Miami senior center Kelsey Simon puts up a shot during Miami’s 75-63 loss to Toledo on Feb. 6. Simon averages 4.5 points and five rebounds per game. (Ben Taylor | The Miami Student)
Senior guard Hannah Robertson became the 22nd player in Miami University women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points Thursday in Millett Hall as the Red and White fell to Ball State University 80-70.
Robertson hit the shot to put her at 1,001 points 1:05 into the second half of the game. Robertson finished the game with a team-high 14 points as the RedHawks lost their fourth straight Mid-American Conference (MAC) game.
"I think the number means a lot of opportunities," Robertson said. "Obviously with the previous coaching staff and the current coaching staff I've had a lot of opportunities. People have blessed me with a lot of opportunities to be on the floor and to play a lot of minutes. I guess it's a collective four years of a lot of experiences, a lot of blessings and a lot of opportunities that I was able to take advantage of."
The first half of the game was full of back-and-forth play as the 'Hawks (7-17, 3-10 MAC) fought the Cardinals (11-13, 6-7 MAC) every step of the way.
The crowd was cheering loud all game, as area elementary students filled Millett Hall for the 'Hawks annual "Class at the Court" game.
The halftime score was 36-32 in favor of Ball State, as the Cardinals sunk a 3-point bucket to beat the buzzer.
The RedHawks regained the lead five minutes into the half and held the lead until the 12:29 mark.
Ball State answered with a 12-5 run that lasted nearly six minutes and put the Cardinals in front 64-55 with six and half minutes remaining. The 'Hawks were unable to answer the Cardinals run.
Both teams shot the ball above average Thursday afternoon, as Miami shot 48 percent from the field and 36 percent from behind the arc. Ball State shot 45 percent from the field and 39 percent from 3-point range.
"I think we got open looks," Miami head coach Cleve Wright said. "I thought we were aggressive on the offensive end, so we were able to get some good looks."
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The RedHawks were outrebounded by a large margin, 44-25. Coming into the game, the RedHawks were out-rebounding their opponents by an average of three boards per game.
"I thought we defended well, all the way up to not boxing out," Wright said. "I thought Ball State went hard to the boards and we didn't respond. I'm going to watch the film and see what the problem was. There's not many times that we've been outrebounded [this season], and certainly not by nearly as many as [Thursday]."
The Cardinals were able to pick up 23 second chance points, compared to the RedHawks' 10.
Robertson led the RedHawks in scoring, and three other players were in double digits. Junior guard Kindsay Brandt and freshman forward Nicole Anderson tallied 11 points apiece, and senior guard Haley Robertson had 10 points.
The 'Hawks head up to Kent State University (5-19, 2-11 MAC) for a 2 p.m. tip off Sunday. The Red and White hope to take the positives from the Ball State loss into the matchup.
"It definitely starts in practice," Robertson said. "We can't be intense in certain parts of the game and not intense in other parts of the game. We need to keep working on being consistent with our intensity."
The RedHawks defeated the Golden Flashes in Oxford Jan. 25, 72-62, and hope to have a similar outcome Sunday.
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