ATHENS, Ohio – The Miami University women's basketball team (14-4, 5-2 MAC) beat Ohio (17-2, 6-2 MAC) by a 67-61 margin on Wednesday.
Lauren Dickerson led all players with 28 points, her fourth 20-point game of the season.
Savannah Kluesner totaled 21 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for her fifth double-double.
Kendall McCoy grabbed 14 rebounds.
Ohio scored the first two points of the game before Miami scored eight-straight points to take an early 8-2 lead with 7:16 to play in the first quarter. Six of the RedHawks' points on this run came from Kluesner. The Bobcats tied the game at eight less than a minute later with two three-pointers. Kluesner gave Miami a 10-8 lead before Ohio tied the game again at 10.
The Bobcats took the lead and would hold the lead until the fourth quarter. After 10 minutes of play, Ohio held a 17-14 lead with 10 of Miami's points coming at the hands of Kluesner.
The Bobcats scored the first five points of the second quarter to extend their lead to 10 points with 8:16 remaining in the first half of play. Dickerson got her first two points of the day to end Miami's scoring drought. Kluesner continued to get inside positioning on the Ohio defense with back-to-back buckets.
After Ohio took an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter, Dickerson sunk her first of six three-pointers to cut the Bobcats' lead to single digits.
Miami won the rebounding battle 51-34 with 15 of its rebounds coming offensively, contributing to second and third chances.
Despite the RedHawks' strong presence on the boards, Ohio opened up a 10-point lead at the half, scoring the final five points. Miami trailed 29-39 after the first half of play.
Kluesner and Dickerson opened the second half with five points to cut Ohio's lead to five points. Dickerson's three-pointer was her first of four in the third quarter.
Miami cut Ohio's lead to as little as one point in the third quarter as Dickerson made a jumper with 2:51 to play in the third to make it a 49-48 game in favor of the Bobcats. Kluesner passed the 20-point mark with a minute left in the third quarter.
The RedHawks trailed 53-58 going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Miami defense held Ohio to just three points. Dickerson reached her season-high six three-pointers with the first points in the fourth quarter to cut Ohio's lead to 58-56.
The Bobcats' only basket of the fourth quarter came with seven minutes to play in the game. After this basket, Dickerson was the one to cut Ohio's lead to two points once again.
Baleigh Reid tied the game at 60 with 5:30 to play. Neither team scored for over three minutes as the clock continued to count down and the game remained tied. Dickerson gave Miami its first lead since the first quarter with 2:19 left in the game.
Ohio cut Miami's lead to one point with 1:26 remaining. With 14 seconds to play,
Leah Purvis gave the RedHawks a 65-61 lead with a three-pointer.
A technical foul by Ohio put
Kendall McCoy at the line with seven seconds to play. McCoy made both free throws to cap scoring at 67-61, handing Ohio just its second loss of the season.
Miami is on the road again on Saturday as the RedHawks face off against Western Michigan at 5 p.m.
