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RedHawk women clinch top-four seed for MAC Tournament

Miami tops Akron and is now guaranteed a place in quarterfinals.

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1:28 AM Thursday, February 23, 2012

By Rick Cassano

Staff Writer

OXFORD — A quiet celebration was in order.

Miami University women’s basketball coach Maria Fantanarosa knew it wasn’t time for an all-out party Wednesday afternoon, yet it was still a significant day for the RedHawks.

MU defeated Akron 84-76 in a physical contest at Millett Hall. It was Miami’s 20th win of the season and clinched a top-four seed (meaning a double bye into the quarterfinals) in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament.

“Coming off a struggle last year as a young team, this team is a year older,” Fantanarosa said. “They’ve found a way to work together. They’ve found their confidence. But we have to be careful with the success ... that we don’t overcelebrate it.”

Courtney Osborn (21), Maggie Boyer (15), Kirsten Olowinski (14), Lillian Pitts (12) and Hannah Robertson (12) paced the scoring for the RedHawks, who are 20-7 overall and 10-4 in the MAC East Division. They won 20 total games in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

“(Akron) got a little physical with all of us,” Osborn said. “Even if they tried to key in on me, everyone found a way to get open and score. To have five people in double figures — how do you guard that? You can’t.”

Miami had a 13-point lead in the last four minutes, then subdued the Zips (12-16, 6-8) at the foul line after the visitors closed the gap to 78-74.

“When they start making runs, it all comes back to defense and rebounding,” Osborn said. “That’s what gets our offense going. It all starts with having a little attitude on defense and coming together.”

Osborn put up a MAC-record 48 points in a 95-85 overtime win at Akron on Jan. 4. In the rematch, the Zips couldn’t overcome MU’s balance.

“She’s going to score her points because she can score in so many ways,” Akron coach Jodi Kest said of Osborn, a junior guard who had five rebounds and seven assists. “I thought we did a much better job on her, but we also knew they have four other players on the court at the same time that can score.

“Our defense needed to be a little bit better,” she added. “And we needed to capitalize a little bit better when they did make a mistake.”

The Zips were led by Jasmine Mushington’s 17 points. They shot 37.1 percent from the floor.

The RedHawks’ field-goal percentage was 48.3, even though they only made 4-of-16 treys. Olowinski grabbed 10 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the year.

“This was one of the first times I was able to give our starters rest, and the subs that came in were sparks,” Fantanarosa said. “This was a game where we were able to be successful with our strengths.”

Miami will visit MAC East leader Bowling Green on Saturday at 1 p.m.

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