Recap: Miami women’s basketball suffers first loss against Xavier

The Miami University RedHawks women’s basketball team moved to 1-1 after its first loss of the season against the Xavier University Musketeers yesterday. The RedHawks lost 71-66 after a second half comeback fell short in the final minutes.

The RedHawks went into Sunday’s game aiming to take a 2-0 record for the first time since the 2018-19 season. However, a disastrous first quarter essentially decided the game.

Early trailing proved to be a major issue for Miami as Xavier outscored it 15-4 in the final five minutes of the first quarter. Closing the gap became even more difficult when the Musketeers took a 27-9 lead after 10 minutes of play.

The RedHawks bounced back in the second quarter, and several players contributed to cutting down the Musketeers’ lead before halftime.

Sophomore forward Amber Tretter’s putback was quickly followed by graduate student guard Maya Chandler’s triple to shorten the gap to 27-14 in the first minutes of the second quarter. After this, Xavier made a 9-2 run to extend its lead to 20.

Junior guard Camille Jackson’s layup brought the score to 39-24. Two minutes later, first-year guard Tamar Stinger made a 3-pointer. In the last seconds 0f the second quarter, Stinger hit a buzzer beater, and the RedHawks walked to the locker room down 44-32.

Early in the third quarter, back-to-back 3-pointers extended Xavier’s lead to 16. Chandler connected two free throws and Tretter muscled in a bucket between two defenders to cut that lead to 12.

Miami’s fight to gain control continued, and the RedHawks scored nine points in 90 seconds. This brought them within five points of tying the game.

Jackson and Chandler gave Miami its first lead of the game 53-52 with back-to-back 3-pointers, but the advantage was short-lived. Xavier regained its lead at the end of the third quarter 56-53.

Senior forward Katey Rechason tied up the game at 58-58 with a 3-pointer halfway through the fourth. Her free throw moments later gave Miami a 59-58 lead.

Xavier responded by scoring eight straight, and the RedHawks could never catch up, ending the game with a 71-66 loss.

Three RedHawks scored in double figures. Tretter had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Chandler had 15 points and Singer had 12 points while shooting 4-4 from behind the arc.