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Women’s basketball heads to MAC tournament for first time under head coach Glenn Box

Graduate student guard Maya Chandler passes the ball to first-year guard Tamar Singer during game against Central Michigan at Millett Hall on March 5
Graduate student guard Maya Chandler passes the ball to first-year guard Tamar Singer during game against Central Michigan at Millett Hall on March 5

The Miami University men’s and women’s basketball teams combined for 42 wins during the 2024-25 regular season, setting a record for the program. 

Starting on March 12, the women’s team will fight to bring home Miami’s first Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship since the 2007-08 season. 

The women’s team (19-10, 11-7 in conference play) starts tournament play against the No. 4 Kent State University Golden Flashes (20-11, 12-6), marking the third matchup between the two this season. 

Within one year, head coach Glenn Box transformed the RedHawks from a team that couldn’t win double-digit games last season to one that nearly won 20 games for the first time since 2018-19. 

For his first trip to Cleveland with Miami, Box brings a roster of six returners, three transfers and five first years. 

The RedHawks began MAC play at 7-3, but they struggled early on in the conference slate. After dropping its first matchup against the Ball State University Cardinals, Miami matched four wins with four losses to sit one win below .500. 

However, the RedHawks embarked on a five-game winning streak starting with a dominant victory over the Ohio University Bobcats on Feb. 1. That stretch of wins included Miami’s second defeat of a Sun Belt Conference school as well as three more wins against MAC teams, including a two-point contest over Kent State.

The University of Buffalo Bulls ended Miami’s run, but the RedHawks finished the season with three wins in their last four games to take the No. 5 spot in the MAC. 

“We had some setbacks this year with being a new team and a young team, but it hasn’t stopped [our] resilient nature,” Box said. “They have fought every bit of the way … We walked into this year, we anticipated that we were going to win. That’s a good feeling.”

Miami’s first game will decide early on if it deserves to play in Cleveland or not. The RedHawks went 1-1 in the regular season against Kent State, last year’s MAC champions. 

In the first matchup, the RedHawks allowed four Golden Flashes to score in the double-figures, including 19 points from senior guard Jenna Batsch. They ultimately dropped the game 77-63. Kent State shot 28-53 (52.8%) from the field compared to Miami’s 22-57 (38.6%). 

The teams rematched less than a month later. The RedHawks trailed by five at half, but a 24-8 scoring run in the third quarter and free throws from sophomore guard Enjulina Gonzalez and graduate student guard Maya Chandler allowed Miami to take the game by two points, 64-62.

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Gonzalez and Chandler brought in 18 points each towards Miami’s win. Despite both playing in their first seasons with the Red and White, the duo quickly bought into the team’s culture and put the RedHawks in position to win the MAC championship for the first time in 17 years. 

“That’s what we came here to do,” Gonzalez said. “I came to win, so did Maya … everybody in this program believes that we can do it. It’ll be surreal to do it because nobody believes we’ll do it.”

While the team celebrates its accomplishments so far this season, Box and the players understand that the job isn’t finished. 

For Miami to take its first postseason win under the second-year coaching staff, the RedHawks need to continue their excellence, including standout performances from Gonzalez, Chandler and sophomore forward Amber Tretter. 

Gonzalez (16.9), Chandler (11.0) and Tretter (11.0) all average double-figure points each game, with Gonzalez ranking fourth in the conference for scoring and being named First-Team All-MAC. Two more players – first-year guard Tamar Singer and first-year forward Ilse de Vries – also average at least five points a game. 

“That’s expected of us,” Gonzalez said. “To win, we gotta do what we have to do. It’s even better when you have teammates that can help you. That relieves so much pressure off everybody else … Anybody can step up and do what they got to do.”

Box trusts what the team has done all season, and he says the key to winning the tournament is staying true to what the RedHawks have been doing.

“If we just stay together, and we simply do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll win, and I mean win it all,” Box said. “That includes the staff: The staff has to do their job. But the kids know what to do, the staff knows what to do … we gotta stay true to us.”

A win against Kent State would mark Miami’s first postseason win since March 13, 2019, when the RedHawks defeated the University of Toledo Rockets in the quarter finals. They lost to the Ohio University Bobcats two days later in Miami head coach Megan Duffy’s penultimate game with the team. 

The RedHawks’ next matchup if they win will be against either the No. 8 Western Michigan University Broncos or the No. 1 Cardinals. Miami took one loss against the Broncos, as well as its first conference loss against Ball State. 

Tipoff for Miami’s first postseason matchup is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on March 12.

@thekethan04

babukc2@miamioh.edu

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