Wednesday: Pitt's stop leads to victory

More news about: UW-Oshkosh
Feb 15, 2017
Jaimee Pitt's steal secured UW-Oshkosh's one-point win over UW-Whitewater and the Titans' 12th WIAC women's basketball title.
File photo by d3photography.com
 


No. 11 UW-Oshkosh secured its 12 WIAC women's basketball title with a one-point win over UW-Whitewater while No. 2 St. Thomas secured at least a share of the MIAC crown and homecourt throughout the conference playoffs.

Oshkosh rallied from a five-point halftime deficit and got a key defensive stop from Jaimee Pitt to beat Whitewater 59-58 and win the WIAC women's basketball title. The Titans outscored the Warhawks 18-12 in the third quarter and took a 43-42 lead into the final period. With Oshkosh leading by two and two minutes remaining, Taylor Schmidt hit a jump shot to extend the Titans' lead to four. Malia Smith answered with a three-point play for the Warhawks with 37 seconds left, pulling Whitewater within one. The Titans turned over the ball on their next possession but Oshkosh's Jaimee Pitt swiped the ball back with two seconds left to seal the Titans' victory. Box score

Schmidt scored eight of her game-leading 15 points for Oshkosh (22-2, 12-1 WIAC) in the fourth period. Four players scored double figures for Whitewater (19-5, 9-4 WIAC) led by Smith's 14. 

No. 2 St. Thomas ensured that the MIAC playoffs will come through its gym by beating St. Mary's (Minn.), 77-66. Kaitlin Langer posted 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Tommies who will have the MIAC title all to themselves with a win over Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday.

Earlier in the afternoon the NCAA released its second set of regional rankings that show where teams stand in terms of potential at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. Thomas More jumped in front of Ohio Northern in the Great Lakes region and celebrated by clobbering St. Vincent, 77-40. Madison Temple scored 24 points in only 16 minutes for the defending champions. Recap

No. 16 Montclair State slipped to second in the Atlantic region behind FDU-Florham. The Red Hawks gutted out a 76-72 win at Rutgers-Camden thanks to a 30-point, 10 rebound performance by Katie Sire. William Paterson earned a spot in the NJAC tournament which opens on Saturday by beating Kean, 77-63.

No. 21 Scranton made the biggest jump in the regional rankings, vaulting from fifth last week to first this week. The Lady Royals defeated Susquehanna 70-60 to extend its road-game winning streak to 27 games. No. 23 Catholic belted Elizabethtown 72-49 in what could be a preview of next week's Landmark Conference semifinal.

No. 25 Marymount continued its push toward the playoffs with a win at home over No. 15 Mary Washington, 69-57. The Saints held the Eagles to 14 points on 5-for-31 shooting in the first half. Marymount (20-4, 14-3 CAC) moved into a tie with Mary Washington (21-3, 14-3 CAC) for the second seed in the Capital Athletic Conference tournament. No. 12 Christopher Newport stayed game above the fray by demolishing Southern Virginia 99-61.

WPI came from behind to beat Babson 56-53 and throw the NEWMAC race into disarray. Babson slips into a three-way tie for first place with MIT and Springfield and WPI sits one game back in the NEWMAC standings.

Westfield took over first place in the MASCAC with a win and some help. The Owls held off Bridgewater State 77-68 and Framingham State lost at Worcester State 62-55 to fall one game back of Westfield. MASCAC standings