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Jan. 27, 2003
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REDHAWKS BREAK FROM DIVISIONAL PLAY; HOST EASTERN MICHIGAN: Above .500 for the first time since Jan. 3 and on its first winning streak since November, Miami University's women's basketball team returns home Tuesday night to host MAC West Division foe Eastern Michigan University in another important league battle.
Miami, which picked up a pair of divisional road wins over Marshall and Buffalo last week, returns home for the first time in 10 days to host an Eastern Michigan team that has turned its season around since the beginning of league play. EMU, which won just three of its first 11 games, has posted a 4-2 record since the start of MAC play and presently stands fourth in the MAC West Division and in a fifth-place tie with Miami in the overall MAC standings.
Coached by fifth-year mentor Suzy Merchant, Eastern Michigan is led by four players averaging in double digits. Sophomore guard Ryan Coleman leads all Eagle scorers at 12.7 ppg, while the forward tandem of senior Abby Wiseman and freshman Nikki Knapp averages 12.2 points apiece. Senior guard Dru Bishop is averaging 10.9 ppg. The Eagles rank fifth in the MAC in field goal percentage (.432) and sixth in scoring (67.2), while rating seventh in scoring defense (68.2) and 11th in field goal percentage defense (.435).
Versus five common opponents this season, both Miami and EMU have posted a 4-1 record versus Akron, Buffalo, Butler, Ohio and Toledo. Miami's lone loss came versus Toledo, while Eastern Michigan lost to Buffalo.
SERIES HISTORY: Tuesday night marks the 39th meeting between the Eagles and the RedHawks in a series that was dominated by Miami until the 1998-99 season. Miami had won 21 of the previous 22 games against the Eagles until a 1999 meeting at Ypsilanti, where EMU pounded the Red and White, 81-45. Since that clash, the Eagles have run off a three-game winning streak against the RedHawks, winning the three games by an average of 25.7 points. EMU, which trails the overall series 29-9, is one of just two MAC teams that Maria Fantanarosa has not defeated during her Miami coaching tenure.
THE LAST MEETING-EMU 71, Miami 67 (Jan. 23, 2002): A determined second-half rally by Miami could not make up for a slow start as Eastern Michigan outlasted the RedHawks, 71-67, in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Eagles led by as many as 13 with under 16 minutes to play, but Miami steadily chipped away at the EMU lead until claiming its first lead of the game at 60-59 with 4:20 to play. Eastern Michigan struck back with back-to-back 3-point field goals, however, and would not trail again. Melanie Kozlowski, who finished with a career-high 20 points, drained 4-of-7 3-point field goals on the night, while Heather Cusick added 16 points and nine assists.
LOOKING BACK-Miami 50, Buffalo 45: On a night in which the shooting inside the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena was as chilly as the blustery Buffalo winter outside, Miami overcame its worst offensive day of the season and slid past the Bulls 50-45 in a key MAC East Division road clash. In a game that was tight throughout, Miami pushed its edge as high as nine points in the first half and led 23-17 going into the locker room. Buffalo rallied three times in the second half, closing to within one point on two occasions and trailed by just two with 2:57 to play. Miami hit 6-of-7 free throws down the stretch, however, securing its third straight win over the Bulls. Kim Lancaster tallied 10 points for the RedHawks, who shot just .298 from the field but forced 21 UB turnovers.
NEXT UP: Miami is off until Feb. 3 when it embarks on a brutal three-game stretch that pits it against the other three MAC Semifinalists from a year ago. The RedHawks travel to defending MAC West Champion Ball State on Feb. 3 and return home on Feb. 8 to take on defending MAC East Champion Kent State. From there, Miami hits the road, once again, to clash with Northern Illinois on Feb. 13 and Bowling Green on Feb. 15. The Red and White plays four of its final five games at home following the difficult stretch.
MILLETT MAGIC: Miami, which has won 18 of its last 24 contests in Millett Hall ended a two-game home losing streak with its 84-56 defeat of Akron on Jan. 7. Last year, Miami finished at 10-3 in Millett Hall overall and 6-2 in league play, finishing the season with seven consecutive home wins. The RedHawks are 31-11 (.738) at home over the past four seasons and have won 12 consecutive home games versus MAC East opponents. The RedHawks are 2-3 at home this season.
A TALE OF TWO DIVISIONS: Entering her fifth MAC season, Maria Fantanarosa is working to build upon a 41-29 (.586) league record. Miami has risen to the occasion in divisional play over the past four years, posting a 33-10 (.767) record. Overall, Miami has turned away 21 of its last 22 MAC East opponents during the regular season, including a current nine-game winning streak.
Despite their success versus the East, Fantanarosa's RedHawks have not fared as well when heading West. Miami has gone just 8-19 (.296) versus MAC West opponents over the past five seasons and has lost 11 of its last 12 MAC West road games. The RedHawks are in search of their first win versus a MAC West foe this season, having already lost at Western Michigan and to Toledo.
ROLLING AGAIN: It had been a long time, but with last Saturday's 50-45 win at Buffalo, Miami's women's basketball team found itself on a winning streak for the first time since November. After starting the season 3-0 with wins over Valparaiso, Michigan State and Arkansas State, the RedHawks endured two losing streaks of three and two games, respectively, but were unable to win back-to-back games until winning at Marshall and at Buffalo last week. Miami, which had three winning streaks of at leas four games a year ago, owns a 3-6 record in games that follow wins this season.
HEAD COACH MARIA FANTANAROSA: A former standout on the court for the Red and White, Maria Fantanarosa is in her fifth season of working the sidelines for the Miami women's basketball program and owns a 73-57 (.562) record at Miami.
Since taking over a team that had no freshman class in 1998, she has guided the team to consecutive MAC Semifinal appearances and three straight MAC East Division runner-up finishes. Fantanarosa also has helped Miami players to all-MAC accolades five times, including 2001-02 MAC Player of the Year Heather Cusick.
A 1990 graduate of Miami, Fantanarosa was a two-time all-MAC honoree for the Red and White. Following her graduation, she went on to serve as an assistant women's basketball coach for Xavier (1990-94) and South Carolina (1994-97) before serving a one-year stint as head coach at Western Carolina (1997-98). One of the most prolific scorers in high school girls basketball history, Fantanarosa's 3,823 career points while at Mt. Carmel Area High School in Kulpmont, Pa., rank among the all-time Top 10 nationally.
TAKING ON THE WORLD: Though Miami's 5-6 non-conference record marked Miami's first sub .500 out-of-league record in four seasons, head coach Maria Fantanarosa stuck with her theory of using the non-conference schedule to prepare the team for league play. Seven of Miami's non-conference opponents rate among the top 35 percent of all NCAA D-I women's basketball programs, according to the Jan. 27 RPI.com rankings, while the average RPI of Miami's 11 out-of-conference foes is a solid 126.5. The average RPI of the eight teams that have defeated the RedHawks is an even more impressive 80.3. Miami is ranked No. 156 in the RPI and No. 115 in the Sagarin ratings. Miami's strength of schedule ranks 104th in the Sagarin Ratings-the second-highest ranking of any MAC program. A breakdown of Miami's opponents in the RPI and Sagarin rankings is on page 5.
OFFENSE WINS: When the offense is working, everything is working for Miami. Aside from a 108-102 overtime loss at Kentucky, Miami is 8-1 this season when scoring at least 70 points and 6-0 when outshooting the opposition from the field. Miami, which is 1-6 when scoring less than 70 points, had shot 46 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range and averaged 81.6 points per outing in wins leading up to last Saturday's triumph at Buffalo in which it shot just 29 percent from the field and netted a season-low 50 points. Through eight defeats, however, the RedHawks have hit just 38 percent of their shots from the field and 28 percent from beyond the arc, while averaging 65.8 points per game.
"D" ON THE RISE: Miami, which entered last week ranked 12th in the MAC in scoring defense (71.4 ppg), took its "D" to the next level last week, holding Marshall and Buffalo to an average of just 49.0 points in the two losses. Versus Marshall, Miami's defense forced 21 Thundering Herd turnovers and restricted the Herd to 27 percent shooting from the field-the lowest field goal percentage given up by the RedHawks this season. Against Buffalo, Miami allowed a season-low 45 points-the lowest point total allowed by the Red and White this season-and forced another 21 UB miscues. As a result of last week's performances, Miami's scoring defense jumped to 10th (69.1 ppg).
POLISHING THE GLASS: Another important theme in RedHawk wins has been rebounding. Miami, which is averaging 39.1 rebounds per game, ranks third in the MAC in rebounding and fourth in rebounding margin (+0.4). The RedHawks are especially strong on the offensive glass, grabbing 15.4 offensive boards a contest and ranking second in the league. Miami, which is averaging 13.5 second chance points per game-nearly 20 percent of its overall scoring, owns a 6-2 record when out-rebounding the opposition and just a 3-6 mark when being out-rebounded.
CUSICK ON THE MIAMI CHARTS: Already Miami's career leader for assists and 20-point games, Heather Cusick is about to take sole possession of another Miami career mark. The only player in Miami history to earn all-MAC recognition in each of her first three seasons, Cusick hit two 3-point field goals Monday night at Marshall to move into a tie with Jamie Stewart (1995-99) for first-place all-time at Miami with 208 career treys. The senior's next trey will break Miami's career 3-point field goal record.
Cusick also is just 67 points shy of tying Monica Niemann's (1991-95) scoring record, and 57 field goals short of tying Mary Ann Myers' (1978-82) career field goal record.
A DAY ON THE GLASS: Over the past two seasons, junior forward Colleen Day has transformed herself into one of the most aggressive rebounders in the conference. After and eight-rebound outing at Buffalo last Saturday, Day's 6.9 rebounds per game rank ninth in the MAC. The junior is even more impressive on the offensive glass, where she is clearing 2.94 offensive boards per game and ranks fourth in the league. With 466 career rebounds to date, Day is just 15 boards shy of cracking Miami's Top 15 all-time rebounders and 34 rebounds short of becoming the 14th RedHawk to amass 500 career boards. Day has three double-digit rebounding outings this season, including a season-best 14 boards in Miami's Dec. 28 win at Butler.
CLOSING IN ON 1,000: After a slow start, Miami's Kim Lancaster has stepped up her offense, reaching double digits in seven of the past 10 games and closing to within 52 points of Miami's 1,000-point club. Lancaster, who is aiming to be the 14th inductee to the 1,000-point club, could become just the fourth player in Miami women's basketball history to clear 1,000 points during her junior season-joining teammate Heather Cusick, Monica Niemann (1991-95) and Mary Ann Myers (1978-82). Lancaster already ranks among Miami's career top three in terms of field goal percentage and is shooting an impressive 54 percent from the floor this season to rank second in the MAC. Over the past 10 games, Lancaster has averaged 10.2 ppg to rank second on the team.
AS THE BALL TURNS: Miami's turnover statistics have had plenty of twists and turns this season. After committing just 93 turnovers or a respectable 15.5 turnovers per game through their first six outings, the RedHawks totaled a whopping 117 miscues or 23.4 per game through their next five contests. Miami has gotten off to a solid start in MAC play, averaging 14.2 turnovers per outing through six games and ranking second in the league with a +6.8 turnover margin. Through 17 games, Miami maintains a +2.9 overall turnover margin, which ranks third in the MAC. The RedHawks, who are forcing 20.3 turnovers per game-second only to Eastern Michigan in the MAC-are scoring an average of 19.9 ppg off opponent miscues.
BIG BENCH PLAY: With 13 scholarship players on her roster, head coach Maria Fantanarosa has the luxury of a deep bench for the first time in her career. Last season, Miami's top five players in terms of minutes averaged 29.7 minutes of playing time-led by Heather Cusick's 37.5 minutes an outing. This season, the top five RedHawks in terms of playing time are averaging 24.9 minutes per game, with only Cusick, who is down nearly seven minutes a game from last season, averaging more than 30 minutes a game. Miami's bench also has made an impact on the scoreboard, increasing its scoring average from 16.3 ppg last season to 27.2 ppg this year. Miami's reserves have been held under 22 points only once this season and have been outscored just three times.
ROADHAWKS: The road has become an increasingly friendly place for Miami in recent weeks . After a win at Michigan State during its opening weekend, the Red and White dropped five of its next six road games, including its worst losses of the season at TCU and Western Michigan earlier this month. More recently, however, Miami has reeled off consecutive road wins at Ohio, Marshall and Buffalo for its first three-game road winning streak since winning its last three road games last season. Miami, which plays 16 of its 27 games this season on the road, owns a 5-5 road record this season. Last season, Miami assembled an 8-7 record on the road-its first winning road mark since 1992-93.
CUSICK A CANDIDATE FOR NANCY LIEBERMAN AWARD: Miami point guard Heather Cusick has earned recognition on a national level by being listed as a candidate for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given annually to the nation's top point guard. Awarded based on outstanding performance, the Lieberman Award has gone to UConn's Sue Bird, the 2001-02 Naismith and Basketball Writers Association Player of the Year, in each of the past three seasons. The MAC Player of the Year last season, Cusick joins an impressive list of 17 candidates that also includes UConn's Diana Taurasi and Tennessee's Kara Lawson. Also on the list are two of Cusick's former Indiana's Finest AAU teammates, Xavier's Amy Waugh and Colorado State's Elizabeth English.
BOOK SMARTS: According to the first semester grade reports, Miami's women's basketball team has been getting things done in the classroom as well as on the court. The women's basketball team assembled a team GPA of 3.07 in the fall semester, ranking fifth among all athletic programs at Miami. Junior Melanie Kozlowski (Parma, Ohio/Holy Name), an exercise science major, led the way for the RedHawks, posting a perfect 4.0 GPA and earning a spot on the prestigious President's List.
STRING OF TREYS: As testament to what has become a fine 3-point shooting tradition, the RedHawks are working to maintain a string of games with at least one 3-point field goal that dates back to March of 1993. Since that game, a MAC Semifinal loss to Kent State, Miami has drained a 3-point bucket in 270 consecutive games-the longest such streak in the MAC. Louisville holds the current NCAA record, which is over 300 games and counting.
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