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Nov. 19, 2002
RedHawk Game Notes in PDF Format
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REDHAWKS OPEN 2002-03 SEASON AT SPARTAN CHEVROLET CLASSIC: With expectations at their highest level in head coach Maria Fantanarosa's five-year tenure, Miami University's women's basketball team opens the 2002-03 season against a deep Spartan Chevrolet Classic field that includes Western Athletic Conference foe Fresno State, host and Big Ten contender Michigan State and defending Mid-Continent Conference champion Valparaiso. The RedHawks open play at 4 p.m. Saturday when they clash with Valparaiso in Michigan State's Breslin Center. Sunday's schedule depends on the outcome of Saturday's Michigan State-Fresno State contest, which tips off at 2 p.m. Michigan State will play at 2 p.m. Sunday, regardless of Saturday's outcome, so the Red and White would play at 2 p.m. if Michigan State and Miami both win or both lose. If Fresno State and Miami both win or both lose, the RedHawks and Bulldogs would tip off at 4 p.m. Sunday.
SCOUTING VALPARAISO: In what has become Miami's most intense non-conference rivalry over the past three seasons, the RedHawks clash with Valparaiso at 2 p.m. Saturday. Miami leads the overall series versus the Crusaders, 3-0, but has needed overtime to prevail in each of the last two meetings. Last season, Heather Cusick drained a dramatic off-balance 3-pointer as time expired to send the RedHawks into overtime at Valparaiso. Miami went on to win, 77-74, in overtime. In 2000, Miami rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to tie the game in regulation and went on to win, 71-69, in overtime.
Coached by ninth-year mentor Keith Freeman, Valparaiso is coming off a stellar 2001-02 campaign in which it won 26 games, captured the MCC title and advanced to the Final Eight of the WNIT. The Crusaders return six players from last season's team, including lone senior and preseason all-MCC selection Jeanette Gray. Gray, who averaged 12.6 ppg a year ago, netted 23 points in last season's meeting with Miami.
THE SPARTAN CHEVROLET CLASSIC: This year marks the 15th season of the annual Spartan Chevrolet Classic, which began in 1986. Michigan State has been impressive in its tournament, claiming the championship eight times and advancing to the title game 13 times in 14 previous classics. The Mid-American Conference has been represented in the Classic five times before, with Central Michigan and Western Michigan each appearing twice and Buffalo appearing last season. Western Michigan was the last MAC team to reach the championship game, achieving the feat in 1995, but no MAC team has ever won the title. Of this season's field, only Fresno State has experience in the Spartan Chevrolet Classic, having competed in the 1997 classic, where it finished third.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: A new era of Fresno State women's basketball will be ushered in this weekend when head coach Stacy Johnson-Klein, who took the reigns of the Fresno State program this past April, leads the Bulldogs into action. After a 9-20 overall record and ninth-place WAC finish in 2001-02, Fresno State returns all five starters and 10 letterwinners, including senior preseason all-WAC selection Lindsay Logan, who averaged 15.0 ppg last season and has 211 career 3-point field goals. Miami has never clashed with Fresno State and has played only one game versus a current WAC member, defeating San Jose State, 76-52, in 1989-90.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS: Michigan State, which enters the season receiving votes in the Associated Press Preseason poll, looks to be a contender in a highly-competitive Big Ten conference after a solid 2001-02 season that netted a 19-13 record, 10th-place league finish and a WNIT berth. Coached by Joanne P. McCallie, who's in her third year at MSU, the Spartans return four starters and seven letterwinners, including senior forward Syreeta Bromfield who led the Spartans in both scoring (15.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg) a year ago. Miami and Michigan State met four times in the 70's and early 80's, with Miami owning a 3-1 series advantage. The Red and White has won its last two meetings against MSU, including a 66-65 victory in the teams' last meeting during the 1982-83.
LOOKING BACK-Miami 93, OGBM Legends 69: In its first and only exhibition test of the 2002-03 preseason, Miami University's women's basketball team demonstrated occasional flashes of brilliance while shaking off the rust, defeating the Ohio Girls Basketball Magazine (OGBM) Legends, a team of former college standouts, 93-69.
The RedHawks put forth a dominant defensive effort on the night, making 30 steals and forcing a total of 38 turnovers. Leading the Miami effort, were five players in double figures. Kim Lancaster tallied 16 points and eight steals, while Jana Butler contributed 15 points and seven steals and Heather Cusick added 14 points, nine assists and five steals. Rounding out Miami's leading scorers were Colleen Day with 13 points and five steals and freshman Cindi Merrill with 12 points and five assists.
HEAD COACH MARIA FANTANAROSA: A former standout on the court for the Red and White, Maria Fantanarosa enters her fifth season of working the sidelines for the Miami women's basketball program and owns a 64-49 (.566) 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 2002 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.
WORLD TRAVELERS: Miami University's women's basketball team benefitted from a one-of-a-kind experience over the summer, traveling to Europe where it played four exhibition games against professional teams and took in a lot of sights. From June 23-July 3, the RedHawks spent time in Switzerland, Germany and France, while amassing a perfect 4-0 record versus teams from Switzerland, Germany and Italy. Along with the team bonding derived from being together in a foreign nation, the RedHawks were able to spend additional time on the court to learn some new systems and prepare for the upcoming season.
FULLY LOADED: For the first time since she accepted the reigns at Miami prior to the 1998-99 season, head coach Maria Fantanarosa has the luxury of four full classes of scholarship players on her roster. Hired too late to recruit a freshman class for her first season, Fantanarosa chose to build from scratch instead of signing junior college players, which left the RedHawks without a single senior scholarship player a year ago. With the addition of four freshmen, Miami now has 13 scholarship players on its roster.
TRUE SENIOR LEADERSHIP: Another luxury head coach Maria Fantanarosa is enjoying for the first time in her head coaching tenure is a senior class that has spent its entire collegiate career under her direction. Fantanarosa, who has inherited two rebuilding programs in her six-year coaching career, is looking for seniors Jana Butler, Heather Cusick and Beth Roederer to demonstrate their familiarity with her system and provide leadership on the court.
CUSICK'S CAREER CHASE: Already Miami's career leader for assists and 20-point games, Heather Cusick has her sights set on a handful of other prominent career Miami records entering her senior season. The only player in Miami history to earn all-MAC recognition in each of her first three seasons, Cusick is 333 points shy of tying Monica Niemann's (1991-95) scoring record, 29 3-point field goals away from matching Jamie Stewart's (1996-00) 3-point field goal mark and 154 field goals shy of tying Mary Ann Myers' (1978-82) career field goal record.
COMING FROM ALL ANGLES: Though Heather Cusick led the MAC in scoring in 2001-02, the RedHawks were by no means an easy scout for opposing coaches. In all, seven Miami players scored in double digits at least six times last season, with five tallying in double digits more than 10 times. The Red and White placed at least two players in double figures in every game last season and had more than three players in double figures 13 times. Along with Cusick's 28 double-digit performances, Miami got 19 from Colleen Day, 17 from Kim Lancaster and 12 apiece from Jana Butler and Melanie Kozlowski. Six of Miami's current players rank among Miami's Top 50 all-time in career scoring.
For the complete game notes, see the PDF version.
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