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’Hawks drop season finale to OU

By Daniel Taylor, For The Miami Student

Miami University women's basketball lost its final regular season game 75-60 Saturday against rival Ohio University.

Ohio (25-4, 16-2 Mid-American Conference) took the MAC regular season title with the victory. Miami receives the 10th seed in the MAC tournament.

After an early OU 16-2 run, the RedHawks (7-22, 4-14 Mid-American Conference) couldn't seem to catch up and headed into the half trailing 40-19.

Head coach Cleve Wright said OU's fast start killed the energy of his team.

"We allowed the fact that some of our shots didn't go down early to take away from our energy and aggressiveness," Wright said.

The Red and White shot 27 percent from the field and 17 percent from beyond the arc.

"We need everybody involved," Wright said. "We didn't shoot the ball well at all."

The 'Hawks were able to force Ohio sophomore guard Quiera Lampkins to foul out. As a team, OU had 24 personal fouls, four of which belonged to junior guard Kiyanna Black.

"In the second half we attacked the basket a whole lot better," Wright said. "If we had done a little bit better job defending in the half court in the first half, who knows what would've happened."

Freshman guard Kayla Brown led the RedHawks, going 5 of 14 from the field for 19 points. Freshman forward Molly McDonagh totaled a career-high 10 points. She was 4 for 4 from the charity stripe.

"It was nice to end the season with a good game," McDonagh said.

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Though she was upset with the loss, McDonagh was happy with the team's improvement through the season.

"Everyone has improved so much," McDonagh said. "We've made huge strides."

With the regular season complete, the RedHawks move forward to the MAC tournament and face seventh-seeded University of Toledo.

When the teams opened conference play in early January, Toledo came away with a 63-53 win. Sophomore forward Janice Monakana led Toledo with 19 points and was one of four Rockets to score in double figures.

Senior guard Courtney Larson led Miami with 14 points, and junior forward Jessica Rupright finished with 12.

McDonagh is excited for the game and thinks Miami will surprise Toledo with how much they have improved.

"They won't be able to defend us because they haven't really seen us," McDonagh said.

The RedHawks and Rockets tip off 7 p.m. Monday in Toledo, Ohio.