No. 13 RedHawks Drop NCAA Opener at No. 4 WVU to Wrap Up Season

Saturday, March 21

Morgantown, W.Va.

5 p.m.

Miami University

28-7,16-2MAC

West Virginia

28-6,14-4Big 12

Miami (OH)

West Virginia

No. 13 RedHawks Drop NCAA Opener at No. 4 WVU to Wrap Up Season

3/21/2026 6:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va.– The No. 13 Miami University women's basketball team concluded its season with an 82-54 loss at No. 4 West Virginia Saturday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Amber Scalia had 14 points for the RedHawks, who finish the year at 28-7. Amber Tretter added 13 points and Ilse de Vries had 12. The Mountaineers (28-6) advance to play No. 5 Kentucky on Monday, March 23.

"We ran into a buzzsaw today; we ran into a really good team," said head coach Glenn Box. "Our kids fought. They competed for 40 minutes and I could be no more proud of a team than I am of this team.

"It wasn't our day, but we live, we learn, and we improve."

"None of us on our team had ever played in March Madness," said de Vries. "Definitely not the result we wanted, but it's only more motivation for next year."

"I'm…proud of our team," said Tretter as she looked back at the winningest season in program history. "I think we still accomplished a lot. We won two MAC championships: regular season and tournament coming into this.

"This is still a great experience for all of us and this is everyone's childhood dream just to be here. We're going to learn from all this experience and keep that momentum going into next year as well."

How it Happened:

Miami held the Mountaineers to one basket in the first three minutes before Tretter scored the RedHawks' first points on a strong right-hand move to tie the game. Tretter's backdoor bounce passes to de Vries and Tamar Singer created Miami's next two layups as the RedHawks trailed 9-6 with six minutes gone. Miami used a quick 8-0 run to take the lead for the first time at 14-11 as Tretter and Núria Jurjo buried back-to-back triples and Singer eluded the WVU defense for a layup with 2:35 left in the quarter. The Mountaineers scored the final 11 points of the period, capped by a buzzer-beating pull-up jumper, to take a 22-14 lead after 10 minutes.
The Mountaineers stretched the margin to 28-14, but Scalia maneuvered behind the WVU defense and found Singer on a backdoor feed to cut the lead to 12. Tretter knocked down a straightaway three to pull the RedHawks within 30-19 at the midway point of the second quarter, and de Vries scored on a turnaround to make it 30-21. The Mountaineers rattled off eight-straight points before de Vries hit a big three on Miami's final possession of the half to close within 40-26 at the break.
WVU opened the second half on an 8-0 run, but Singer found de Vries for a left-handed layup to trim the deficit to 48-28. After a Tretter hoop from the high post, Scalia drained consecutive jumpers from deep to get within 53-35. de Vries put in a triple from the right corner, with the hosts answering back to restore a 20-point margin at 58-38. Although Tretter converted a three-point play with 1:56 remaining in the quarter, West Virginia stretched out to its biggest lead with a buzzer-beating layup at 69-41.
Another backdoor bounce pass, this one from Scalia to Singer, made the score 71-43 with 8:20 to play, but Miami was unable to make a dent on the scoreboard over the next few minutes as its comeback hopes dwindled. Scalia scored seven points for the RedHawks in the final quarter before subbing out for the final time, and Macie Taylor drove for a layup in the final minute for Miami's last basket of the season. The two teams ended up with 13 points apiece in the final period as West Virginia went on to finish off an 82-54 win and advance to the round of 32.

SINGER'S STATS: Singer moved into a tie for fourth place on Miami's single-season steals list with 90 (three today); she passed Amanda Jackson (89 in 2007-08) and matched Heather Cusick (90 in 2002-03). The sophomore point guard also finished the year with 243 assists, shattering the previous program record of 175.

MOVIN' ON UP: Tretter moved into 21st place on Miami's all-time scoring list with 1,152 career points, passing Tonya Stubbs (1,148 from 1981-85)...de Vries recorded two blocked shots in the game and finished with 65 this year, the most by any player in a single season in program history.

LOOKING AHEAD: Box took time after Saturday's game to praise his outgoing senior class while also looking forward to the bright future of the program. "I think of Ashton and I think of Scalia and Clara and what they were able to do for us for this program," he said. "They were able to help take us to newfound heights…

"They jump-started this thing. We have big goals here; this is just a step. They helped get us here, just like kids in the past.

"Each year we have gone, they helped get us to another level, and next year, we intend to blow the roof off."

Box specifically mentioned last year's WNIT trip as valuable postseason experience for his returning players heading into this 2025-26 campaign, and he hopes the NCAA appearance will provide the same jumping-off point for 2026-27.

"They were able to take that into this season, [and] we were able to do some great things," Box said. "The next thing is simply retention: We feel good about our team. We feel good about our pieces returning."

COLISEUM CROWD: The announced attendance was 13,504, the largest ever for a West Virginia women's basketball game, and made for a memorable March Madness environment for all four teams competing in the doubleheader (fifth-seeded Kentucky topped No. 12 James Madison in game one before the WVU-Miami contest).

"I really enjoyed it," de Vries said in the postgame press conference. "We never played for such a big crowd as we had today…it was motivation for me."

"It was the biggest crowd that I've ever played in front of," agreed Tretter from the seat to de Vries' right. "Going forward too, these are great experiences.

"We're both going to be here next year, so this is a great thing we can use for our future as well."