Leah Porath scored 18 points with two rebounds against the Red Hawks.
Leah Porath scored 18 points with two rebounds against the Red Hawks.

Titans Close Nonconference Schedule With Win Over Red Hawks

The UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team built an 18-point lead after three quarters and fought off a late Ripon College rally to defeat the Red Hawks, 62-55, on Sunday (Dec. 29) in Ripon.

UW-Oshkosh, which recorded its ninth straight victory over Ripon College, led the Red Hawks by scores of 19-11 after one period, 29-18 after two quarters and 49-31 after three sessions. Ripon College made things interesting down the stretch by outscoring the Titans, 24-13, during the final frame.

Ripon College (6-3) led only three times in the game – scores of 2-0, 4-2 and 6-5. The Titans (7-4) took the lead for good at 7-6 on a layup by Abby Kaiser and added eight more unanswered points to take a 15-6 advantage with 3:42 to play in the opening period.

UW-Oshkosh outscored Ripon College, 10-7, in the second quarter as it limited the Red Hawks to just two points during the final 6:11 of the period. The Titans closed the third quarter with another strong defensive effort as they held Ripon College scoreless for the final 5:08 of the frame.

UW-Oshkosh built a 30-18 lead early in the third quarter before Ripon College cut its deficit to 36-31. The Titans then scored 13 consecutive points before the Red Hawks made the score 49-32 on a free throw by Kiana Fall with 9:26 left in the fourth quarter.

UW-Oshkosh extended its lead to 52-33 on a jumper by Claire Staples with 7:31 remaining. The Red Hawks then rallied from their largest deficit of the contest with an 18-6 scoring run that made the score, 57-51, with 94 seconds left.

The Titans fended off Ripon College's late charge by increasing their lead to 59-51 on two free throws by Olivia Campbell and 61-51 on a pair of free throws from Emily Miller.

Leah Porath scored 18 points, Miller 11 and both Kaiser and Brooke Freitag eight apiece for UW-Oshkosh. Kaiser also added a team-high eight rebounds with three assists and three steals.

Ripon College was led by the 14 points and nine rebounds from Alyssa Burgess and the 11 points and nine rebounds from Bonnie Jensen.

UW-Oshkosh finished the contest shooting 35.2 percent (19-54) from the field and 63 percent (17-27) at the free throw line. The Titans made 7 of 24 (29.2 percent) 3-point shots while totaling 37 rebounds, 12 assists, 10 steals and 11 turnovers.

Ripon College posted shooting percentages of 40 (24-60) from the field, 27.3 (3-11) behind the 3-point arc and 36.4 (4-11) at the free throw line. The Red Hawks collected 43 rebounds while counting 10 assists, five steals and 17 turnovers.

UW-Oshkosh is off until it visits nationally ranked UW-La Crosse for the WIAC opener on Jan. 4.