Enjulina Gonzalez is bringing excitement back to Miami women’s basketball

The Miami University RedHawks women’s basketball team is having one of its most successful seasons in recent years.

In fact, this is the RedHawks’ best start in six years, dating back to the 2018-19 season when Miami went 23-9. The team made the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), but fell to the Western Kentucky University Lady Toppers 67-63 in the first game.

This RedHawks team hopes to emulate its success in years past and make a deep run in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament in Cleveland next month.

Miami currently has a 16-9 record and is 8-6 in MAC play. This is a major turnaround from last season, when the RedHawks were 9-20 and finished 10th in the MAC with a 6-12 record.

What has changed from last year? The answer is incoming first years, returning talent and the transfer portal.

Core contributors from last year’s squad include senior forward Katey Richason, sophomore forward Amber Tretter and sophomore guards Lakresha Edwards and Núria Jurjo. The RedHawks also rely on the first-year players, including guard Tamar Singer and forwards Ilse de Vries and Emily Bratton.

Additionally, second-year head coach Glenn Box secured three transfers from the transfer portal: graduate student guard Maya Chandler from the Southern Methodist University Mustangs, junior guard Camille Jackson from the University of Illinois Fighting Illini and sophomore guard Enjulina Gonzalez from the Mercer University Bears.

Gonzalez, in particular, has seen her collegiate career soar to new heights.

The Miami, Florida, native currently averages 17 points (third best in the MAC), four rebounds, two assists and one block per game with the RedHawks. She also shoots 47% from the floor (13th best in the MAC), 40% from behind the arc (fifth best in the MAC) and 73% from the free-throw line.

As a transfer, Gonzalez was coming off of season-ending elbow surgery and looked for some familiarity, which came in the form of second-year associate head coach Ben Wierzba. Wierzba was an assistant coach with the Bears during Gonzalez’s first year, and he had high praise for her coming out of Mercer.

“Her athleticism and her ability to make plays were some of the things we were looking into,” Wierzba said. “She’s also extremely confident in her pull-up jumper.”

This confidence and belief in her, especially coming off a major injury, helped make the decision to transfer to Miami an easy one.

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“Ben reached out, [and] it was pretty easy to be convinced that coming here would not only help me, but push me to be my best,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez has put up career highs in points, rebounds and steals per game and has been named MAC player of the week three times this season.

Outside of basketball, Gonzalez enjoys her time in Oxford. She’s especially appreciated spending time with her teammates over the past year at Miami.

“It’s a different dynamic and different feel compared to other schools,” Gonzalez said. “We’re so close, and we’re friends on and off the court.”

This closeness has definitely translated into success on the court, and Wierzba has seen the RedHawks’ hard work pay off.

“They are really motivated,” Wierzba said. “Everyone comes in and wants to see each other get better. We take a lot of pride in player development.”

For Gonzalez, her journey to becoming a collegiate basketball player was an unorthodox one. She started out as a football player in third grade and eventually started playing basketball in the summer of her freshman year of high school.

As a sophomore and junior, she really became driven to play at the next level.

“I was doing whatever I could to get better,” Gonzalez said. “I worked really hard in the 10th and 11th grade to get recruited and trying to be the best version of myself.”

Her hard work has paid dividends on the court, as she is one of the most explosive scorers in the conference.

With her skillset, Gonzalez is leading the RedHawks to new heights not seen in a long time. Miami last made the MAC tournament in 2018 and currently ranks fifth in the conference.

With four games left in the regular season, the path to the postseason is clear for the RedHawks.

“We have gotten so much better from where we started, and we’re putting in the work,” Gonzalez said. “We want to win the MAC championship.”

@andrewrelvaspxp

relvasaj@miamioh.edu