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Feb. 17, 2004
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REDHAWKS TRAVEL TO ATHENS TO BATTLE RIVAL BOBCATS: Coming off one of its biggest wins to date, Miami University's first-place women's basketball team tips off its final roadstand of the season Wednesday when it travels to Ohio University to face the Bobcats in both teams' most-played rivalry.
Miami, which knocked off MAC West leader Western Michigan, 68-65, Sunday, enters the game riding an eight-game winning streak and having won 12-of-14 contests since returning from Christmas break. The RedHawks own the league's highest-scoring offense at 76.8 ppg but have won the last three contests with a defense that has allowed just 62.0 ppg. Four of the MAC's top 15 scorers are in Miami's starting lineup.
Ohio, which will be playing its second game in three days, is coming off 69-54 defeat of Akron Monday night and is aiming to move into a third-place tie with Marshall in the MAC East standings. The Bobcats, coached by fifth-year mentor Lynn Bria, have won three of their last four games since stumbling in six of their previous seven outings. Ohio already has surpassed last season's win total and is 4-6 in The Convo this season.
Leading the Bobcats is senior forward Latreece Bagley, who averages 11.6 points and 6.8 rebounds, while knocking down a league leading 58.0 percent of her shots. Senior wing Candace Bates contributes 9.1 ppg and has converted a team-best 33 3-pointers. Nine different players have competed in all 22 games for Ohio with all nine averaging at least 4.4 ppg.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES: Miami and Ohio meet for the 57th time Wednesday in the RedHawks' most-played rivalry. The RedHawks have dominated the rivalry recently, winning the last eight games and extending their overall series edge to 40-16. The going has been much more difficult in Athens, however, where Miami maintains just a 15-10 margin despite a current three-game winning streak. Ohio's last series win came in Athens (87-68) in 2000, and last season the Bobcats took Miami into overtime (80-78) in its lone visit to The Convo. A win Wednesday would give Miami its second-longest winning streak over Ohio since the series began in 1974-75.
THE LAST MEETING-Miami 82, Ohio 70 (Jan. 31, 2004): Miami won its fourth consecutive game and Maria Fantanarosa earned her 100th head coaching victory as the RedHawks used a second-half surge to put Ohio away, 82-70. Miami led only 36-34 at halftime but would never trail in the second half. With the score tied at 40-40 at 16:23 in the second half, Miami embarked on a 19-2 run in building its biggest lead of the game. Ohio was held without a bucket for over six minutes during the stretch and would never get closer than eight during the remainder of the game. The RedHawks, who forced 21 turnovers in the win, were led by Colleen Day's 22 points.
BATTLE OF THE BRICKS: When Miami and Ohio meet on the court, it is more than just a matter of MAC Standings, it is also a matter of school pride. Beginning with last season, Miami and Ohio began "The Battle of the Bricks", an all-sport rivalry in which a comprehensive record of all the schools' head-to-head meetings is kept and the school with the most wins at the end of the season claims the rivalry's traveling trophy. Miami won the first "Battle of the Bricks" last season and is on pace to retain the trophy this season, posting a 10-5 lead thus far.
BOARD WARS: The difference in Wednesday's battle between Miami and Ohio could come down to the rebounding battle. In the teams' last meeting on Jan. 31, Miami claimed a 38-34 advantage in points in the paint despite being outrebounded 43-40. Led by forwards Latreece Bagley and Erin Isbell, who each grabbed 12 boards in their visit to Oxford, Ohio has climbed to fourth in the MAC in rebounding margin at +2.5 and has outrebounded its last five opponents. Miami, which ranks fifth in the MAC in rebounding margin at +2.0, has matched or outrebounded 12 of its opponents this season and has not been outrebounded by more than seven in any game this year.
ROADHAWKS: Miami, which has prevailed in its last three road trips, stands at 7-5 away from home entering its final roadstand of the regular season. Miami is 6-5 when playing on an opponents' home court and 1-0 in neutral-site games. The Red and White posted a 9-7 mark away from home last season to notch back-to-back winning road records for the first time since 1995-96. Under Head Coach Maria Fantanarosa, Miami is 40-54 (.425) when playing an opponent on its home court and 11-6 (.647) in neutral site contests. Since 2000, Miami's 23 road wins are the second-highest total in the MAC-second only to Kent State's 24.
BEAST OF THE EAST: With the RedHawks closing in on their second consecutive MAC East Division title, they aim to continue a successful stretch versus MAC East foes, who comprise three of their final five games. This season, the RedHawks have posted a 5-1 record in the division, with their only league loss suffered at Kent State (77-82) in overtime on Jan. 14. Over the past four-plus seasons, Miami has enjoyed tremendous success in the MAC East, posting a 39-9 (.813) record versus divisional foes.
ON TOP OF THE HEAP: With 10 league wins in its first 11 games, Miami finds itself in first place in the overall MAC standings at its latest point since head coach Maria Fantanarosa took over the program. At 10-1 in the league, the RedHawks own game-and-a-half leads over MAC West leaders Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan, who both have played one more game than Miami, as well as head-to-head victories versus both. Since winning the league's first two regular-season titles in 1982 and 1983, Miami has won just one of the league's last 20 championships (1990).
IN LIKE A LION: With a 10-1 mark through its first 11 league games, Miami has matched the best league start in program history. Only Miami's 1982, 1983 and 1990 teams have gone through their first 11 conference games with only one loss and all three completed their MAC slates with only one loss. The RedHawks, who are tied for the MAC's best overall record at 16-6, are off to their best overall start since the 1989-90 team that went on to win the MAC Championship and post a program-record 23-5 (.821) mark.
THE STREAK IN PERSPECTIVE: Miami's present eight-game winning streak is its longest under head coach Maria Fantanarosa ... the last time Miami won eight in a row was near the end of the 1995-96 campaign ... the last time Miami won more than eight games in a row was in 1989-90 when it won 12 straight ... the program record for consecutive wins is 14 in 1982-83 ... Miami's present winning streak is just the sixth of eight games or longer in program history ... all eight wins in Miami's current streak have come against MAC foes ... Miami's all-time longest winning streak versus the MAC is 13 in 1982-83 ... Miami has won seven straight at home ... the longest home winning streak in Miami history is 12 in 1981-82.
MAGIC NUMBERS: With five games remaining, Miami is within sight of its first MAC Title since 1990 and third in program history. The RedHawks' magic number to clinch at least a share of the overall MAC Championship and the outright MAC East Title is three. With three wins in its final five games, Miami can finish no worse than in a tie for first place and would earn the No. 1 seed for the tournament via head-to-head wins over fellow contenders Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. Four wins would hand Miami the outright MAC Championship.
NEXT UP: Miami concludes the road portion of its 2003-04 regular-season schedule by making the long haul to Mt. Pleasant, Mich., to face Central Michigan University. The Chippewas are winless in league play entering Wednesday night's game at Akron but own one of the MAC's stingiest defenses, which allows only 64.0 points per game. CMU has traditionally given the Red and White fits in Mt. Pleasant, winning two of the last three games in Rose Arena. From there, Miami closes out the regular season with consecutive home games versus Ball State, Buffalo and Kent State.
POWER RATED: Miami continues to improve its NCAA Tournament chances by posting strong showings in this week's power rankings. The RedHawks have ascended to the top 65 in both the Sagarin and RPI.com rankings, placing No. 63 according to RPI.com and No. 64 in the Sagarin ratings. Miami, which owns a 2-5 record versus the top 100 in the RPI.com ratings, is just ahead of No. 64 Eastern Michigan and No. 66 Western Michigan to pace the MAC. The RedHawks are 3-6 against the top 100 in the Sagarin ratings and rank just behind No. 58 EMU and No. 63 WMU. Miami has not lost to a team ranked outside of the top 100 of the Sagarin rankings this season and is 14-1 against teams located outside of RPI.com's top 100. A complete look at Miami in the RPI and Sagarin rankings is on the right.
MAC ATTACK: As a conference, the Mid-American Conference also is enjoying a solid season in the RPI and Sagarin ratings. Out of 32 NCAA Division I conferences, the MAC is ranked 11th by RPI.com and 12th by the Sagarin ratings. As little as two seasons ago, the MAC finished the season ranked 19th nationally. In terms of non-conference RPI, the MAC finished 10th nationally, according to RPI.com.
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