ON TAP: The Miami University women's basketball team hits the road for just the third time this month for a Feb. 28 contest at Central Michigan. Opening tip is set for 7 p.m.

FRESHMAN PHENOM: Amber Tretter has recorded six double-doubles in her last eight games and is averaging 13.8 points and 11.8 rebounds per game since Jan. 27 (last eight games). Overall, the freshman is second in scoring (9.9) and first in rebounding (7.6) for Miami. She has eight double-doubles this season and ranks fourth in the MAC with 1.1 blocks/game. Her 189 rebounds are the most by a freshman in program history, passing Kristen Olowinski's 188 in 2009-10.

IN WITH THE NEW: Head Coach Glenn Box and his staff brought in nine new players for the 2023-24 campaign. Joining the RedHawks are four transfers and five freshmen, including one from Spain and two from Canada. Eight of Miami's top-nine scorers are first-year players with the RedHawks.

SAVING BEST FOR LAST: Despite the 8-17 record, Miami is 4-2 in the month of February, with three double-digit wins.

ABOUT CENTRAL MICHIGAN: Central Michigan is 5-19 overall and 3-11 in conference play. The Chippewas have lost their last five contest and have not won since Jan. 31. Karrington Gordon is tops on the team in scoring (9.7) and is followed by Tamara Ortiz (9.4) and Nadege Jean (8.4). CMU ranks atop the MAC, averaging 41.7 rebounds per contest.

SERIES WITH THE CHIPPEWAS: This will be the 73rd meeting between the two schools with CMU holding a slight 38-34 all-time advantage. CMU has won 18 of the last 22 contests and Miami has not won in Mount Pleasant since Jan. 16, 2019 (70-67).

ROUND TWO VERSUS CMU: After falling behind 14-0 early in the first quarter, Miami took an early third quarter lead before faltering late to Central Michigan back on Jan. 31. Amber Tretter finished the contest with 27 points and 16 rebounds, while Cori Lard had 12 and Hennessey Luu-Brown added 10.

EMU RECAP: Katey Richason scored a game-high 14 points as the RedHawks never trailed in a 48-37 victory over Eastern Michigan last Saturday. Miami forced EMU into a season-high 28 turnovers and set a new season-best for fewest points allowed in a game. 

WINNING WITH DEFENSE: While averaging just over 54 points per contest this season, the RedHawks have leaned heavily on its defense this year. In MAC games, Miami ranks third in scoring defense (58.9), first in field goal percentage defense (37.7%), fourth in turnovers forced (17.9) and first in steals (9.9).

BENCH PRESS: Miami's bench scored 18 points in the victory over EMU, which is a major improvement over the past few weeks. Before the contest with EMU, Miami's bench totaled 30 points over the previous seven games (7.5/game). Much of that credit should go to Katey Richason, who scored 14 points off the bench after missing the previous eight games with an injury.

GREAT SCOTT: Jadyn Scott is tops on the team at 10.5 points per game this season, after averaging 3.6 a contest last season at Cincinnati. She has scored in double-figures 12 times this season, including a career-high 27 points in a win over Georgia State on Feb. 10.

RETURN OF THE MAC: While Katey Richason has missed time this season with an injury, in her seven conference games this year, the junior is averaging 10.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. She has scored in double-figures in 5-of-7 MAC games and had a career-high 13 rebounds earlier this year at Western Michigan.

SISTER, SISTER: Twin sisters Jadyn and Jada Scott were four-year letter winners for the Cincinnati Bearcats before joining Miami. The duo combined to play in 194 games in their career at UC. Last season Jadyn was eighth on the team in scoring (3.6), while Jada was 11th (1.8). In their first year with the RedHawks the duo ranks first and fifth for Miami in scoring.

WOMAN OF STEAL: Junior Cori Lard ranks second in the MAC with 2.1 steals per contest. She had a career-high five steals against Western Kentucky and has multiple steals in a game 16 times this season. She has had at least four steals in a game six different times this year. Lard has turned many of those steals into points and has scored at least nine points in eight-straight games.

MAC TOURNAMENT UPDATE: If the MAC Tournament started today, the RedHawks would be left out of the conference tournament in a two-way tie for the No. 8 seed with Ohio. With four regular season games remaining, the RedHawks will still square-off with CMU (No. 11 seed), Bowling Green (No. 5 seed), NIU (No. 7 seed) and Ohio (No. 9 seed).

NEW ADDITION: Jessie Gauna, a freshman on the Miami field hockey team, joined the RedHawks basketball program on Monday, Jan. 26 to add some much needed depth to the roster. She averaged 10 points per game and was a second-team all-league member her senior year of high school.