It was a hard fought battle between two of the best offensive teams in the WIAC, but the UW-River Falls women's basketball team was unable to pull through to continue in their journey in the WIAC playoffs by losing against the UW-Oshkosh Titans, 79-59.
In the first quarter, both teams traded baskets for the first few minutes, but it was the Titans who went on a 7-0 run in the last 2:13 to take a 10 point lead at the end of the stanza, 20-10.
The Falcons would remain optimistic in beginning off the second quarter with a three pointer by Cassie Heinrichs, but UW-O quickly answered with yet another 7-0 run. The Falcons attempted to regain their momentum with a jump shot from Macy Nilsen, but within a minute, reigning WIAC Player of the Year Leah Porath of the Titans responded. A deep three from Sydney Hein with four minutes left to go in the second quarter drew the Falcons closer, as did another Nilsen jumper, but UW-O's Jenna Jorgenson went coast to coast at the buzzer to increase the halftime deficit for the Falcons to 11 points.
Going into the third quarter, the Falcons continued to force the Titans deep into the shot clock, only to give up a last second basket or offensive rebound. After getting down 19 and not scoring for two minutes, Jenna Zeman hit a three to make the score 53-37, and was then followed up by a steal from Falcons' guard Haley Desouza. That steal lead to Katelyn Karch attacking the rim and completing the three-point play the old school way.
With the lead slowly decreasing, Porath demanded the ball and found her way to the hoop, scoring two of her game-high 30 points. Hein and Nilsen both found the bottom of the net again before the end of the quarter, but the lead was still at 19 at the end of three.
Both teams showed their fatigue in the fourth quarter and only scored a combined 23 points, but it was enough for the two-time defending WIAC champion Titans to secured the win.
The Falcons held the excellent three-point shooting Titans to just 1-of-13 from behind the arc, cementing their status as the best three-point defensive team in the WIAC after finishing last in that category a season ago. UW-RF also finished first in made threes, turnover rate, free throw attempts, and possessions per 40 minutes in the WIAC. In fact, the Falcons finish the season as one of the fastest teams in the country and rank 6th in fewest turnovers. The increase from averaging 51.4 points per game a season ago to 66.4 this season is one of the biggest increases in the country.
