OXFORD, Ohio – After falling behind by 23 points after two quarters of play the Miami University women's basketball team's comeback would come up just short in a 70-66 loss to Ohio University on Wednesday night inside Millett Hall. The loss moves the RedHawks to 21-7 overall and 12-5 in Mid-American Conference play. Ohio improves to 24-4 overall and 13-4 in the MAC.
The loss does not completely eliminate the RedHawks from an East Division crown. A Miami win over Akron, combined with a Bowling Green win at Ohio on Saturday would give the Red and White a division championship.
Lauren Dickerson and
Kristen Levering combined for 32 points, all in the second half. Dickerson had a team-high 18 points, while Levering added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Leah Purvis and
Savannah Kluesner joined the double-figure scorers with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Kluesner added 12 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season.
The final 20 seconds of the contest can only be described as pure MACtion.
Purvis banked in a triple to cut the Bobcat's lead to 66-63 with 16.7 seconds to play. The Bobcats answered with a pair of free throws and Miami was called for an illegal screen seconds later, which would seem to end the game.
On the ensuing play,
Kenzie Schmitz stole the inbounds and found Dickerson open for a pull-up three pointer to pull Miami within 68-66 with nine seconds to play. Ohio nearly turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play as the OU ball handler fell to the ground, but was granted a timeout in the nick of time. OU would eventually drain a pair of free throws with four seconds to play to clinch the contest.
Ohio opened the game with a 9-4 run before Purvis connected on a shot from behind the arc. Savanah Kleuser converted a three-point play and Purvis got behind the defense for an easy layup to put Miami up 12-11 with 2:44 to play in the first quarter.
The two teams exchanged baskets before OU went on a 21-0 run over the next nine minutes of action. The squads went into the locker room with Miami trailing 40-17.
Miami would not go away easily, outscoring Ohio 27-10 in the third quarter. Levering and Dickerson combined for 12 straight points and a triple from Purvis got Miami to within 46-37.
The run continued for the RedHawks as they drilled six straight free throws and Purvis capped the end of the third quarter with a nifty layup as Miami trailed just 50-44 with 10 minutes to play.
A Levering jumper with seven minutes to play erased the once 23-point deficit to knot the score at 55-55, but the Bobcats answered with a 10-3 run over the next five minutes of action.
Miami wraps up the regular season on Saturday, March 9 when it hosts Akron at 2 p.m.
