Titans Stick A Fork In The Blue Devils

Shelby Churchill's (Jr. • Sheboygan) two jumpers began a 21-4 scoring run to open the second half as the UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team defeated UW-Stout, 80-68, on Saturday (Jan. 16) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh (6-10/1-6 WIAC) started the streak two minutes into the closing period on Churchill's buckets for a six-point lead (37-31). Soon after, Michelle Boeder (Jr. • Oshkosh) swished a three-pointer, giving the Titans a 44-32 advantage at the 15:43 mark.

After a lay-up from Heidi Baerenwald (So. • Appleton), UW-Stout (9-7/4-3 WIAC) answered with a pair of free throws from Julia Hirssig to cut its deficit back down to 12 (46-34). Hirssig amassed a WIAC season-high 37 points in the contest on 15-of-18 shooting.

The Titans stormed back with two lay-ups each from Katie Kitzke (Fr. • South Milwaukee) and Kelsey Myklebust (So. • Wisconsin Dells) for a 20-point cushion (54-34) at the 11:02 mark of the second half.

Kimmy Keehr and Hirssig tried to keep the Blue Devils in the game, with each hitting a three-pointer to pull their team within 17. At the 8:06 mark, Megan Wenig (Fr. • Oshkosh) connected on a deep triple of her own to put the Titans up, 61-41.

UW-Stout outscored the Titans, 15-6, during the next five minutes to get within 13 points (69-56) with 2:57 to go. The Blue Devils came as close as nine points down the stretch, but Kitzke, Wenig and Laura Ebbens (Jr. • Appleton) each converted a pair of free throws to close out the contest.

UW-Stout opened the game on top, taking a 6-2 advantage on a jumper from Megan Maslowski 2:43 into the opening half. Down 8-7, Boeder scored the game's next five points to give the Titans a four-point lead (12-8). A pair of free throws from Kitzke and four points from Wenig extended the UW-Oshkosh advantage to eight (18-10) with just over 12 minutes on the clock.

At the 8:23 mark, Hirssig's lay-up capped a 6-1 run, pulling UW-Stout within three at 19-16. The two teams then traded buckets, with UW-Oshkosh holding a 26-24 advantage at the 5:14 mark.

Ashley Winterfeldt (Fr. • Hortonville) extended the advantage to 30-26 on a lay-up and a pair of foul shots with 2:53 to play before halftime. Soon after, Hirssig and Tricia VanVreede each converted a three-point play to knot the game at 30. Kitzke then hit a three-pointer for the Titans' three-point halftime lead (33-30).

UW-Oshkosh, which tallied its highest point total in its last 56 WIAC games, was paced by 19 points from Boeder, 18 from Kitzke and 17 from Wenig. The Titans gathered 36 rebounds, including Wenig's seven, while Ebbens dished out six assists.

UW-Stout also received 10 points from Maslowski. Hirssig, who recorded her sixth double-double of the year, snatched 13 of the Blue Devils' 40 rebounds. Kim Stokke added 11 boards and five assists in the contest.

UW-Oshkosh shot 24-of-44 (54.5 percent) from the field and 28-of-40 (70 percent) from the free-throw stripe. The Titans were perfect (4-of-4) from three-point range as they committed 15 turnovers.

UW-Stout shot 33.8 percent (24-71) from the field and 17-of-25 (68 percent) from the charity stripe. The Blue Devils made 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from long distance and committed 13 turnovers.

UW-Oshkosh travels to UW-La Crosse on Wednesday (Jan. 20).