The women's basketball team held on for a pivotal 55-50 win over the UW-Oshkosh Titans at the Karges Center on Saturday. The win was key for the Falcons as they came into the game tied with the Titans and UW-Eau Claire with 5-5 records in the WIAC respectively. The Titans had beaten the Falcons 61-52 in Oshkosh back on Dec. 11.

The game was a back and forth contest for most of the game.  The Falcons opened the game on a 6-0 run, but the Titans responded with a 9-0 run of their own. The Falcons would go into the half leading 22-21.

Maranda Dohrn (Lake City, MN, Lake City) had a stellar game for the Falcons as she led the team with 13 points and six rebounds.

But what may have sealed the game for the Falcons was back-to-back three-point conversions by Alise Holst (Plainview, MN, Plainview-Elgin-Millville), who converted the three-point plays with nifty moves on the inside post. This would give the Falcons their largest lead of the night at 14 with 4:50 to go in the game.  After that, the closest the Titans would come was five, which would be the final margin of victory for the Falcons. 

Holst would finish with 11 points and two of the Falcons' four steals on the night.

Taylor House (Maple Grove, MN, Maple Grove) would chip in a strong nine points to aide a balanced Falcon attack that had nine players scoring at least two points.

The Titans kept the game close by executing their opportunities on free-throws.  As a team, the Titans were 15-17 for 88.2 percent from behind the line, whereas the Falcons were 8-14 for 57.1 percent on the evening.

Defense clearly dominated the game for both teams in the low-scoring affair.  Both teams grabbed 30 rebounds.  Although the Falcons came away with the victory in the end, they did manage to commit more turnovers than Oshkosh by a ratio of 16-14. The Titans also forced nine steals while limiting the Falcons to four.

Where the Falcons truly shined was in their shooting performance.  The Falcons connected on 23-48 from the field goal range, giving them a 47.9 percent on the night.  The Titans were a much colder 16-44 for 36.4 percent during the game.

Michelle Boeder led the Titans and all scorers with 20 points.  Her eight rebounds was also the top for all players.  The Titans would only have four players scoring on the night as the Falcon defense was stout in the paint.

With the win the Falcons improve to 14-6 overall and 6-5 in the WIAC.  The Titans meanwhile fall to 10-10 and 5-6 in the conference.

Up next for the Falcons is another key match-up against the Blugolds of UW-Eau Claire.

Tip-off is set to get underway at 7 p.m. at the Karges Center.  The game will have major play-off implications as the Falcons, Blugolds and Titans all fight for positioning in the WIAC standings.  The Falcons beat the Blugolds 65-64 in Eau Claire back on Dec. 8.  The Falcons are 28-49 all time against Eau Claire.

Box Score