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Miami women rally for win over Wright State

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 11:00 PM Saturday, December 10, 2011

OXFORD — It wasn’t the kind of game that will make the NCAA Selection Committee sit up and take notice, but the Miami women’s basketball team was a double winner Saturday afternoon.

The RedHawks got what coach Maria Fantanarosa called a “good learning experience” and they also won the game, beating Eastern Kentucky 60-55 at Millett Hall.

“This was not one of our best-executed games on offense or defense,” said Fantanarosa, whose team trailed by 14 points early in the second half.

Still, the RedHawks raised their record to 5-3 behind a four-pronged scoring attack led by Maggie Boyer, who scored 13 of her game-high 16 points in the first half.

Kirsten Olowinski recorded her third straight double-double for Miami with 12 points and 12 rebounds, Courtney Osborne added 14 points and Hannah Robertson totaled 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Fantanarosa said she is generally pleased with her team’s progress, calling it gradual.

“We’re focusing still on our defense and on our rebounding,” she said. “Offensively, because we’re rotating so many people and running so many different plays, we’re not as aggressive as we should be. That will take time.”

Miami used a 21-4 run to take a 45-42 midway through the second half.

Eastern Kentucky (4-6) tied the game at 48-48 with 2:46 remaining, but Osborn put Miami back on top for good.

With 2:07 on the clock she scored a two-pointer after getting the ball near her own basket, looking inside and finding no shot, looking outside and finding that path blocked as well, and then looking back inside to find an unprotected basket.

Osborn, who went 0-for-5 from the 3-point stripe and had only five points going into the final three minutes, also hit 7-of-8 free throws over the final 48 seconds.

“She’s a great player,” Fantanarosa said, “and great players play for 40 minutes and compete until the end.”

Marie Carpenter scored 14 points for Eastern Kentucky, which shot just 30.5 percent from the field.

The RedHawks will play the second of five straight home games at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Wright State.

Miami will be without sophomore forward Erica Almady, who Fantanarosa said will miss 4-6 weeks with a knee injury.

“She was playing the best (of Miami’s players) in the post when she went down,” Fantanarosa said, “and Kirsten Olowinski has stepped in and picked up a lot of the rebounding opportunities inside.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or Pete.Conrad@coxinc.com.

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