Fourth-Quarter Rally Moves Titans Past Norse
Eliza Campbell scored a season-high 28 points as the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team pulled out a 72-65 comeback victory over Luther College (Iowa) at the UW-La Crosse Thanksgiving Classic on Sunday (Nov. 26) in La Crosse.
Facing its largest deficit of the season at 57-49 with 7:53 remaining, UW-Oshkosh closed out the contest with a 23-8 scoring run, including a string of 14 consecutive points that gave the Titans the lead for good.
Trailing 59-52 with 7:24 to go, the Titans reclaimed the final lead of the game at 60-59 on a layup by Melanie Schneider with 3:50 left. UW-Oshkosh then extended its advantage to 66-59 on a Schneider jumper with just under two minutes to play.
Campbell and Schneider accounted for six points apiece during UW-Oshkosh's decisive 14-point run in the fourth quarter.
Luther College pulled within 70-65 with 14 seconds left, but Titan Emma Melotik converted a pair of free throws to provide the final score.
UW-Oshkosh (5-0), ranked 11th in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, owned advantages in field goal percentage (.415 to .379), turnovers (15-8) and steals (9-4). The Titans secured the win despite shooting 54.2 percent (13-24) from the free throw line.
Luther College (2-4) held edges of 44-42 in rebounds, 11-8 in assists and 8-6 in blocks. The Norse knocked down seven 3-pointers in 16 attempts (43.8 percent) while UW-Oshkosh shot just 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from long range.
Campbell, who finished one point shy of her career high, connected on 11 of 16 shots from the floor, including 6 of 8 during the second half. Campbell, the Titans' fifth different leading scorer this season, also paced all players with a season-high three steals.
Schneider concluded the contest with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field and six rebounds.
UW-Oshkosh's Emma Melotik scored 10 of her season-best 14 points during the second half while Madeline Staples added four points and a team-leading eight rebounds.
Olivia Campbell contributed four rebounds and team highs of three assists and two blocks for the Titans.
The teams exchanged the lead 11 times during the first half as UW-Oshkosh built advantages of 14-8 in the first quarter and 19-13 in the second period before Luther College rallied to take a 30-29 lead at intermission.
The Norse mustered a .343 (12-35) field goal percentage over the first two quarters while limiting the Titans to 11 of 33 (33.3 percent) shooting from the floor.
Luther College increased its lead to 38-33 on a layup from Claire Marburger with just under seven minutes to play in the third quarter. The Titans reclaimed a pair one-point leads during the third period, but the Norse scored seven of the last nine points of the quarter to take a 50-45 advantage into the final stanza.
Eliza Campbell drove for back-to-back layups to pull UW-Oshkosh within 59-56 with 5:55 remaining. A layup by Jaimee Pitt cut the Titans' deficit to 59-58 with 5:10 left before Schneider pulled down an offensive rebound and scored in the lane to reclaim the lead for good at 60-59.
Schneider recorded a steal and a layup for a 64-59 UW-Oshkosh lead at the 2:47 mark. Eliza Campbell assisted on a Staples layup that increased the Titan advantage to 69-60 with 70 seconds left, and Campbell knocked down a pair of free throws for a 70-62 lead with 24 seconds to play.
After the 6:19 mark of the fourth period, Luther College missed eight straight field goals and committed four turnovers until Madison Spence converted a layup to trim the Norse deficit to 68-62 with 46 seconds remaining.
Spence led Luther College with 16 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
Laura Hamilton and Katie Waller added 12 points apiece for the Norse, who also received a team-leading three assists from Anna Edel.
Eliza Campbell and Melotik represented UW-Oshkosh on the six-member UW-La Crosse Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team.
The Titans opened the four-team tournament with an 83-41 victory over Viterbo University on Saturday (Nov. 25).
Campbell led UW-Oshkosh with 34 total points during the two contests. She shot a combined 14-for-20 (70 percent) from the field while recording eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals.
Melotik totaled 24 points over the two games to go along with six rebounds and four assists.
Campbell and Melotik were also named to the all-tournament team, including Most Outstanding Player honors for Campbell, at the season-opening Manchester University (Ind.) Main View Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 18.
Rounding out the UW-La Crosse Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team were Luther College's Waller, UW-La Crosse's Elise DeNoyer and Ava Kramer, and Viterbo University's Alyssa Nilssen.
UW-Oshkosh plays St. Norbert College in De Pere on Wednesday (Nov. 29).
Photo courtesy of Jim Campbell