The third quarter made the difference in Saturday’s mid-afternoon matchup between the UW Oshkosh women’s basketball team and UW-River Falls at the Falcons’ Don Page Arena.
The Titans (17-1, 6-1 WIAC) led 33-27 at the half on 13-of-26 from the field, however River Falls 11-7, 3-4 WIAC) secured the lead with a 21-10 third period and retained the edge down the stretch to hand the No. 4 ranked Titans their first loss of the season by a 64-59 score.
Across all four quarters, UWO went 22-of-54 (40.7%) from the field, 6-of-27 (22.2%) from 3-point range, and 9-of-15 (60%) from the line, while holding UWRF to a 21-of-58 (36.2%) clip from the field. The Titans also out-rebounded the Falcons 38-33, recorded 12 assists to River Falls’ eight, had a 25-7 edge in bench points and outscored the Falcons 26-20 in the paint.
UWO’s Sammi Beyer scored a team high 14 points on 6-of-11 from the field with a 3-pointer and recorded four rebounds with a trio of assists. Kayce Vaile registered a 12-point game with five rebounds and Avery Poole joined the two Titans with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and a block. Mahra Wieman pulled down eight rebounds (two offensive) in 15 minutes off the bench to go with a pair of points.
The Titans started the game by jumping out to an early 5-0 lead on a 3-pointer from Poole and a Vaile layup before the Falcons went on a 6-3 run to climb within 3 points at 9-6 with 4:39 left in the first quarter. An even 8-8 run kept the Titans ahead 17-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Oshkosh extended its lead in the second quarter by producing a 9-5 run to put the score at 26-19 with 7:17 on the clock and it continued that momentum with another 5-3 run to go up 31-22. The Falcons clawed back to within six before halftime with the Titans ahead 33-27 heading into the break.
River Falls surged coming into the second half, taking the lead from the Titans after an 18-5 run to put the Falcons ahead with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter at 40-36. In the back half of the period, the Falcons kept the pressure on with an 8-7 run to hold onto a 48-43 heading into the fourth.
The Titans fought to tie the contest at 53 off the heels of a 10-5 run with 5:42 left in the matchup. River Falls closed out the game with an 11-6 run, holding Oshkosh off late when Poole pulled the Titans within three points with a free throw with three seconds to go. The Falcons put the game out of reach with two free throws two seconds later.
The Titans wrap up their two game road trip on Wednesday as they face UW-Platteville at Williams Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. In the teams’ first meeting of the season, Oshkosh beat the Pioneers 60-44 at Kolf Sports Center.
