Warhawks Defeat Titans For WIAC Championship Title
Three-time defending champion UW-Oshkosh's highest scoring fourth quarter in program history was not enough as UW-Whitewater secured its first WIAC women's basketball tournament title with a 65-56 win on Sunday (Feb. 26) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Whitewater (22-5), seeded second in the six-team WIAC Championship, led 15-11 after the first quarter and held UW-Oshkosh to just four points in the second period as it took a 34-15 advantage to intermission. The Warhawks then tallied 17 of the 23 third-quarter points to take a 51-21 lead into the final session.
Top-seeded UW-Oshkosh (24-3) refused to quit and outscored UW-Whitewater, 35-14, during the fourth quarter. The Titans cut their deficit to 53-41 with 3:24 remaining, but the Warhawks scored seven of the next nine points to extend their advantage to 60-43 with 93 seconds left. UW-Oshkosh then staged a 13-4 scoring run to make the count 64-56 with 12 seconds to play.
UW-Whitewater clinches the WIAC's automatic berth to the 64-team NCAA Division III Championship that begins March 3. UW-Oshkosh will learn whether it receives one of 21 at-large berths to the national tournament during an online selection show at 1:30 p.m. on Monday (Feb. 27).
UW-Whitewater's Brooke Trewyn, who notched her sixth double-double of the year, led all players with 19 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Olivia Freckmann added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Warhawks, who also received 11 points from Malia Smith and nine points and seven rebounds from Becky Deichl.
The Warhawks concluded the contest with advantages in field goal (.373 to .333), 3-point (.308 to .294) and free throw (.676 to .611) percentages in addition to slim margins in assists (7-6), turnovers (20-17) and steals (10-9). UW-Whitewater matched its season high with 23 free throws on 34 attempts.
The Titans outrebounded UW-Whitewater, 42-37, including 13-7 on the offensive end, but UW-Oshkosh had a season-high turnover total. The Titans entered the game ranked second nationally by committing an average of 11.6 turnovers per contest.
Jaimee Pitt paced UW-Oshkosh with 12 points off the bench.
Eliza Campbell recorded 11 points and a team-leading nine rebounds for the Titans, while Taylor Schmidt had nine points and Morgan Kokta eight points and a team-best three assists.
UW-Oshkosh scored the first four points of the game, but the Warhawks took the lead for good at 8-6 on a layup by Smith with 4:49 left in the first period.
UW-Whitewater held a 15-11 advantage after the first quarter as the teams combined to shoot 9-for-31 (29 percent) from the field, including 0-for-8 from 3-point range.
Using a pair of Freckmann free throws that capped the first-quarter scoring, UW-Whitewater tallied 19 of 20 points during a nearly 10-minute span to extend its lead to 32-12 with 82 seconds left in the second quarter. UW-Oshkosh missed 12 consecutive shots from the field and committed 11 turnovers during an 11-minute stretch that spanned the first two periods.
A jumper by Trewyn gave UW-Whitewater a 34-15 advantage at intermission as UW-Oshkosh had it lowest-scoring half in the 107 games since registering 12 in the opening half at UW-La Crosse on Dec. 11, 2013.
The Warhawks built their largest lead of 31 points on two occasions in the third quarter. A three-point play by Trewyn extended UW-Whitewater's advantage to 48-17 with just over four minutes to play in the third period, while a free throw by Camri Conley made the score 51-20 at the 2:05 mark.
UW-Oshkosh shot 12-for-18 (66.7 percent) from the floor, including 5-for-9 (55.6 percent) from 3-point range, during the final quarter. However, a three-point play by Smith gave the Warhawks a 58-43 lead with 2:09 left, and UW-Whitewater knocked down seven free throws over the final 93 seconds to secure the victory.
UW-Oshkosh's 35 fourth-quarter points eclipsed the previous school record of 34 established in the first period at UW-Platteville on Feb. 11.
UW-Oshkosh seniors Schmidt and Alex Richard both set the program record by playing in their 116th career games on Sunday. Richard finished the contest with six points and eight rebounds.
The top seed has not won the WIAC Championship since 2012. UW-Oshkosh claimed the tournament championship as the second seed in both 2014 and 2016, and as the third seed in 2015. Third-seeded UW-Stevens Point won the 2013 title.
UW-Oshkosh, which lost at home for the first time this season, falls to 5-1 against UW-Whitewater in the WIAC tournament. The Titans had previously eliminated the Warhawks from the conference postseason in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2015.
UW-Whitewater improves its record to 9-18 in the league tournament, while UW-Oshkosh, which also earned the inaugural conference postseason championship in 1999, goes to 22-12.
The Titans also finished as the WIAC Championship runner-up in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.