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By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer Updated 6:12 PM Monday, January 4, 2010

OXFORD — Maria Fantanarosa was seeking a good opponent and a matchup with a hook, and Florida was the best place to look.

The Miami University women’s basketball coach arranged a home-and-home series with the University of Miami, and even though the RedHawks lost 75-61 on Sunday, Jan. 3, before a crowd of 475 at Millett Hall, Fantanarosa said it’s a good deal for her program.

“I did it because I’m a Miami alum, and we get asked a lot of times how the weather is down there, etc.,” she said. “I did it because I thought it would be a good promotional game. We want to increase attendance, so we went into scheduling this year trying to do some creative things.

“And I like to play competitive teams,” Fantanarosa continued. “You’re talking about a team that’s probably going to be in the top 25 next week. I knew they were going to be the best team on our schedule. We play a lot of top 25 teams right before the (Mid-American Conference). I think it’s our last measuring stick.”

The RedHawks will take a 2-11 record to Buffalo for their conference opener Wednesday night, and Fantanarosa said her squad has made great progress in the last month.

Hurricanes coach Katie Meier feels MU’s record is irrelevant. As an opposing coach, she’s been watching the RedHawks raise their game.

“I knew they were a team that could beat us because I could see them getting more confident,” Meier said. “Looking at them early on, I didn’t think they were going to give us much of a test. But as I watched the later films, I thought, ‘You know what? Here they come.’ ”

MU has played Arizona, Wake Forest, Kentucky and Dayton this season, so sophomore forward Rachael Hencke said the thought of facing the Hurricanes wasn’t intimidating.

“Even though we’re a MAC school and they’re an (Atlantic Coast Conference) school, we didn’t even think about that,” Hencke said. “They were very physical, and going into the MAC, I think this was a perfect game to play because we were able to handle it. They were active and athletic. For us, it was all about boxing out.”

Scoring machine

Freshman guard Courtney Osborn boosted her season scoring average to 20.1 on Sunday, getting a career-high 29 points against UM.

Osborn hit seven 3-pointers in a school-record 18 attempts. She was 10-of-29 overall from the floor.

“A lot of those attempts were wide-open and off of penetration and kick-outs,” Osborn said. “My teammates set me up very well. They have all the confidence in me, and I have all the confidence in them.”

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