Coral Gables, Fla. – The Miami University women's basketball team (4-3) opened play at the Miami (FL) Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday with a 65-53 loss against Liberty.

Savannah Kluesner led Miami with 15 points and 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double in the last five games. Lauren Dickerson and Kelly McLaughlin also scored in double figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

After being tied at two following the first two minutes of the game, Liberty scored the next nine points to take an 11-2 lead midway through the first quarter. The Flames opened up their largest lead of the first half with two minutes to play in the quarter as they led 18-4.

Miami scored the final four points of the first quarter to close the gap to 10 points following the first 10 minutes of play. Liberty led 18-8 as the Flames shot 57 percent from the floor during the first quarter, compared to the RedHawks 25 percent.

The second quarter started slowly for both teams as the score was 22-11 in favor of Liberty as the game neared the midway point of the second quarter. Over the next two minutes of play, Miami put together a 10-2 run, beginning with a three-pointer by Dickerson. A long-range shot from Vannessa Garrelts cut Liberty's lead to 24-21 with three minutes to play in the first half.

The Flames responded with six-straight points on the floor to increase their lead to 30-21 before Kluesner ended the half with two more shots. Liberty led 30-25 at halftime as Kluesner led Miami with eight points and seven rebounds in the first half.

Miami's defense held Liberty without a basket for almost six minutes in the middle of the third quarter but eight free throws helped the Flames outscore the RedHawks 17-15 in the third quarter. The RedHawks scored their first basket of the second half midway through the third quarter, the second three-pointer of the game by Dickerson. This basket cut Liberty's lead to 37-31 at the media timeout with 4:16 to play in the quarter.

Kluesner was the first RedHawk to reach double figures, doing so with 1:14 remaining in the third quarter to record a double-double as she already had 11 rebounds on the game. Dickerson also reached double figures before the end of the third quarter with her third long-range shot of the game.

Miami trailed by a 47-40 margin after 30 minutes of play.

Liberty opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to match its largest lead of the game thus far, leading 54-40 with 7:44 to play. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the game but Miami could not cut the lead back down to single digits. McLaughlin was the third RedHawk to score in double figures, reaching 10 in the final seconds of the game.

The RedHawks face No. 19 Miami on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. to conclude play in the Miami (FL) Thanksgiving Tournament.