Dec. 2, 2001

Stats

OXFORD, Ohio-Miami University's women's basketball team put on a show in its 2001-02 home opener, recording double-doubles from Colleen Day (Independence, Ohio/Holy Name) and Kim Lancaster (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) and a second straight 20-point outing from Heather Cusick (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) on the way to posting an 86-68 win over Butler University.

Sparked by 10 straight points from Cusick and Beth Roederer (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) to open the game, Miami raced to a 12-2 lead by the 16:26 mark. A brief Butler run pulled the Bulldogs within six, but the RedHawks quickly responded with a 20-8 run over the next five minutes to lead by as many as 17 points at 4:45.

Butler, aided by a handful of Miami's 15 first-half turnovers, scored five points in the final minute to close within 39-25 at the half. Leading Miami in the half were Day, who netted 11 points, and Cusick, who contributed 10. Lancaster, who missed the end of the first half after twisting her ankle, snared nine first-half rebounds. Nancy Bowden led Butler with eight first-half tallies.

Leading 51-40 at 15:21 in the second half, Miami, sparked by red-hot perimeter shooting and the strong inside play of Lancaster and Day, embarked on an 11-0 run over the next two minutes to push its lead to 20 points and continued to press the lead as high as 25 points by the 11-minute mark.

For the game, Miami hit 8-of-16 3-point field goals, including 4-of-5 from Cusick, and hit 44 percent of its shots from the field. The RedHawks also snared a season-high 47 rebounds, led by Lancaster, who grabbed a career-high 13 caroms.

Cusick led all scorers with 22 points off 9-of-13 shooting from the field. Day followed closely with a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, notching her third double-double in five games. Lancaster finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds for her fourth career double-double and first this season. Also tallying double digits was Roederer, who added 10 points.

Miami, which won its third straight and eighth consecutive home game, returns to action this Wednesday when it hosts the University of Kentucky at 7 p.m.