Jan. 25, 2006
Final Stats
OXFORD, Ohio - After leading for the first 39 minutes of the game, Miami University's women's basketball team (7-10; 2-4 MAC) rallied from one-point deficits twice in the final 40 seconds, getting a pair of game-winning free throws from freshman Eve Pyle (Export, PA/Oakland Catholic) with two seconds remaining and picked up a much-needed, 66-65, league win over Ball State University.
The RedHawks claimed the momentum off the tip, scoring the first nine points of the night and forcing a Ball State timeout with 15:57 to play. Ball State ended its drought with a 3-pointer at 15:42 and would close to within 9-4, but back-to-back buckets by Pyle sent the RedHawks, who would never trail in the half, into the second media timeout with a 13-5 edge.
With the Cardinals struggling to crack Miami's zone defense and connecting on just two of their first 18 shots from the field, Miami's edge would peak at 18-5 by 9:49. A pair of free throws and a fastbreak layup revived the slumbering Cardinals, and Ball State rallied to within 18-13 with 7:02 to play. BSU would rally to within as close as three points but back-to-back buckets by Jaclyn Leininger (Winona Lake, IN/Warsaw) helped key the RedHawks to an eight-point edge with two minutes to play, and Miami would carry a 29-24 edge into the half.
Ball State would close within two early in the second half, but the RedHawks again held firm, pushing their edge back to five with a free throw and a Pyle put-back at 17:56. Miami would begin to pull away again over the next three minutes, riding an 8-0 stretch that included three straight buckets from the freshmen class out to an 11-point lead by the 14-minute mark.
With both teams shooting at a much-improved second-half clip, the Cardinals would rally again with six unanswered points, closing to within four before senior Cindi Merill (Noblesville, IN/Noblesville) knocked down her first jumper of the night at 12:22. The RedHawks would again push their edge into double-digits witha a pair of Laura Markwood (Perrysburg, OH/Perrysburg) free throws at 7:23, but the Cardinals responded with five unanswered points as the back-and-forth battle ensued.
Enjoying its best shooting half from the field since before the holiday break, the RedHawks pulled away again, pushing their edge to a game-high 12 points by the five-minute mark. The Cardinals refused to go away, though, connecting on a timely 3-pointer to spark another rally and closing to within striking distance at 61-54. With Miami suddenly unable to come up with a bucket, the Cardinals continued to close and pulled to within 61-59 with under two minutes to play.
A Sarah Hull (Greenfield, OH/McClain) free throw at 1:49 ended a nearly four-minute long scoring drought for the RedHawks, but the Cardinals closed to within a point on their next possession and claimed their first lead with two free throws and 49 seconds to play. A Hull drive in the paint briefly put Miami back in front, but with 12 seconds to play, the Cardinal scored in the paint to go back ahead. Pyle was fouled while trying to put back a miss and iced two charity tosses with just two ticks remaining.
Pyle led all scorers with 19 points off the bench and notched her first career double-double by adding a career-high 15 rebounds, including seven offensive boards. Leininger was the only other RedHawk in double figures as she added 13 points.
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