Fischer, Porath Recognized By WBCA
The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association named UW-Oshkosh junior guard Leah Porath as its NCAA Division III Public School Women's Basketball Player of the Year and the Titans' Brad Fischer the Division II-III Women's Basketball Coach of the Year.
Fischer and Porath led UW-Oshkosh to the WIAC tournament title and the third round of the Division III Championship. The Titans, who finished the year with a 20-10 record, were among 16 teams still remaining in the national tournament when the remainder of the event was canceled due to the novel coronavirus.
Porath is the second straight Titan to garner WBCA Division III Public Schools Player of the Year laurels, joining 2019 winner Isabella Samuels. Fischer was also tabbed WBCA Women's Division III Coach of the Year in 2013, 2017 and 2019.
Porath, the 2020 WIAC Player of the Year, previously earned All-America Third Team honors from D3hoops.com and All-America Honorable Mention accolades from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
Porath had one of the most productive seasons in UW-Oshkosh history, averaging 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game with 49 made 3-pointers, a .489 field goal percentage and a .408 3-point percentage. She led the WIAC in both scoring and 3-point percentage while ranking second in the league in total rebounds (200) and made 3-pointers, and third in both rebounds per game and field goal percentage.
Porath, whose 524 points this season were the most by a Titan since Wendy Wangerin had 559 in 1996, produced the highest total by a WIAC player since 2013.
Porath started all 30 games this season and led the Titans in scoring on 19 occasions. She has scored in double figures 33 times in UW-Oshkosh's past 34 games dating back to last year.
Porath recorded more than 20 points in eight games this season, including a career-high 30 points with a season-best five made 3-pointers against UW-Stout on Jan. 11. She also had 29 points against Alma College (Mich.) on Nov. 25, 27 points on 12 of 18 shooting from the field to go along with a season highs of four steals and two blocks against Pacific Lutheran University (Wash.) on Dec. 21, 27 points against Bethany Lutheran College (Minn.) during the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship on March 7, and 26 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for her first double-double against Loras College (Iowa) on Nov. 16.
Porath's season highs also included four assists against UW-Whitewater on Feb. 19 and UW-Stout on Feb. 25. Porath, who knocked down at least two 3-pointers in 17 games this season, went 17 of 24 from 3-point range during the first seven contests of the year.
Fischer guided UW-Oshkosh to an unprecedented run to the Sweet 16 as the Titans became the first women's team in Division III history to reach the third round of the national tournament after opening the season with an 11-9 record. UW-Oshkosh, the first fourth-seeded team to ever make the WIAC Championship final let alone win the tournament, ended the year on a six-game winning streak, including five in a row in the postseason.
Fischer has a 185-47 record in his eight seasons at the helm of the Titans. Fischer's squads have reached the WIAC Championship title game each of the past seven years, winning five conference postseason and two league regular season championships while making six trips to the Division III Championship. UW-Oshkosh's 185 wins under Fischer are second to the Division I UW-Green Bay women's basketball team for the most by any collegiate women's or men's basketball program in the state of Wisconsin since the 2012-13 campaign.
Fischer and the Titans, who boast a 15-3 record in the WIAC Championship over the last eight years, have advanced past the first round of the NCAA postseason six times in the past seven seasons. UW-Oshkosh reached the Sweet 16 in 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2020, and to the second round in both 2015 and 2016.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the 2019-20 season as the national leader in turnovers per game for the second time in the past three years and set WIAC records with 220 made 3-pointers and 669 3-point attempts. The Titans, who committed 11.9 turnovers per contest and finished the year ranked 21st in the country, completed their eighth straight season with at least 20 wins – the second longest streak in WIAC history.
The WBCA's other Women's College Players of the Year this season were UW-Green Bay's Frankie Wurtz in NCAA Division I, University of Minnesota Duluth's Brooke Olson in NCAA Division II, Edgewood College's Alyssa Lemirande in NCAA Division III private and Bryant Stratton College's La'Janique Perry Ellis in junior college.
Rounding out the 2020 WBCA College Coaches of the Year were Marquette University's Megan Duffy in NCAA Division I and Edgewood College as Coaching Staff of the Year.