Oshkosh, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 71-62 at UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday night in Kolf Sports Center. The game featured a pair of nationally-ranked teams on D3hoops.com as 24th-ranked UWL drops to 20-4 overall and 9-4 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) and 15th-ranked UW-Oshkosh improves to 21-3 overall and 11-2 in the conference.
With the loss, UWL will be third-seed for the WIAC Championship (Presented by Culver's) and host a first round game on Wednesday, February 20 at 7 p.m. UW-Oshkosh clinches at least a share of the regular-season WIAC title with Wednesday's victory. The Titans will be the number one seed for the league championships with a home win over UW-Eau Claire on Saturday, February 16.
Carly Coulthart scored nine of UWL's first 11 points on three 3-pointers as the Eagles took an 11-9 advantage. UWL later led 19-13 with :37 left in the first quarter on a
Ava Kramer jumper. Brooklyn Bull's three-pointer for UW-Oshkosh cut the Eagles' lead to 19-16 after the opening quarter. The Eagles took their largest lead of the game at 31-23 with 3:35 remaining in the second quarter on Kramer's layup. UW-Oshkosh responded with a 8-0 run to force a 31-31 tie on Karsyn Rueth's layup. UWL quickly scored six straight points for a 37-31 lead with :49 remaining after baskets from
Emma Gamoke,
Kyah Steiner and
Delaney Schoenenberger. The Titans cut the halftime deficit to 37-33.
The game was tied, 43-43, with 4:39 left in the third quarter when UW-Oshkosh scored six of the next seven points for a 49-44 advantage with 3:14 remaining. The Titans led, 53-50, after three quarters. Schoenenberger's layup with 5:50 left in the game forced a 58-58 tie when UW-Oshkosh went on a 7-1 run to lead 65-59 with 2:53 remaining on a Chloe Pustina three-pointer. Gamoke's three-pointer with 2:26 remaining cut the lead to 65-62, but the Eagles could get no closer the rest of the game as the Titans went six-of-six at the free throw line in the final :21.
UWL shot 46.8% from the field Wednesday, including 33.3% (six-of-18) from three-point range, and 70.6% (12-of-17) at the free throw line.
Carly Coulthart led the Eagles with 15 points while Gamoke finished with 11. Schoenenberger, Kramer and Steiner each had eight points.
UW-Oshkosh shot 48.1% from the field, including 38.1% (eight-of-21) from three-point range, and 68.4% (13-of-19) at the line. Olivia Campbell led the Titans with 15 points while Isabella Samuels finished with 14 and Pustina 11.
UWL returns to action Saturday, February 16 hosting UW-Stout at 3 p.m. in the regular-season finale.
