Porath Receives Third, Arneson First All-WIAC First Team Award
First Team honorees Leah Porath and Nikki Arneson lead UW-Oshkosh's selections to the 2022 All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Team.
Porath, the 2020 and 2021 WIAC Player of the Year, received First Team accolades for the third consecutive season. Porath becomes the sixth player in program history to make the All-WIAC First Team on at least three occasions, joining Lisa Kirchenwitz (1988-89, 1991), Amy Wing (1993-95), Wendy Wangerin (1993-96), Taylor Schmidt (2015-17) and Eliza Campbell (2016-18).
Arneson, an All-WIAC Honorable Mention pick the previous two years, was voted to the First Team for the first time.
UW-Oshkosh had five players earn All-WIAC honors as Abby Kaiser was named to both the Honorable Mention Team and All-Defensive Team, and Julia Silloway was tabbed to the five-member All-Defensive Team. Brooke Freitag represented the Titans on the WIAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
Kaiser was also an Honorable Mention Team and All-Defensive Team selection in 2021. Silloway repeated her inclusion on the All-Defensive Team from a year ago.
Rounding out this year's 10-member All-WIAC First Team were UW-Eau Claire's Tyra Boettcher and Jessie Ruden, UW-La Crosse's Emma Gamoke, UW-Platteville's Maiah Domask, UW-River Falls' Macy Nilsen, UW-Stevens Point's Taylor Greenheck, and UW-Whitewater's Aleah Grundahl and Johanna Taylor.
Joining Kaiser and Silloway on the WIAC All-Defensive Team were UW-Whitewater's Grundahl and Taylor, and Jade Ganski from UW-Eau Claire.
UW-Eau Claire's Ruden and UW-Whitewater's Grundahl shared WIAC Player of the Year honors. UW-Whitewater's Keri Carollo was voted Coach of the Year while UW-Stout's Raegen Sorensen earned the WIAC Newcomer of the Year award.
Porath leads the Titans with 14.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game to go along with a .471 field goal percentage. Porath, a 2021 consensus First Team All-American, ranks second in the conference this season with a .403 3-point percentage, fifth in scoring, sixth in both rebounding and field goal percentage, and eighth with 1.3 made 3-pointers per contest.
Porath, who ranks fifth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,346 career points, has scored at least eight points in her last 69 games played that have featured 63 double-digit scoring performances. Porath has season highs of 28 points against Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) on Nov. 12 and 13 rebounds versus Carthage College on Dec. 30.
Arneson is averaging 12.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game on the year while making 47 3-pointers with a WIAC-leading .431 3-point percentage. Arneson, shooting 46.9% from the floor and a team-best 80.5% at the free throw line this season, ranks third in the conference in free throw percentage and made 3-pointers, seventh in field goal percentage, and 10th in scoring and rebounding.
Arneson, who became the program's 23rd and most recent player to reach 1,000 career points, has recorded at least 11 points on 19 occasions this year, including a season-high 29 against Alma College (Mich.) on Nov. 19. Arneson has a pair of double-doubles with 15 points and 10 rebounds versus Lakeland University on Nov. 8, and 13 points and 11 boards against UW-River Falls on Jan. 29.
Kaiser averages 5.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.8 steals this year. Kaiser, whose 44 steals rank sixth in the conference, scored a career-best 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field to go along with seven rebounds at UW-River Falls on Jan. 22. Kaiser also had nine points and a career-best six steals against Ripon College on Dec. 20.
Silloway is averaging 6.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists on the year. Silloway's season highs include 13 points against both Carthage College on Dec. 30 and UW-La Crosse on Feb. 12, 11 rebounds versus UW-Whitewater on Feb. 16, and five assists against both UW-La Crosse on Feb. 21 and UW-Whitewater on Feb. 23.
UW-Oshkosh (19-6), which advanced to the WIAC Tournament semifinals, earned one of 20 at-large berths into the NCAA Division III Championship. The Titans, making their third straight and seventh NCAA trip in the past eight tournaments, play Wisconsin Lutheran College (23-1) in the Indianola Regional opener Friday (March 4) in Indianola, Iowa.