Titans Cruise To Win Over Spartans
Leah Porath had a game high 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists to go along with two steals to lead the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team to a convincing 60-36 victory over University of Dubuque (Iowa) at the St. Olaf College Country Inn & Suites Holiday Classic on Wednesday (Dec. 29) in Northfield, Minn.
UW-Oshkosh (10-2), ranked 23rd in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, scored the first six points of the game and went on to own leads of 15-8 after one quarter, 33-19 at intermission and 49-29 entering the final period during the first meeting between the teams.
The Titans, who entered the day ranked third nationally by limiting teams to 45.5 points per game, held their fourth straight and ninth overall opponent to under 50 points this season.
Porath, a 2021 D3hoops.com First Team All-American, shot 7-for-9 from the field, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range, en route to scoring in double figures for the 53rd time in the past 57 contests.
UW-Oshkosh went 24 of 48 (.500) from the floor, 6-for-20 (.300) from beyond the 3-point arc and 6-for-12 (.500) at the free throw line. The Titans had advantages of 30-29 in rebounds, 14-10 in assists, 12-17 in turnovers, 10-9 in steals and 2-1 in blocks. UW-Oshkosh headed into Wednesday ranked second in the country at 11.1 turnovers per contest and seventh with a 1.28 assist-to-turnover ratio.
University of Dubuque (8-3) was held to its lowest point total of the year and suffered its most lopsided loss this season. The Spartans shot 32.6% (15-46) from the field, 25% (2-8) from beyond the 3-point arc and 28.6% (4-14) at the foul line.
Jenna Jorgensen added 10 points for the Titans, who also received nine points from Abby Kaiser, seven from Brooke Freitag and five from Nikki Arneson as 10 different UW-Oshkosh players tallied points.
UW-Oshkosh's Julia Silloway dished out three assists while Jorgensen registered three steals on the way to scoring in double digits for the third straight game.
Tabria Thomas paced the Spartans with eight points. Kathleen Mathias grabbed a team high seven rebounds for University of Dubuque.
Porath scored on UW-Oshkosh's first two possessions before Kaiser's layup extended the Titans advantage to 6-0 with 7:29 left in the first quarter.
University of Dubuque pulled within 15-11 early in the second period, but the Titans responded with 11 unanswered points to put the game away. Kaiser accounted for six of the Titans' 11 points during the surge, including a basket in the lane that provided a 26-11 advantage at the 6:04 mark of the second quarter.
UW-Oshkosh owned a lead of at least 11 points for the final 27:21 of the game following a Kaiser layup for a 22-11 advantage with 7:21 to go in the second quarter. The Titans held their largest cushion of 24 points when Lydia Crow buried a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to create the final score.
With the win UW-Oshkosh 10th-year head coach Brad Fischer moved into 10th on Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference career victories list. Fischer, who sports a 204-51 record at the helm of the Titans, passed former UW-Oshkosh head coach Pam Ruder, who compiled a 203-49 mark from 1997-2005.
The Titans conclude their trip to the North Star State and wrap up their regular season nonconference schedule against Carthage College on Thursday (Dec. 30) in Northfield.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Robb, St. Olaf College Sports Information