four rebounds and two points.

UW-Oshkosh owned advantages over Eastern University in rebounds (41-35), assists (12-6) and bench points (24-13) as the Titans shot 36.2 percent (21-58) from the field and 56.3 percent (9-16) at the free throw line. UW-Oshkosh made just six of its 31 (19.4 percent) 3-point shots.

The Eagles shot 21-56 (37.5 percent) from the field, including 26.7 percent (4-15) from beyond the 3-point arc. Eastern University shot 62.5 percent (10-16) at the foul line.

Eastern University tallied four double-digit scoring efforts with Robinson recording a team-leading 14 points, Brown and Naomi Harris 11 and Jaelyn Harris 10. Robinson also led both teams with nine rebounds and three steals.

UW-Oshkosh is off until Dec. 28 when it travels to Delaware, Ohio, to play Hope College (Mich.) in a two-day tournament hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University.

Written by Ally Gwidt, UW-Oshkosh Sports Information