Dec. 15, 2002

Final Stats

ST. LOUIS-Defense prevailed over offense Sunday afternoon at Saint Louis University, as the host Billikens held Miami to a season low in points and picked up a 58-55 win, dropping the RedHawks to 4-2 on the year.

Junior forward Colleen Day led Miami out of the gates, scoring the RedHawks' first six points as they grabbed a 6-2 lead by the 16:39 mark. Saint Louis rallied briefly, gaining a 10-9 lead by the 13-minute mark, but Miami regained the lead with a Kim Lancaster jumper and would not trail again in the first half.

Following back-to-back buckets from Beth Roederer, Miami grabbed its largest lead of the first half at 25-16, but the Billiken defense stiffened from there, holding Miami without a field goal for the last 8:50 of the half. Saint Louis rallied to tie the game at 25 apiece with 1:07 remaining, but Miami was able to put itself ahead, 27-25, going into the locker room after Heather Cusick sank two free throws.

The RedHawks, who missed their last 12 field goal attempts and turned the ball over five times during the nearly nine-minute drought, were led at the half by Cusick and Day, who each tallied six points. Day also nabbed eight first-half rebounds.

After a Harmonie King 3-point field goal gave Saint Louis a 28-27 lead to start the second-half scoring, Cusick drained a short jumper in the lane at 18:01 to end Miami's nearly 11-minute stretch without a field goal and put Miami back in front by a point. After exchanging baskets over the next several minutes, Saint Louis applied its full-court pressure defense, and capitalized on a handful of Miami turnovers to stake a 45-38 lead.

Miami showed some defense of its own over the next three minutes, holding Saint Louis without a bucket and knotting the score at 45-45 with a Cusick jumper. The Billikens caught fire from there, out-scoring Miami 8-0 to grab a 53-45 lead by the 1:54 mark. Following a Melanie Kozlowski trey that brought Miami back to within five, Saint Louis kept the pressure on and re-built its lead to 56-48 with 1:31 to play.

The RedHawks never gave up, closing to within 58-55 after a 25-foot Cusick 3-pointer with 20 seconds to play, but could not get off a quality shot in its final attempt. Cusick led Miami with 19 points, while Kim Smith added a season-high nine and Day poured in eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Miami, which entered the game averaging nearly 10 3-point field goals a game, was just 3-of-14 beyond the arc.

After playing just its second game over the past 15 days, Miami picks up the pace this week, hosting 2001-02 Northeast Conference champion St. Francis (Pa.) at 7 p.m. Wednesday and traveling to Southeastern Conference foe Kentucky Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip. Following a brief Christmas break, the RedHawks return to action on Dec. 28 when they travel to Butler.

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