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November 19, 2004
Women's Basketball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SECOND HALF SURGE
NOT ENOUGH AS SYCAMORES DROP SEASON OPENER
OXFORD, Ohio – A
defensive effort that forced the defending Mid-American Conference
Champion Miami (Ohio) RedHawks to just 62 points one season after
they averaged over 77 points a game, proved to not be enough as
Indiana State narrowly missed coming back from a 31-20 halftime
deficit to drop its season opener, 62-59.
Trailing 61-58
with nine seconds left in the contest, junior point guard Melanie
Boeglin’s 3-pt attempt went into the bucket, rattled around and
bounced out in what would have tied the contest. Following a
Stephanie Lisch foul, Miami’s Nicki Motto missed two foul shots to
give ISU one more chance.
The RedHawks
elected to foul Boeglin as she drove across mid-court, and she hit
her first shot to inch closer at 61-59. She missed the second
attempt long in an effort to create an additional possession with
less than three seconds remaining on the clock, but Miami’s Kim
Smith came down with the rebound and was fouled with 1.6 seconds
remaining.
Smith made her
second foul shot after missing the first, then Ashley Clark hit
Lisa Verhoff on a perfect strike on a three-quarter’s court pass,
but Verhoff’s set 3-pointer to tie the affair was blocked by Motto
as time expired.
After Boeglin
brought ISU back from down as many as 15 points in the second half
with her second triple of the game to inch the Sycamores back to
within two at 45-43 with 7:06 left in the game, head coach Jim
Wiedie was ejected from the contest after drawing his second and
third technical fouls of the contest. Miami’s Amanda Jackson hit
3-of-4 foul shots to move the RedHawks out to a 48-43 advantage.
Lisa Verhoff
provided a steal with 6:20 left in the game and Boeglin followed
with a jumper to get within three, 48-45.
ISU had to
overcome a woeful first half shooting in which they hit just 28%
of their shots and turned the ball over 13 times. Despite holding
the hot-shooting Miami team to just 31 points at the break, the
Sycamore offense sputtered to only 20 of their own in the first
stanza.
Indiana State
scored first in the contest on a jumper by junior Ashley Clark,
then freshman Laura Rudolphi gave the Sycamores it second and
final lead of the night, 4-2 with almost 19 minutes left in the
first half.
Miami would race
to a 20-5 lead with 13:57 left on the strength of an 18-1 run, but
the Sycamore defense stood tall in a hostile environment to cut
the lead down to three at 22-19 as ISU countered with a 14-2 run
of its own capped by a Boeglin trey with 6:29 left before the
break.
Miami closed the
half on a 9-1 run to take a 31-20 halftime lead.
The Sycamores
were led in scoring by Boeglin with 17 points while Clark added 14
in her ISU debut. Miami’s Amanda Jackson led the RedHawks with 17
of her own, while Cindi Merrill scored 14 and Laura Markwood had
12.
Indiana State’s
defense held Miami to a 0-for-6 effort from behind the three-point
arc in the second half, an 18.2% mark for the game.
ISU continues its
season with the home opener slated for Wednesday, November 24 at
6:00 p.m. when they host Eastern Illinois.
GAME BOX SCORE
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