Finally!! After 6 years of OU stars CeCe Hooks and 5 years of Erica Johnson, they have moved on. Both were perennial All MAC players and Hooks is the all time MAC leader in both points and steals. OU has been near the top of the league throughout that run. This year, even with the same coach, they are 2-14 ( 0-5). Sophomore Ya Ya Felder is second in MAC scoring at 18.8ppg. We did beat Ohio last year in Oxford, but we are 1-6 in the last 7 games with the Bobcats. Ohio always gives their best effort against Miami.
Miami is now 2-3 and needs to keep the momentum going. A win would put us at 3-3 in the MAC, best record we have had since Megan Duffy and her staff left. All 5 MAC teams we have played had a strong nonconference record. Ahead of us we have a bunch of games left with teams we should and can beat. Winning those games would earn us a trip to Cleveland for the MAC tournament, and anything can happen there. We had been close most of the season to beating some good teams, but we finally did it the last two Wednesdays vs Kent and NIU. Girls should be excited and determined to keep getting better.
Absolutely horrible shooting from start to finish, puzzling lineups, terrible defense and debatable strategy. We have three Div 1 players and if they’re not shooting well we are dead in the water.
Let’s be real, the likely reason Hendrix is still here is because our focus last offseason was on getting a men’s coach. Her time at Miami has been pretty lousy.
Poor David Sayler! Our 6-7 football team is the crown jewel of his men’s athletic program. Women’s basketball and volleyball - previously bright spots - are in the tank. His only sources of accomplishment are softball and field hockey. At least softball has become an increasingly high interest spectator sport the past few years.
Women’s tennis wins the MAC most years. They’re very solid. Basketball should be a dream job. With just a few more players and better strategy, they would be winning the MAC. I think volleyball gets a pass for this year. They are usually very tough.
Either we had a horrible scouting report on Ohio or the coaches did not teach it well or the girls did not do their job my studying and learning the gameplan.
We were quickly down double digits because the girls were ill prepared to face their 1-3-1 zone defense AND we were clueless until after halftime how to guard Ya Ya, (she had 20 in the first half) who is the fastest and strongest perimeter player in the MAC. I mean we started the game with Ivy Wolf (normally a good defender, pressuring her 25 feet from the basket. Felder just blew by her time and again, breaking down our defense. After the first possession of the game, it was obvious and there should have been a TO taken and Wolf should have been instructed to back off and just work to contain her by taking good angles to cut her off. This adjustment was not made until halftime and we did do a better job then. We never did solve their zone defense.
Another issue is that Peyton Scott, in back to back games, has shot horribly, probably the worst shooting of her career. 3 for 14 at NIU and 4 for 19 yesterday. She was a combined 0 for 11 on threes in those two games.
There was a very unusual and exciting finish to game in regulation, including a couple of long reviews of unusual plays which both went in our favor.
4th quarter
6:12 Down 15, Cluse fouls out.
2:38 Down 13 then a play which turned the game. Ya Ya Felder drove the baseline and ran into Peyton Scott, who was standing inside the circle and took a charge. Felder hit Scott before she landed. Original call was good basket and blocking foul on Scott for being in the circle. However, after a long discussion followed by a video review, the call was overturned, the basket did not count, a charge was called on Felder, and she fouled out! No explanation was given, the only one I can think of is that Scott was the primary defender on Felder, therefore allowed to take a charge inside the Arc.
1:40 Down 10
0:30 Down 8
0:10 Down 6 We had taken a TO to advance the ball. Our out of bounds play was a crosscourt pass to an open Ivy Wolf who drained a 3. An OU defender was sprinting towards her and ran into Morrow. The ref called a good 3 and a foul on the OU player and 2 shots for Morrow as we were in the bonus. OU called TO to request a review, and the call was upheld. So were down 3 and going to the line for 2 and still 10 seconds left. However< Morrow missed both.
0:08 OU missed 2 free throws, we rebounded and Scott raced up court, several OU plyers came out to stop her, but lost Wolf who was standing all alone in the corner, Scott hit her with a nice pass but she missed the three. However, she got wiped out by an OU girl who was sprinting at her and Wolf got 3 free throws with two seconds left.
0:02 Know that Ivy is shooting 93% from the line, on the way to a season record for Miami. She shot those three shots as quickly as I have ever seen in that situation and swished all 3. Tie game
0:01 OU used a TO to advance the ball but missed a forced shot. Over Time!