Jan. 19, 2005
Final Stats
BOWLING GREEN, OH--A late comeback charge was too little to overcome an offense still struggling to find its rhythm, as Miami University's women's basketball team dropped a 68-59 decision at Mid-American Conference West Division leader Bowling Green Wednesday night.
Trailing from start to finish, Miami found itself down 52-37 with under 10 minutes to play but rallied to as close as 61-57 with just over two minutes remaining. The RedHawks rally ran out of gas from there, as BGSU outscored Miami 7-2 down the stretch in dropping the Red and White to 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the MAC.
Plagued by costly turnovers and occasional scoring droughts, Miami trailed the entire first half and went into halftime trailing 34-23. The RedHawks turned the ball over on three of their first four possessions while digging themselves an early 8-3 deficit. After rallying behind Amanda Jackson and Kim Smith, who tallied her 500th career rebound on the night,to cut the gap to a point, the Red and White fell victim to another Bowling Green run and trailed 16-9 after an Ali Mann bucket with 10:53 to play.
Showing it first true rhythm of the night on the offensive end, Miami put together a 6-0 run of its own to close the gap to 16-15 on a Hillary Beck jumper and force a Bowling Green timeout at 9:48. Unfortunately, the field goal would be Miami's last in more than seven minutes as the Falcons exploded on a 10-0 run and expanded their lead to as many as 14 points with under three minutes to play.
Miami found itself still behind by 14 points early in the second half, but Cindi Merrill, who scored seven of Miami's first nine second-half points, got the RedHawks rolling and Nicki Motto knocked down her first 3-point look of the night to close the gap to five points. Miami went nearly four minutes without a bucket from there, as BGSU assembled a 10-0 run and built its lead to a game-high 15 points.
Motto ignited Miami's final charge by knocking down three straight treys, and a Jackson three-point play with 5:09 remaining closed the gap to five at 59-54. An Amber Miller free throw reduced the deficit to four points but would mark the end of Miami's last gasp.
The RedHawks were led on the night by 17 points from Merrill and got a career first double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds from Jackson, who returned after missing two games with an injury. Motto, who moved to fourth place on Miami's career 3-pointer list, chipped in 12 second-half points, including 4-of-7 treys. BGSU knocked down 22-of-30 free throws on the night, while Miami had only five attempts from the charity stripe.
The RedHawks return to action Saturday afternoon when they tip off against traditional MAC power Toledo at 2 p.m. in Millett Hall. The game is one of just two home games in the month of January for Miami and precedes trips to Akron and Ball State next week.
