Titans Move To Sweet Sixteen With Win Over Fourth-Ranked Storm
UW-Oshkosh is heading back to the third round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship for the third consecutive tournament after ousting host and nationally ranked Simpson College (Iowa), 64-56, during the Indianola Regional title game Saturday (March 5).
Nikki Arneson had a team-leading 20 points and Leah Porath 18 as UW-Oshkosh held the prolific Simpson College offense to its lowest scoring output since the 2017-18 season.
UW-Oshkosh (21-6) owned leads of 18-16 after one quarter, 40-31 at halftime and 48-45 entering the final period on the way to snapping the Storm's winning streaks of 23 games this season and 21 contests at home. The Titans never trailed after Kennedy Osterman drilled a 3-pointer for a 31-29 advantage at the 3:26 mark of the second quarter during the midst of 10 unanswered points.
Simpson College (26-2), ranked fourth in the country by D3hoops.com, tied the score at 45 following a pair of Cameron Kincaid free throws with 1:46 left in the third quarter. However, Porath hit a 3-pointer that provided UW-Oshkosh the lead for good at 48-45 with 18 seconds to play in the third period.
Another two makes at the foul line by Kincaid, the top free throw shooter in the nation at a .919 clip entering the tournament, pulled the Storm within 57-54 with 45 seconds left, Arneson responded with a layup 14 ticks later for a 59-54 UW-Oshkosh lead. The Titans then went 5-for-6 at the charity stripe over the final 17 seconds to preserve the victory.
UW-Oshkosh advances to play 10th-ranked Baldwin Wallace University (Ohio) during the Sweet 16 on March 11. The game time and venue will be announced Sunday (March 6). Baldwin Wallace University (23-4) reached the third round by virtue of a 66-54 win at 25th-ranked Gettysburg College (Pa.) (25-4) on Saturday.
Porath led all players with nine rebounds for the Titans, who also received a game-high five assists from Arneson, 11 points from Jenna Jorgensen, and 10 points, eight boards and three steals from Osterman. Jorgensen, Osterman and Porath combined to go 9-for-17 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Porath, a 2021 consensus First Team All-American, has now scored at least eight points in 70 of her last 71 games played.
Jenna Taylor, who joined Porath on the 2021 D3hoops.com All-America First Team, had 24 points and six rebounds for Simpson College, shooting 9-for-16 from the field and 6-for-12 from beyond the 3-point arc. Taylor went into the NCAA tournament ranked fourth in country with a .444 3-point percentage.
Kincaid chipped in 14 points for the Storm while Regan Freland distributed four assists.
UW-Oshkosh went 21 of 52 (.404) from the field, 11 of 26 (.423) from 3-point range and 11 of 12 (.917) at the free throw line. The Titans owned advantages of 36-32 in rebounds and 5-4 in steals.
Simpson College shot 37.3% (22-59) from the floor, 28% (7-25) from beyond the 3-point arc and 71.4% (5-7) at the foul line. The Storm held edges of 12-11 in assists, 9-11 in turnovers and 2-1 in blocks.
The Titans entered the NCAA postseason leading the country with 10.8 turnovers per game while Simpson College, the fourth-best scoring team in the nation at 86.2 points per contest, paced the division in field goal percentage (.488), 3-point percentage (.380), free throw percentage (.792), assists per game (21.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.47).
UW-Oshkosh not only held Simpson College to its lowest point total in 99 games, it also limited the Storm to their worst field goal percentage, fewest made free throws and fewest steals of the season. Simpson College produced its lowest point total since a 76-55 loss to Luther College (Iowa) on Jan. 31, 2018.
The Storm, who had not lost since a 72-70 setback against UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 26, suffered their first home defeat since Feb. 12, 2020.
UW-Oshkosh faced its largest deficit of the game at 29-24 after a Taylor 3-pointer at the 6:39 mark of the second period. A Porath jumper, two Arneson free throws and Osterman's go-ahead 3-pointer preceded a Porath 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 run that erased the Storm's final lead. UW-Oshkosh's 10-0 run spanned more than four minutes and resulted in a 34-29 advantage with 2:38 to go in the opening half.
The Titans went on to build their largest cushion of nine points when Osterman notched a steal and drove for a layup and a 40-31 lead with six ticks left in the second quarter.
Saturday's Indianola Regional championship game was delayed nearly two hours due to a tornado warning in the area.
UW-Oshkosh, which has won at least one game in its past 14 trips to the NCAA postseason, is seeking to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 1999. The Titans, the 1996 Division III champion and 1995 runners-up, made recent Sweet 16 appearances in 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
The Titans will be facing Baldwin Wallace University for the second time and first since defeating the Yellow Jackets, 74-59, on Dec. 29, 2004, in Rockford, Ill.
UW-Oshkosh Postgame Press Conference
2022 UW-Oshkosh Women's Basketball Indianola Regional Media Guide
2022 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Digital Program
Photo by Ginnie Coleman, Kodiak Creative