Women's Basketball

FLY THE FLAG! Miami Downs Cincinnati in OT Thriller

Wednesday's Women's Basketball Results
Miami 75, Cincinnati 71 (OT)
UMass 71, Northeastern 52
Buffalo 77, Niagara 51
Ball State 119, Oakland City 34
Akron 117, Heidelberg 34
Bowling Green 103, Kentucky State 32
Michigan 82, Central Michigan 40
Indiana 71, Western Michigan 53
Indiana State 69, Northern Illinois 61
Stories Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments

Miami 75, Cincinnati 71 (OT)
Box Score
CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Miami University women's basketball team erased a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime on the way to a 75-71 win over Cincinnati on Wednesday afternoon. Tamar Singer had a career-high 24 points, Amber Tretter added 21 and Amber Scalia chipped in with 14 to help the RedHawks improve to 6-3 on the year. Caliyah DeVillasee had 23 points for the Bearcats (4-5).

Tretter's 12-foot fade-away jumper as time expired sent the game to overtime as the RedHawks went on to score 18 points in the extra session. The win is Miami's first over Cincinnati since 2018.

How it Happened:
  • Tretter backed her way down into the paint for the opening points of the first quarter, and Singer flew down the right lane for a layup to give Miami an early 4-2 lead. Cincinnati responded by jumping ahead 9-4 before Amber Scalia put in a floater and Núria Jurjo recorded a layup to cut the deficit to just 9-8 heading into the second quarter.
  • The Red and White regained the lead at 10-9 after Clara Gonzalez Planella found Tretter in the paint for two points. Tretter added another layup, and Singer came off of a screen for a strong finish over two defenders at 14-11. Singer went on to score a transition layup and found Ilse De Vries running down the court for another fast break score at 18-14. Singer took an inbound pass from halfcourt all the way to the rim as the game clock expired, sending the RedHawks into halftime with a 22-20 advantage. 
  • Tretter opened the second half with a bucket and moments later Scalia knocked in a triple to give Miami a 27-20 advantage three minutes into the third quarter. The Bearcats used a 25-8 run in the final seven minutes of the quarter to claim a 45-35 advantage heading to the final stanza.
  • Ilse de Vries drilled a three-pointer to begin the fourth, but after trimming the deficit to seven, the Bearcats scored the next six to make it 51-38 with six minutes left in the contest. Miami used a small run to make it 55-46 with 2:44 to play. A pair of free throws from Núria Jurjo, followed by buckets from Singer and Tretter closed the gap, 55-52 with 60 seconds to play. After a defensive stop, Singer found Scallia for a triple on the fast break to knot the game at 55-apiece. With the shot clock off, UC drove through the lane for a layup with 2.8 seconds to play. Tretter's 12-foot fade-away at the buzzer sent the contest to overtime.
  • UC took a 58-57 lead to begin OT, but a triple from Scalia gave Miami their first lead since early in the third quarter. Following a three-point play from Singer, UC closed to within 63-61. A nifty pass from Tretter to Scalia pushed the lead to four and back-to-back buckets from Jurjo and Tretter gave the RedHawks a comfortable 69-62 lead.
UMass 71, Northeastern 52
Box Score
AMHERST, Mass. -- University of Massachusetts women's basketball (7-0, 0-0 MAC) defeated  Northeastern (3-6, 0-0 CAA), 71-52, during an in-state matchup Wednesday afternoon at Cabot Center. 

The Minutewomen surged past the Huskies, opening the game on a 6-0 run in a contest they never trailed in the contest. 

Senior Forward Megan Olbrys was the largest contributor of the game, grabbing 18 points and six rebounds. Olbrys went 80% from the free throw line (8-10) and perfect from beyond the arc (2-2).  

Sophomore guard Yahmani McKayle saw a lot of action on the floor, tallying 14 points, three assists and three rebounds.  

The Minutewomen nabbed 40 rebounds and 12 steals in the game.  

Breaking Down The Action 
  • The Minutewomen came out the gates hot with a 6-0 run to start the quarter, forcing a quick Northeastern timeout. 
  • McKayle got her first points of the night after a fast break from Palmieri's steal 
  • Franks pushed the Minutewomen lead to 14 with two layups after a three-minute scoring drought. 
  • Late in the opening frame, Palmieri grabbed the defensive rebound off Queliz's missed shot and made a break to the hoop for a layup to finish the first quarter, 18-7.  
  • George started the second quarter with a three-point play, with a layup and free throw 
  • Olbrys made a free throw from a foul on Collins, putting her free throw percentage to 75% on the night.  
  • Seven seconds later, Franks grabbed a steal and ran it to the glass for a layup at 6:28. 
  • Odenigbo tipped it in 22 seconds later after an offensive rebound from Palmieri's attempt 
  • Olbrys added three to the tally with a three-point jumper at 5:21 
  • With less than three minutes in the half, Olbrys, McKayle and Ferguson all capitalized to end the half 38-23.  
  • The Minutewomen went on a 14-2 run in the third, with Olbrys making four free throws. 
  • George started the final quarter with a layup less than two minutes in 
  • Bullard collected her first points of the game with a layup from Palmieri's defensive rebound.  
  • The Minutewomen go on a 9-2 run in the final quarter, ending the game 71-52.

Buffalo 77, Niagara 51
Box Score
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's basketball team led for all but one minute, turning in a dominant performance on both ends of the floor in a 77-51 win over Niagara at Alumni Arena on Wednesday night.

Redshirt freshman guard Aniya Rowe had an impressive night as she stuffed the stat sheet with a career-high 18 points, including a perfect four-of-four from beyond the arc, to go with eight rebounds and six steals. Junior guard Paula Lopez scored in double figures for the sixth time this season with 12 points to go with five assists and freshman Deana Thompson also scored in double figures with 11 points. Fellow freshman Meg Lucas narrowly missed out on a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.

The Bulls turned defense into offense early as they rattled off a 10-2 run capped by a pair of steal and scores from Thompson and Rowe and a block from Lopez that led to a fastbreak layup to force a Niagara timeout at the 4:39 mark. Lucas converted on a second chance jumper out of the break and later, Lopez hit Rowe for a fastbreak triple before knocking down a runner of her own in the lane to give UB a 19-8 lead at the end of the first.

Janyah Bohanon and Anaya Coleman scored on back-to-back possessions to open the second quarter and then later, Amber Howard skied up for an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Rowe for a deep triple on the wing and then Rowe went into attack mode again, taking it coast-to-coast for a layup to put UB up 31-19 at the media timeout. Buffalo would extend their run to 12 as Bohanon got a second chance jumper to drop, Rowe drilled her third three of the half and Thompson added a triple of her own to give the Bulls a 20-point lead at the half.

Niagara opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 15 and force a UB timeout. The teams then traded defensive stops before Thompson turned the corner and sliced to the basket for a layup off glass to put UB up 47-30 at the media timeout. The Bulls extended the run to 10 as Rowe drilled a triple on the wing and then she and Lucas converted steal and scores to force another Niagara timeout and UB would lead 61-39 at the end of the third.   

After a slow start to the fourth for both teams, freshman Ella Corry gave the Bulls a spark as she recorded a pair of steals and got to the free throw line and then grabbed a rebound and hit Lopez for a corner triple to put UB up by 24 with two and a half minutes remaining. Later, Corry found Liza Field for a baseline jumper and then Coleman hit her for a fastbreak layup as she finished with a career-six points.

Buffalo had tremendous balance offensively as all 12 players who entered the game scored. The Bulls dominated the glass, recording a season-best 55 rebounds, including a season-best 26 offensive rebounds and dominated the paint, winning the battle inside 40-14. UB turned defense into offense as they forced 32 Niagara turnovers and capitalized, scoring 33 points off those miscues while recording a season-high 31 fastbreak points.

Ball State 119, Oakland City 34
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - In front of 4,903 screaming fans on the ninth-annual Ball State women's basketball field trip day, the Cardinals put on quite the show with a 119-34 defeat over Oakland University Wednesday afternoon in Worthen Arena. 

Today's attendance was the third largest in program history while the 119 points ties for second most in a single- game which last occurred on Dec. 30, 2022, against Chicago State in Worthen Arena. The Cardinals also had 69 rebounds which is program record. 

Ball State (8-1) set the tone early against the Mighty Oaks (1-8) outscoring Oakland University 31-14 in the first quarter and then 19-7 in the second frame. The Cardinals were led by Bree Salenbien who scored 19 points in the first half of play. The duo of Salenbien and Towers were fierce on the board with seven rebounds apiece as the Cardinals headed into intermission with an impressive 50-21 advantage over the Mighty Oaks.

After the break, Ball State continued its hot offense although it was not necessarily the scoring that led to the Cardinals to their 100 plus point plateau it was also the defense that played a big role. The Cardinals held the Mighty Oaks to only five points in the third quarter of play. By the time the final stanza had begun Ball State had reached the 100-point mark after a basket from Zhen Verburgt with 6:03 remaining in the ball game. 

The Cardinals continued to use a balanced offense and stifling defense throughout the remainder of the game which led Ball State to its eighth victory of the season.

For the contest, Salenbien led all scorers with 26 points while Grace Kingery turned in a 16-point performance. Defensively, Ball State was led by Alba Caballero who pulled down a season best 11 rebounds. 

The all-around team effort was apparent as all 13 Cardinals scored three or more points with Ball State getting 59 total from its bench.

Akron 117, Heidelberg 34
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - Sophomore Izzy Callaway registered a career-high 36 points while the Akron defense held Heidelberg to just 15.6 percent shooting from the field as the Zips defeated the Berg 117-34 on Education Day at James A. Rhodes Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

Callaway shot 76.5 percent (13 of 17) from the field, including an 72.7 percent (8 of 11) effort from downtown and a perfect 2 of 2 from the free throw line en route to the career-high performance. The last Zip to have a 36-point performance was Anita Brown in 2015 in a 102-101 win over Toledo on Jan. 14, 2015.

The Zips (1-7) had five players score in double figures as Callaway led te way followed by freshman Shaena Brew (Rialto, Calif.) who recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds and Liz Murphy added 16 points and two steals from the bench. Rounding out the double digit scores were senior Natalie Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) and freshman Monique Mitchell (South Bend, Ind.) with 13 points each. Mitchell added eight rebounds and Johnson collected six. 

Akron collected 47 rebounds in Wednesday's game compared to Heidelberg's 25, led by Brew's 10 boards. The Zips also cleaned up the offensive glass, turning 17 rebounds into 14 second chance points.

Akron's defense held Heidelberg to only 15 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 15.6 percent from the field. The Zips also limited Malia Mizeres to 1-of-11 shooting from downtown and nine points. The Berg finished with eight offensive rebounds and managed two second chance points while Akron cleared 30 defensive rebounds.

Bowling Green 103, Kentucky State 32
Box Score
Postgame recap coming soon.