Both teams have new coaches and Identical records 4-14 ( 2-6). Central comes in with some momentum as they beat rival Western Michigan Saturday. It seems like we have been on the road all year, but we finally have 4 of the next 5 games at home. We are 2-4 at home. A big issue for us right now is that 3 girls who have started a lot of games are out with injuries in Katey Richason, Lakresha Edwards, and Maddie Huhn. Our bench was very weak Saturday at Ohio. They must be better Wednesday.
Central’s leading scorer is Tammara Ortiz, a 5-4 freshman from Westerville, Ohio. She has started the last 5 games, the only ones she has played in. 6-0 JR Karrington Gordon is second at 9.4. They also have a 6-5 Sr Center in Rochelle Norris, 5-10 SOPH guard Taylor Anderson, 5-7 Jr Guard Lisa Tesson and Tiana Tempe who is a 3 point specialist.
Central’s new coach is Kristen Haynie. She is a former Michigan State star and part of a WNBA championship team. She played for former Michigan State coach Susie Merchant ( A CMU player) and she was an assistant at Central during their glory years under Sue Guevara.
It looks like Coach Box might be about a year and a half behind coach Steele. He will need to get his own recruits on campus this fall. I’m expecting he might have his team at 11-10 - like our current Men’s record - at this point in 2026 , not next season. Deunna left us a far bigger mess to address than Jack Owens did.
Jesse and Clare Chambers are both being redshirted so they can keep their scholarships through this school year. After this year they can transfer or pay their own way, but we can’t afford to use those scholarships for players who won’t contribute.
We have minimal DI level talent on this team. That is all there is. The two Scott sisters, Tretter (who can be the cornerstone of future Miami teams) and Richason. Beyond this, we have little legit talent. Box is going to have to be good in recruiting and the portal to rebuild this team. I am one of the few on here along with Dick and a few others who consistently pay attention to women’s BB. This is the worst Miami team I can ever recall seeing. Box was left with an empty cupboard and it shows. This isn’t a knock on the players on the team. They are trying. But they are woefully overmatched even against other bad MAC teams.
They are so much better from a coaching standpoint. If this staff had some of the rosters the last few years, they would have gone to post season tournaments. Record doesn’t show it but team is on a much better trajectory now. I actually think they are .500 by next year or better.
Not getting into the future, we just do not have enough people making good contributions right now. 3 girls scored 49 of our 59 points, they had almost all of our rebounds , steals, assists, and blocked shots…All 3 of them have made huge jumps since the start of the season. Amber Tretter had 27 points and 17 rebounds. I said after the OU game where she had 19 and 13 that she could have had 30 and she almost did last night.
Hennessy Luu Brown and Cori Lard combined for 22 points and good numbers of rebounds, assists , steals, and blocked shots. However, the Scott twins, despite hustling and working hard, have been unproductive lately. Last night they were only 3 out of 17 from the floor. Staff needs to get their shots back to where they were before.