CINCINNATI — The Miami University women’s basketball team erased a second quarter 20-point deficit but fell 71-66 to Xavier on Sunday afternoon at the Cintas Center.
Amber Tretter had 16 points and 11 rebounds as the RedHawks drop to 1-1 on the season. It was Tretter’s 10th double-double of her career.
“I felt like we lacked some emotional maturity,” Miami second-year coach Glenn Box said. “It’s just something that we’re going to have to continue to grow on. We didn’t execute offensively. That falls on me as a coach. So, I have to be better. I think it comes down to that kind of stuff. We will be better. We will be.”
Tamar Singer had a career-high 12 points for the RedHawks, and she added five assists and a career-best four 3-pointers.
Miami’s Maya Chandler scored a career-high 15 points, adding four assists and three rebounds.
“It’s disappointing. Xavier played great,” Box said of his RedHawks, who out-rebounded the Musketeers 35-24. “Hats off to Xavier. We weren’t great. We were really poor, and so I expect us to be better the next time out there.”
Daniela Lopez led the Musketeers with 15 points in their first win of the year. Xavier has already matched its win total from last season, when it finished 1-27. The Musketeers snapped a 20-game losing streak that dates back to last season.
Joining Tretter in double figures were Maya Chandler (15) and Tamar Singer (12). Singer added five assists and was a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the arc.
“We’re way better than what we were last year,” said Box, who led Miami to a 9-20 record in his first season. “We would have beaten most people tonight. Xavier was good tonight. They got off to a good start.”
Miami committed four early turnovers to begin the contest and trailed 12-5 at the first media timeout. Xavier outscored Miami 15-4 in the final 4:50 as the RedHawks trailed 27-9 after 10 minutes of play.
A Tretter putback, followed by a Chandler triple made it 27-14 early in the second, but a 9-2 Xavier run extended the Musketeers’ advantage to 20 — 36-16 — midway through the quarter.
“I didn’t call a timeout intentionally in the first half, and they ended up being up by 18,” Box said. “I wanted to see where the team was. I wanted to see who we were. Our kids eventually responded, but then we let up again. They made some adjustments where we didn’t handle it well. We’ve just got to be better.”
Camille Jackson’s layup cut the deficit to 39-24 and a triple from Singer two minutes later closed the gap to 42-29. After Xavier connected on a pair of free throws, Singer’s 3-pointer beat the buzzer to send Miami to the locker room down 44-32.
Xavier extended its lead to 16 early in the third after drilling a pair of 3s. Chandler connected on a pair of free throws, and Tretter muscled in a bucket to chip the deficit to 12.
After the Musketeers knocked in a jumper, Miami scored nine points in the span of just over 90 seconds to trail 52-47 with under three minutes left in the third quarter. Back-to-back triples from Jackson and Chandler gave Miami its first lead of the game at 53-52. Xavier led 56-53 at the end of the quarter.
Katey Richason tied it up at 58-58 with a 3-pointer four minutes into the fourth. She made a free throw to spot Miami a 59-58 advantage.
Xavier scored eight straight, and RedHawks didn’t close the gap.
“We knew they can be significantly better,” Box said. “We know that. The kids we went to on the bench can do better than what they were today. Individually, everybody is going to have to play their part.”
Miami returns to action Thursday, Nov. 14 for a 5 p.m. home tilt with Tiffin.
