Titans Begin 16th NCAA Postseason Appearance Against Eagles
The UW-Oshkosh women's basketball team will face a familiar foe when it opens the NCAA Division III Championship against Edgewood College on Friday (March 6) in Arden Hills, Minn. The battle of conference tournament champions is set to begin at 5 p.m. at Bethel University's Robertson Center Gym.
UW-Oshkosh (18-10) and Edgewood College (25-2) have met 12 times since 1995. The Titans own an 11-1 record in the series versus Edgewood College, including a 93-31 victory over the Eagles in their most recent matchup during the 2017-18 campaign.
The Titans and Eagles both earned automatic bids into the national tournament as UW-Oshkosh clinched the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship title with a thrilling 52-50 win at UW-Eau Claire on Saturday (Feb. 29), while Edgewood College earned the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament championship with a convincing 88-72 victory at Benedictine University (Ill.) on Sunday (March 1).
Friday's other first round game at the Arden Hills Regional features Bethel University (26-1), ranked sixth in the country by D3hoops.com, hosting Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) (23-3) at 7:30 p.m.
The Arden Hills Regional championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday (March 7). The 64-team Division III Championship continues with sectional games March 13-14 before culminating with the national semifinals and title game March 20-21 in Columbus, Ohio.
Bethel University and Bethany Lutheran College also secured automatic berths into the NCAA postseason Saturday. The regional host Royals held on to defeat 17th-ranked Augsburg University (Minn.) during the championship game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs. The MIAC Playoff title was Bethel University's first in program history. Bethany Lutheran College downed UW-Superior, 64-58, in the title game of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
UW-Oshkosh sports a 3-0 record against Bethel University since the 1986-87 season and a 2-0 mark against Bethany Lutheran College. The Titans ousted Bethel University from the 1994 Division III Championship with a 70-58 decision during the second round.
The Titans, making their 16th appearance in the national tournament and sixth in the past seven years, have a 29-14 record in the NCAA postseason. UW-Oshkosh, the 1996 Division III champion and 1995 runner-up, has won at least one game in each of its past 12 trips to the NCAA postseason, advancing to the third round in 2014, 2017 and 2019 under head coach Brad Fischer.
Edgewood College is back in the Division III Championship for the second time and first since exiting in the first round in 2005. The Eagles, who went winless in 25 games during the 2016-17 campaign, established a program record for victories this season.
Bethel University set a program record for wins this year on the way to qualifying for its sixth NCAA postseason and first since suffering a first round loss in 2015. The Royals, who advanced as far as the national quarterfinals in 1996, have a 4-5 record in the Division III Championship.
Bethany Lutheran College is in the NCAA field for the second time, both in the last two years. The Vikings, who also set a new school record for wins, were eliminated in the first round of the Division III Championship last season.
UW-Oshkosh is scoring 67.8 points per game and allowing 58.4. The Titans, the national leader at 12.0 turnovers per game, have won each of their last 25 contests in which they have held opponents under 60 points.
Titans junior guard Leah Porath, the 2020 WIAC Player of the Year, leads the team with 17.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game to go along with 47 3-pointers and a conference-best .412 3-point percentage. She has scored in double figures 31 times in the past 32 games, including a career-best 30 points against UW-Stout on Jan. 11.
UW-Oshkosh senior guard Olivia Campbell and junior forward Nikki Arneson were named to the 2020 All-WIAC Honorable Mention Team. Campbell was also tabbed to the conference's five-member All-Defensive Team for the third straight season.
Arneson, who averages 11.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, ranks fourth in the WIAC with a .788 free throw percentage. Campbell, averaging 7.2 points and 5.0 boards per contest, is pacing the conference with 4.0 assists per game and a 1.96 assist-to-turnover ratio while ranking second in the league with 50 steals and fifth with 24 blocks.
The balanced UW-Oshkosh offense features 10 players averaging more than two points per game as Karsyn Rueth, who has knocked down 44 3-pointers on the year, is adding 7.5 a contest, Brooke Freitag 5.3, Emily Miller 5.2, Katie Ludwig 4.3, Abby Kaiser 3.3, Emily Higgins 2.7 and Claire Staples 2.4.
Edgewood College is scoring 72.7 points per game and yielding 53.0 per contest. The Eagles, who enter the NCAA postseason on a 12-game winning streak, are ranked sixth in the nation with a 1.23 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Four Eagles starters are scoring more than eight points per game as sisters Alyssa and Bria Lemirande lead the squad with 13.8 and 9.5 per contest, respectively. Bria Lemirande, who grabs a team-best 8.9 rebounds per game, has produced a pair of triple-doubles this season. Alyssa Lemirande has dished out a team-high 114 assists while shooting 53.7 percent from the field.
Rounding out the Edgewood starting lineup are Abby Shane at 8.5 points per game, Emma Klein at 8.3 and Lexi Walter at 6.4. Parker Fetherson and Diamond Pikulyk are combining to score nearly 14 points per game off the Eagles bench.
Nationally ranked Bethel University, which has won 20 consecutive home games dating back to last season, is averaging 75.1 points and surrendering 55.6 points per contest behind a pressing defense that ranks third in the country by averaging 17.9 steals, fifth with 27.3 turnovers forced and ninth in average turnover margin (+8.3). The Royals offense is fourth nationally with a .466 field goal percentage.
Taite Anderson headlines the Royals, averaging 20.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest while ranking second in the country with a .644 field goal percentage. Anderson's 539 points this season is a program record.
Bethel University's Bella Williams (108) and Haylee Barker (98) rank third and eighth nationally in steals, respectively. Makenna Pearson is second on the team with 9.9 points per game while Barker follows at 9.8.
Bethany Lutheran College is scoring 75.7 points per game and yielding an average of 62.7. The Vikings are seventh in the country with 447 made free throws and 10th with 621 free throw attempts.
Leading the way for the Vikings are UMAC Player of the Year Hanna Geistfeld and Abby Olson. Geistfeld, who has 18 double-doubles and a .708 field goal percentage this season, averages 21.5 points and 10.4 rebounds. Olson is adding 18.8 points a game to go along with a team-leading 85 assists and 66 made 3-pointers. Geistfeld and Olson have combined to shoot 248 of 318 at the free throw line on the year.
The winner of the Arden Hills Regional advances to play the Greencastle (Ind.) Regional champion. Vying for the Greencastle Regional title are fourth-ranked and host DePauw University (27-1), 13th-ranked Loras College (Iowa) (23-4), UW-La Crosse (19-7) and Webster University (Mo.) (20-7).
NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Arden Hills Regional Website
NCAA Division III Women's Basketball • NCAA.com Website
NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Interactive Bracket
UW-Oshkosh NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Arden Hills Regional Media Guide