Daily Double-Double: The Amber Tretter Story

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In the final game of her high school career, Amber Tretter made the game-winning shot.

Her left-handed post move with less than 10 seconds remaining in the state championship game on Feb. 25, 2023 lifted Forest Park (Ind.) to a dramatic 39-38 win and a second consecutive state title.

A lot has changed in the past year for Tretter. She's had to adjust to a different level of basketball as a Division I student-athlete, playing in the Mid-American Conference, joining a new program with a first-year head coach and a brand-new team, and being away from home as a first-year student at Miami University.

However, sometimes —as the old cliché says— the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Tretter made her first-ever collegiate start on Nov. 27 when the RedHawks hosted Xavier at Millett Hall in the fourth game of the 2023-24 season. Amber Tretter

And in the final seconds of overtime, Tretter tracked down an offensive rebound, put it back up and in, and made yet another game-winning shot to give Miami a 58-57 win.

It was a sign of things to come for the talented freshman, who has quickly made a name for herself wearing the Red and White.

Tretter has been a staple in the starting lineup since that day, including playing a career-high 41 minutes and posting her first double-double as a RedHawk (19 points and 13 rebounds) in a thrilling comeback victory at Oakland Dec. 21.

The double-double was notable then. By now, it's become downright routine.

Tretter finished with 10 points and a career-high 17 rebounds in a win over Western Michigan Saturday afternoon, giving her a double-double for the sixth consecutive game. Her streak of stellar outings was highlighted by a 27-point, 16-rebound performance Jan. 31 against Central Michigan, and coincided with the RedHawks playing some of their best basketball of the season (Miami owns a .600 winning percentage in February).

The word 'routine' is also an important part of what has made Tretter so successful so quickly. On most days, she can be found early in the morning on the floor at Millett Hall with assistant coach Ben Wierzba, getting an extra individual workout in before the team's practice session begins.

"She's put in so much work that to see her start to get rewarded [has been great]," Wierzba said after one such session. "You can see her growth in her workouts and in her practices; then, all of a sudden, it just clicks in a game. It's been fun to watch how she's blossomed.

Amber Tretter

"From workout to workout, she's gotten better and better and better."

"It's actually funny: If you look at our text messages, most of them are, 'Can we work out in the morning?'", Tretter laughed. "I just try to get in here before practices to help better my game and learn from the coaches what I need to get better at and which areas I can grow in."

Whether it's draining dozens of jump shots inside and outside the arc, fine-tuning post moves (and their respective counter moves), developing the quick first step to drive past a defender, or rehearsing the footwork involved with each form of screen Tretter might set in a game, no detail is too small to zero in on and try to improve. In an otherwise-quiet gym shortly after sunrise, there's nothing incredibly flashy happening, only the continued repetition of fundamentals that can prove to be the difference between a make and a miss, a turnover and a bucket, or even a win and a loss.

And the results have shown up on gameday for the versatile 6-foot-1 forward.

"I remember I had two post moves in the NIU game that I had practiced beforehand," Tretter said. "I didn't do those moves in high school, but I learned them here, and then [I could tell for the first time how] my practice was carrying over to the game."

"She puts in the work," head coach Glenn Box said. "And everything that she does, she works on.

"Her ability to play both inside and outside, shoot the ball, drive it and post up has made her a true triple threat…She's come so far since the summer. No one really expected her to rise as quickly as she did, but that's a testament to her work, and that's a testament to Ben and our staff and our ability to develop players.

"But it doesn't work if she doesn't want to work. It all starts with her." Amber Tretter (Forest Park High School)

Growing up in the basketball-crazed state of Indiana, the hardwood has always been an important part of Tretter's life. She got her start playing on a hoops team back in third grade with a half-dozen friends who all ended up being part of Forest Park's 2023 state title team in their 10th and final season together.

"My teammate's mom taught us [from the start] and she kept our group together, and we were together all the way through high school," Tretter smiled. "It was neat being able to play with the same girls my whole life…

"Basketball's such a big thing in Indiana, especially with the 'Hoosiers' movie and all that stuff. There's just so much history behind it. The arenas that you play in, and the crazy atmospheres with all the student sections: It's just such a cool experience."

Tretter earned the IHSAA's Mental Attitude Award at the conclusion of her senior season and was named a finalist for the prestigious Miss Basketball trophy. Tretter also became the first-ever female Indiana All-Star from her high school, participating in the annual series of games against the Kentucky All-Stars last summer.

She enjoyed the process, as well as the relationships she formed with other top recruits from around the state.

"I see a lot of them when we're on the road, because there's some [at other MAC schools], so it's neat being able to see those people in the college realm too, and what us girls from Indiana are able to do," Tretter said.

Between her final two victories in Indianapolis' Gainbridge Fieldhouse (the state championship game last February and the final Indiana-Kentucky All-Star clash that June), Tretter was keeping an eye on things in Oxford, where she had already signed to play her college basketball for the RedHawks but wasn't yet sure who her coach would be.

Amber Tretter

Despite the uncertainty until Box was introduced in May, Tretter was confident she had made the right choice to attend Miami.

"Finding a school that was going to let me play basketball and study architecture was one of my biggest priorities. That's what led me here," Tretter said. "I had wanted to stay close-ish to home too…and whenever I came on campus, it just seemed like the place where I wanted to be. The campus is beautiful, and people are always out and interacting with others; it was just a great feeling whenever I came here."

As an Indiana native, Tretter was already familiar with Box and his work as the associate head coach at IU, where the Hoosiers had just earned a No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament and captured their first Big Ten regular-season title in four decades.

"I knew that he was coming from Indiana and I knew that was a great program; I'd actually been to a lot of IU games growing up," Tretter explained.

"I knew that I loved Miami in the first place…and I'm really happy with the situation I'm in now."

The RedHawks' first-year coaches and first-year players --eight of Miami's top nine scorers this winter are new to the program-- have helped the Red and White not only lay a solid foundation for an exciting future, but make an immediate impact in their debut season. Amber Tretter

Miami entered this week tied for eighth place in the Mid-American Conference standings and heads into the home stretch of the season with a legitimate chance to advance to the eight-team MAC Tournament in Cleveland for the first time since 2019.

Tretter, the architecture major, is confident in what the RedHawks are building.

"I definitely can see a lot of progress ahead of us," she said. "This year, everyone came in and we were all basically in the same place, being new to everything.

"As we are able to help lead the team [going forward] --letting others know where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do-- that will definitely help us grow…

"If we work hard, we can accomplish a lot."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.

Tretter and the RedHawks return home Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. to take on Eastern Michigan as part of Miami's ninth annual Love.Honor.Care event, presented by Western & Southern Financial Group and benefiting RideCincinnati. Complimentary tickets are available, courtesy of President Greg and Dr. Renate Crawford! Click here and use the promo code LOVEHONORCARE to request your tickets today.

Daily Double-Double: The Amber Tretter Story

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Amber Tretter

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