Titans Pull Away From Nationally Ranked Eagles With Fourth-Quarter Surge
Nikki Arneson had a career-high 33 points and a game-best nine rebounds as the UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team overcame a fourth-quarter deficit and pulled away for an 85-76 victory over nationally ranked UW-La Crosse on Saturday (Feb. 8) in Kolf Sports Center.
Defending conference champion UW-Oshkosh (12-9, 5-5 WIAC) trailed, 68-64, with six minutes remaining before tying the score at 68 and taking the lead for good at 73-70 on a Karsyn Rueth 3-pointer at the 2:30 mark. The Titans, who finished the game on a 21-8 run, led by at least five points for the last 1:51 and owned their largest advantage at 85-74 with 10 seconds remaining on the way to avenging a 71-57 loss at UW-La Crosse during the WIAC opener Jan. 4 and winning for the 11th time in the past 13 meetings in the series.
Arneson's 33 points surpassed her previous career high of 28 established last season and marked the most by a Titan since Wendy Wangerin had 34 on Feb. 11, 1995. Arneson, who scored 24 points during the first half, shot 9-for-11 from the field, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range, and 10 of 11 at the free throw line.
The Titans concluded the contest shooting a season-best 54.5 percent from 3-point range, connecting on 12 of 22 attempts from beyond the arc. UW-Oshkosh, which improved its record to 1-9 when allowing at least 60 points this season, iced the game by making 17 of 20 free throws in the fourth quarter and 21 of 25 at the foul line overall.
UW-Oshkosh's Leah Porath, the WIAC leading scorer, had 15 of her 17 points in the first half while Olivia Campbell scored 13 of her 16 points after intermission for the Titans. Porath, averaging 18.6 points per game and pacing the WIAC with 39 made 3-pointers and a .438 3-point percentage entering Saturday, went 6-for-11 from the floor and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Campbell dished out a game-best six assists with two turnovers and shot 7-for-9 from the free throw line after going into the day with a conference-leading 2.00 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Rueth and Katie Ludwig chipped in seven and five points, respectively, off the UW-Oshkosh bench.
UW-Oshkosh remains tied for fourth in the league standings while UW-La Crosse (15-6, 6-4 WIAC), ranked 23rd in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, stays alone in third with four games remaining. The Eagles were attempting to sweep the two-game regular season series over the Titans for the first time since 2012.
The Titans, who defeated sixth-ranked and conference leader UW-Whitewater (19-2, 9-1 WIAC) in Oshkosh by a 62-51 score Jan. 25, have won their last four home games against nationally ranked opponents. UW-Oshkosh also won home games over 19th-ranked DePauw University (Ind.), 54-52, during the second round of the NCAA postseason March 2, 2019, and 24th-ranked UW-La Crosse by a 71-62 score Feb. 13, 2019.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the contest shooting 26 of 50 (.520) from the field and owned a 16-8 advantage in assists. The Titans, who shot 10 of 14 (.714) from the floor during the second quarter, are the first team to score more than 74 points against UW-La Crosse this season.
UW-La Crosse shot at least 50 percent from the field each of the first three quarters, including 90.9 percent (10-11) in the opening period, before going 4-for-17 in the fourth quarter to finish the game with a .509 (29-57) field goal percentage. The Eagles went 5-for-17 (.294) from 3-point range and 13 of 17 (.765) at the free throw line. UW-La Crosse held edges of 30-27 in rebounds, 12-14 in turnovers, 6-2 in steals and 4-3 in blocks.
Kyah Steiner and Delaney Schoenenberger led the Eagles with 17 and 15 points, respectively. Steiner grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Dani Craig, one of nine UW-La Crosse scorers, added nine points to go along with a team-best three assists and two steals.
UW-Oshkosh went into the day leading the country with 11.7 turnovers per game and pacing the conference with a 1.09 assist-to-turnover ratio. UW-La Crosse was the WIAC leader with a .326 3-point percentage while both teams shared the conference lead with 7.2 made 3-pointers per game.
Despite missing just one field goal attempt in the first quarter, UW-La Crosse only led on two occasions for a total of 28 seconds until Kat Fitzgerald drained a jumper – the Eagles' eighth consecutive successful field goal – for a 21-20 Eagle advantage with 1:37 left. UW-Oshkosh jumped out to leads of 6-2 and 13-8 as Arneson made three 3-pointers en route to scoring 13 points during the opening period.
The Eagles did not miss from the field from the 7:55 mark of the first quarter until Carly Coulthart misfired on a 3-pointer with 8:47 left in the second period. However, Arneson completed a three-point play for a 25-23 UW-Oshkosh advantage before Porath and Arneson combined to make three straight 3-pointers during a span of less than a minute to provide the Titans a 34-25 lead they would not relinquish until midway through the third quarter. Porath hit two 3-pointers in a 22-second stretch ahead of Arneson's long-range jumper that capped a string of nine unanswered points.
Campbell split a pair of free throws to extend the Titan cushion to 39-29 with 4:19 to play in the second quarter, and UW-Oshkosh went into halftime with a 46-37 lead.
Steiner accounted for seven points as UW-La Crosse opened the second half with a 15-5 run to reclaim a 52-51 lead. Schoenenberger later made a 3-pointer that upped the Eagle advantage to 62-56, but Campbell answered with a 3-pointer of her own at the buzzer to trim the Titan deficit to three points entering the final period.
The Eagles maintained a lead until Rueth converted a pair of free throws to knot the score at 68 with 3:34 left. Tied again at 70 at the 2:43 mark, UW-Oshkosh put the game away with seven straight points as Rueth's go-ahead 3-pointer was followed by two free throws from both Arneson and Campbell. The Titans went on to make each of their 12 free throws over the last 1:51.
UW-Oshkosh remains at home to host UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday (Feb. 12). The Titans defeated the Pointers, 64-59, Jan. 22 in Stevens Point.