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RedHawk women enthusiastic despite setbacks

Miami holds hopes for an upset over top-seeded Bowling Green.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer 12:49 AM Wednesday, March 10, 2010

OXFORD — Even with both sides at full strength, the Bowling Green women’s basketball team would be a decisive favorite to win its Mid-American Conference tournament game today, March 10, against Miami University.

And the RedHawks are a long way from full strength. Rachael Henke, Erin Wisner and Kirsten Olowinski — who combine to score about 20 of Miami’s points per game — are listed as “day to day” by coach Maria Fantanarosa.

Conventional wisdom might put the odds of an upset victory by the eighth-seeded RedHawks over the top-seeded Falcons at about 20-to-1.

But there is nothing conventional about a Miami team dominated by freshmen and sophomores with a 9-21 record who play with the enthusiasm of a 21-9 team.

Which makes them unpredictable. And dangerous.

“I wake up every day and I’m still a little surprised they come in here with enthusiasm and energy,” Fantanarosa said of the RedHawks, who still seek their first two-game winning streak of the season. “They could have given up a long time ago. But they haven’t quit.”

They didn’t quit on Feb. 10 when they surprised a good Eastern Michigan team with a 79-63 victory on the road, and they didn’t quit last week when they pushed Bowling Green to the edge before losing 63-58.

Since those games, Olowinski, who has been named to the MAC’s All-Freshman team, has been battling the flu, and Hencke, who averages 9.6 points, and Wisner have been trying to overcome injuries.

And now a Miami team led by senior captain Ashleigh Brown and a whole bunch of other youngsters, including MAC Freshman of the Year Courtney Osborn and sophomore Maggie Boyer, are stepping into the big time.

“This team is just living in the present, not feeling the pressure but just enjoying every game,” Fantanarosa said, “and that comes with youth.

“I’m expecting our team to be nervous,” she said. “I hope we can still remain focused. That adrenaline they’re going to feel just walking into the Q (Quicken Loans Arena) can be a very positive energy.”

The Falcons, who have won six straight conference titles, are led by last year’s MAC Player of the Year, junior Lauren Prochaska (17.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game). They have their own kind of energy.

In order to tap that energy, all the Falcons have to do is remember last March, when they lost 55-51 to Ball State in the championship game, a defeat which kept them out of the NCAA tournament.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.