Falcons Stun Nationally Ranked Titans
UW-River Falls held the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team, the top 3-point shooting squad in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, to one made 3-pointer and made 12 long-range jumpers of its own en route to a 73-64 win Saturday (Jan. 22) in River Falls.
Six different Falcons made 3-pointers Saturday, including Cassie Heinrichs and Haley DeSouza, who combined to shoot 7-for-9 from beyond the arc as UW-River Falls (8-8, 1-6 WIAC) never trailed on the way to snapping a 12-game losing streak against UW-Oshkosh.
UW-Oshkosh (12-4, 2-3 WIAC), ranked 23rd in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, went 1-for-20 from 3-point range after entering the day pacing the conference with a .352 3-point shooting percentage.
The Falcons held leads of 20-12 after one quarter, 35-32 at intermission, and 54-47 after three periods. UW-River Falls owned its largest cushion of 14 points at 67-53 following a DeSouza 3-pointer at the 4:42 mark of the fourth quarter.
Jenna Zeman led UW-River Falls with 18 points, five assists and three blocks while Heinrichs and Colie Justice added 16 and 14 points, respectively. DeSouza finished with nine points – all via 3-pointers – in 21 minutes off the Falcons bench.
UW-Oshkosh's Leah Porath, a 2021 D3hoops.com First Team All-American and two-time reigning WIAC Player of the Year, had a game-high 20 points on 10 of 16 shooting from the field and eight rebounds. Porath has scored at least eight points in 62 consecutive games, including 56 double-figure scoring efforts.
Abby Kaiser went 7-for-11 from the floor, scoring a career-best 16 points and collecting seven rebounds for the Titans, who also received 13 points from Nikki Arneson, six points from Ava Douglas and five points from Jenna Jorgensen. Jorgensen accounted for UW-Oshkosh's lone made 3-pointer with 2:29 remaining in the game.
UW-River Falls shot 47.2% (25-53) from the field, 50% (12-24) from beyond the 3-point arc and 91.7% (11-12) at the free throw line. The Falcons owned advantages of 12-2 in assists 13-16 in turnovers and 3-1 in blocks. Both teams registered four steals.
UW-Oshkosh went 26 of 55 (.473) from the floor, 1-for-20 (.005) from 3-point range and 11 of 17 (.647) at the foul line while holding a commanding 36-23 rebounding advantage. The Titans, who have limited 10 opponents to under 50 points this season, entered Saturday leading the country at 11.1 turnovers per contest in addition to being ranked second in scoring defense at 46.6 and ninth with a 1.20 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Falcons opened the scoring on a Heinrichs 3-pointer more than two minutes into the contest. UW-River Falls built a pair of 10-point leads during the second quarter at 22-12 and 28-18, but UW-Oshkosh answered with a 12-2 run that featured eight points by Kaiser to pull even at 30 with 1:20 left in the first half. However, UW-River Falls reclaimed a 33-30 lead it would not relinquish 21 seconds later following a Katelyn Karch 3-pointer.
The Titans got within 37-36 early in the third period after an Arneson jumper and cut their deficit to 42-40 on a Porath basket before the Falcons rattled off seven points in a row during the span of 51 seconds to increase their lead to 49-40 with 3:37 left in the third quarter. UW-Oshkosh never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
UW-Oshkosh hosts 18th-ranked UW-Eau Claire on Wednesday (Jan. 26) in Kolf Sports Center.