The UW-Whitewater women's basketball team fell to UW-Oshkosh 77-69 after two overtimes in Oshkosh Wednesday evening.
National Rankings
Women's Basketball Coaches Association: UWW 22, UWO 7
D3hoops.com: UWW 16, UWO 5
The Warhawks won the first three quarters. During that span, UW-Whitewater gradually built a double digit lead bolstered by an 11-2 run that capped the third quarter.
Mia Gillis (Mundelein, Ill./Carmel Catholic) knocked down a pair of jumpers and hit a free throw in the run as UWW took a 13-point, 51-38, lead into the fourth quarter.
In the final ten minutes of regulation, the Titans outscored the Warhawks 20-7 to push the first overtime. UWO dropped in the first two buckets of the OT to take a five-point lead. Gillis cut the margin on the layup, but the Titans responded in kind.
Kacie Carollo (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) drilled a triple just seconds later to narrow the gap to 65-63 with 2:22 left. After a could of empty possessions, the Warhawks knotted the game once more. In a flurry of action under the hoop after a layup as the shot clock was winding down,
Mallory Oloffson (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) hauled in the offensive board and made good on the layup to tie it up 65-65 with 46 seconds remaining. Each team had one more opportunity to close out the period but neither shot fell.
The squads exchanged baskets to open the second overtime with the Titans holding a two-point lead at the two-minute mark. UWO got to the foul line with 1:44 remaining and hit both to extend the margin to four. Less than 30 seconds later, the Titans made four in a row from the charity stripe to push the gap to eight and seal the win.
Carollo paced the Warhawks with her sixth consecutive double-double. She matched her career high in the points column with 33 adding 12 rebounds, 3 assists and a block. Gillis tallied 13 points on 6-13 from the floor with 7 boards and a team-high four steals.
With five games left in the regular season, UWW sits in third in the WIAC standings with a 5-4 mark. The Titans maintain the top spot at 8-1 followed by UW-Stout (7-2). Three teams are tied with a 4-5 mark in league play.
