Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami University
Vanderbilt
Women's Basketball Overwhelmed By Nationally-Ranked Vanderbilt, 82-50
12/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2005
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Miami University's women's basketball team headed into finals week on a down note Saturday afternoon at Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gymnasium, falling 82-50 to the No. 20/21 Commodores and dropping to 3-5 on the season.
Miami was sluggish out of the gates, going more than five minutes without a field goal in falling behind 13-1 by the first media timeout. Senior guard Cindi Merrill, who scored 10 of Miami's first 11 points, finally got the RedHawks on the board with an arching jumper, but Miami, which converted just six first-half field goals and shot 21.4 percent from the floor, was never able to generate any real offensive rhythm in the half.
Vanderbilt's Caroline Williams, who buried six 3-point field goals in the first half, hit the second of back-to-back treys at 9:56 to push the Commodores' advantage to 20 for the first time at 26-6, before Miami got five straight points from Merrill to rally back within 15. Miami would go another five minutes without a field goal, as Vandy pushed its edge back over 20 at 32-11 by the 6:54 mark.
The RedHawks were able to hold the Commodores without a bucket for almost six minutes coming late in the half and got a 3-pointer by freshman Ashley Hawkins at 4:17 to close within 18, but Vandy got two more Williams' treys in the final 60 seconds in staking a 40-17 halftime edge. Merrill led Miami with 10 first-half points, while Williams tallied 22 points off 8-of-11 shooting for the Commodores.
Merrill opened the second half with a 3-pointer, closing the gap to 40-20, but it was as close as Miami would get. Vanderbilt scored the next six points, and, after another Merrill jumper, drained a 3-pointer to post a game-high 27-point edge. After the lead briefly peaked at 28, sophomore Katie Guerriero scored Miami's next nine points in closing the gap to 55-31 with 13:06 to play. The Commodores would respond with seven unanswered points in pushing their advantage over 30 points with under12 minutes to play and leading by a game-high 65-31 with 10:52 to play.
Miami finally began establishing some flow offensively late in the game, but, with Vanderbilt giving the RedHawks match-up problems on the inside and putting on a shooting display from the 3-point arc, the Red and White was unable to close the deficit.
Merrill led all scorers, tallying 23 points off 9-of-19 shooting, while grabbing five rebounds and dishing two assists. She climbed to seventh on Miami's career scoring list on the night with 1,230 career points. Guerriero added 10 points, for the RedHawks, who shot 51.9 percent in the second half.
The RedHawks, who have played six of their first eight games on the road, are off for the next week while they take final exams and return to action on Sunday, Dec. 18 when they host Seton Hall University in Millett Hall at 2 p.m.
