Porath Repeats As WIAC Basketball Player Of The Year
Senior guard Leah Porath was named Player of the Year for the second straight season to highlight league champion UW-Oshkosh's selections on the 2021 All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Team.
Porath becomes the program's first to receive multiple WIAC Player of the Year honors after leading the league in scoring for the second consecutive year. Porath, a 2020 D3hoops.com Third Team All-American, averaged 18.7 points per game this season and 17.5 points per contest a year ago.
UW-Oshkosh senior guard Julia Silloway joined Porath on the 10-member 2021 All-WIAC First Team while Titans senior forward Nikki Arneson, junior guard Abby Kaiser and senior center Karsyn Rueth were among 11 players named to the All-WIAC Honorable Mention Team.
UW-Oshkosh freshman guard Kennedy Osterman shared WIAC Newcomer of the Year accolades with UW-Stout freshman guard Anna Mutch. Osterman is the first Titan to be named Newcomer of the Year since the award debuted last season. Sophomore forward Maci Grade represented the Titans on the WIAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
Kaiser and Silloway were also named to the five-member WIAC All-Defensive Team for a UW-Oshkosh squad that led the league in scoring defense at 58 points allowed per game. The Titans also paced the conference in field goal percentage (.455), made 3-pointers (83), assists per game (13.7), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.09) and average scoring margin (+12.7).
Arneson was selected to the All-WIAC Honorable Mention Team for the second straight year. Kaiser, Rueth and Silloway each received their first all-conference laurels.
Porath, the fifth repeat winner of WIAC Player of the Year accolades, helped UW-Oshkosh (9-2) win the WIAC East Division and both the conference regular season and tournament titles. The WIAC regular season title was the Titans' record-extending 14th in program history while the postseason championship was UW-Oshkosh's record-tying seventh overall, third consecutive and sixth in the past eight years.
Porath led the Titans in scoring seven times this season, including each of their three WIAC postseason home wins in the span of five days. Porath, who has scored in double figures 42 times in the Titans' last 45 games, tied a career high with 30 points to go along with career bests of 14 rebounds and six assists during the Titans' 79-59 rout over UW-River Falls in the quarterfinals March 1. She then poured in a career-high 35 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in a 67-59 semifinal victory against UW-La Crosse on March 3 before capping the season with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists during a 74-58 triumph over UW-Whitewater in the championship game March 5. Porath concluded the remarkable three-game tournament performance with 82 points on 32 of 52 (61.5 percent) shooting from the field, 33 rebounds and 13 assists.
Porath, who surpassed 1,000 career points in the season finale, averaged a team-leading 6.5 rebounds per game to go along with 2.1 assists and 1.0 steals per contest while shooting 53.4 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from 3-point range and 76.9 percent at the free throw line. Porath, who ranks 22nd on the school's career scoring list with 1,010 points, finished second in the conference this year in field goal percentage and seventh in both rebounding and free throw percentage.
Silloway averaged 7.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and a team-high 3.2 assists per contest in her first season with the Titans since transferring from NCAA Division II's Winona State University (Minn.). Silloway, who scored a season-high 14 points in the WIAC title game, shot 45.3 percent (29-64) from the field and 40.6 percent (13-32) from beyond the 3-point arc on the year while dishing out a conference-leading 35 assists and committing just eight turnovers all season to lead the WIAC by a wide margin with a 4.38 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Silloway, who registered a season-best six assists in the Titans' 81-64 win at UW-Platteville on Feb. 5, ranked sixth in the conference in 3-point percentage and eighth with a team-high 30 minutes played per game.
Arneson contributed 9.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game this year. She led the team with 13 points during wins of 67-40 at UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 19 and 63-56 at home over UW-Eau Claire on Feb. 24. Arneson finished the season ranked eighth in the league with a .767 (33-43) free throw percentage.
Kaiser ended the season averaging 6.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals per contest. A starter in all 11 games on the year, Kaiser was 10th in the conference with 14 steals and tallied season highs of 14 points, six rebounds and four steals during a 69-51 home victory over UW-Whitewater on Feb. 12.
Rueth, UW-Oshkosh's lone departing senior, ranked eighth in the WIAC with 16 made 3-pointers and ninth with a .372 (16-43) 3-point percentage. She finished the year averaging 6.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Rueth twice knocked down a season-high four 3-pointers, scoring 14 points in a 73-68 win at UW-Whitewater on Feb. 10 and 13 points during the 63-56 victory against UW-Eau Claire on Feb. 24.
Osterman was the Titans' starting point guard each game during a freshman campaign in which she averaged 6.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and a team-best 1.4 steals per contest. Osterman, who was fifth in the league with 24 assists and 15 steals, had a team-high and season-best 15 points during the 81-64 victory at UW-Platteville on Feb. 5.
UW-Eau Claire's Tonja Englund was named the WIAC Coach of the Year. UW-Platteville senior forward Maiah Domask received the WIAC's Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete award.
This year's All-WIAC First Team also featured UW-Eau Claire's Maizie Deihl, Katie Essen and Jessie Ruden; UW-La Crosse's Emma Gamoke; UW-Platteville's Domask; UW-Stevens Point's Bailee Collins; and UW-Whitewater's Aleah Grundahl and Johanna Taylor.
Rounding out the All-WIAC Honorable Mention Team were UW-Eau Claire's Ellie Clayton, UW-La Crosse's Ava Kramer, UW-Platteville's Caitlyn Tipton, UW-River Falls' Macy Nilsen and Jenna Zeman, UW-Stevens Point's Taylor Greenheck, and UW-Stout's Mutch and Tess Johnson.
Completing the WIAC All-Defensive Team were UW-Eau Claire's Essen, UW-Stevens Point's Greenheck and UW-Whitewater's Taylor.
The Titans' previous WIAC Players of the Year were Wendy Wangerin in 1996, Holly Spoo in 1998, Taylor Schmidt in 2017 and Porath in 2020.
Porath joins UW-Stevens Point's Amanda Nechuta (2004, 2005), UW-Stout's Kelsey Duoss (2006, 2007), UW-Stevens Point's Sam Barber (2012, 2013) and UW-Superior's Sally Linzmeier (2014, 2015) as the only multiple winners of the WIAC Player of the Year award.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the 2021 season with its 74-58 home victory over UW-Whitewater in the WIAC Championship title game March 5 in Kolf Sports Center. The Titans also finished the 2020 campaign with a win as they clinched the Arden Hills (Minn.) Regional title to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Championship for the second year in a row and the ninth time in program history before the remainder of the tournament was canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.