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’Hawks defeat CCU in season-opening win

By Grace Remington, For The Miami Student

Oxford is stuck in below-freezing temperatures, but the Miami University women's basketball is just heating up.

Leading from start to finish, the 'Hawks defeated Cincinnati Christian University 75-53 Tuesday evening at Millett Hall.

Head coach Cleve Wright was pleased with the season-opening victory, but didn't hesitate to give credit to CCU (3-4).

"I'm glad to get the win," head coach Cleve Wright said. "Cincinnati Christian played well. They're a good team. They'd already played six games - we're game seven for them in their season - and you could tell they had a little more game experience on us."

Miami was led by junior forward Jessica Rupright and freshman guard Ana Richter, who both recorded their first career double-doubles. Rupright achieved a career-high 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Richter tallied 17 points and 10 boards.

Rupright was quick to acknowledge her teammates' efforts.

"I owe it all to the team, I mean, it's a team sport," Rupright said. "They had great passes. I can't

say enough about the team. We play well together."

The biggest lead of the first half came with a Rupright layup at the 8:34 mark to make the score 23-13. CCU immediately answered with a three-pointer from freshman guard Natalie Stoeppel. CCU narrowed the lead to three points with 6:27 to go, but a three-point play from sophomore forward Tamira Ford and a jumper from junior forward Hannah McCue extended the lead to 30-22. With under a minute to play, CCU's senior guard Amanda Baute tossed in a layup, but Richter sunk a jumper six seconds later to make the score 32-24 heading into the half.

CCU trailed by seven at the 14:13 mark of the second half, but Miami steamrolled ahead. The 'Hawks routed the Eagles with a 27-6 run in a near nine-minute stretch to post a 28-point lead with 5:19 to play.

"Certainly, our second half was much better than our first half," Wright said. "We probably had 10 to 12 minutes total that I felt like we really got after it better, had good energy, had good ball pressure, rebounded it well. We need to build on that."

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In addition to Richter, several other freshmen had impressive first games. Guard Baleigh Reid posted 14 points, and guard Kayla Brown totaled nine points and five rebounds.

Senior guard Courtney Larson contributed with eight assists. As a team, Miami had 21.

"For any team, no matter who you're playing or what you're doing, to get 21 assists - that just shows we're sharing the ball, and I think that's indicative of our team, that we are a true team," Wright said.

The Red and White continue their campaign Saturday against University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

UIC (2-0) is coming off its best season in school history, with a program-record 26 wins and the nation's largest turnaround (17 more wins than 2012-13). The Flames were also crowned champions of the 2014 Women's Basketball Invitational. All but three players from the championship team return this year.

Junior forward Ruvanna Campbell was named the 2013-14 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year. She also ranked fifth in the nation in double-doubles (26) and seventh in rebounding (12.8) and was one of only four players nationally who averaged at least 17 points, 12 rebounds and shot over 50 percent from the field. Junior guard Terri Bender was named to the Horizon League's All-Defense Team and recorded 93 steals.

"UIC rebounds really well, and we have to keep them off the boards," Wright said. "We can continue to work on our man-man defense, continue to work on our ball pressure, continue to work on our help rotation, and continue boxing out and rebounding. We can be a much better defensive team."

Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday in Millett Hall.

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