| The Miami University Hamilton women’s
basketball team set aside the fact that Ohio University
Lancaster had knocked the Harriers out in the
first-round of the Ohio Regional Campus Conference
Tournament twice in the past two years.
The Harriers got their shot at redemption Sunday,
and that meant they weren’t going to let
another one slip out of their tight grasp.
MUH forward Ann Tolbert dominated Lancaster’s
2-3 zone for a game-high 24 points as the Harriers
went on to defeat the Cougars 65-51 for the
ORCC championship at Cook Hall.
“This feels great,” MUH coach Ed
McCoy said after his squad ecstatically cut
down the net. “We knew (Lancaster) had
a real good zone, and we’ve had trouble
with it the past couple of years. We came out
and executed our game-plan today.”
The win grants Miami Hamilton its first title
in the school’s history. And for a team
that started the season out with only six players,
McCoy had reason to doubt in terms of bringing
the trophy home this year.
“I didn’t feel confident about
coming this far,” McCoy said. “But
I knew we could be competitive. Everyone contributed
this season. The girls did a really great job.
Everybody on the team had a role, and they got
the job done.”
Sarah Edens tallied 14 points and 13 rebounds,
Krista Doan had 13 points, and Adriane Neidhard
chipped in with 10 points for the Harriers,
who finished the season at 20-6.
“This is so great,” said Tolbert,
who was awarded Tournament MVP and named to
the All-Tournament team. “I’ve never
been a part of anything like this before.”
“We gave it our all today,” she
added. “We didn’t leave anything
out on the floor. We just went out there and
played the game.”
Lancaster’s Julie Lockwood and Amanda
Hostetter also earned All-Tournament accolades,
along with the Harriers' Doan Lockwood scored
17 points and Hostetter reeled in 16 for the
Cougars, who finished the season at 24-10.
“We didn’t shoot well, and we didn’t
handle the ball,” Lancaster coach
Jeff Whitehead said. “(MUH) made us do
things that we didn’t want to do.
They played well. That’s the bottom line.
Hats off to them.”
“As a coach, you always have a chance
to win. You always believe that you can win,”
Whitehead added. “But when you don’t
play well enough, all of that depletes.”
Cougar guard Melissa Miller drained a free
throw to start the game, but shortly after,
Tolbert laid in two points to spark a 13-2 Harriers
run.
MUH continued to pass the ball around the perimeter
in the opening half—but more so in the
second ˜—enabling enough time for
Tolbert, Edens, and Doan to get open looks underneath
the basket.
“The girls worked the ball down into
the post,” McCoy said. “Our internal
passing brought us a long way this year. Our
three low people did a great job.”
Lancaster got within five at the 12:52 mark
of the first half on Elissa Mellon’s 3-point
play, which made it a 13-8 MUH lead.
Doan sunk a 10-foot jumper and the Cougars’
Jackie Lockwood bucketed two of her four points
as the Harriers went into halftime with a 29-19
advantage.
“We played a fast-paced game,”
Edens said. “We tried to out hustle them,
and we knew we had the energy to do it.”
The Harriers kept chipping away at the Cougars’
defense in the second half, eventually extending
their lead to 51-35—the largest of the
night—on a Tolbert 3-point play with 9:10
remaining on the clock.
MUH shot 26-for-59 (44 percent) from the floor,
while Lancaster went 18-for-62 (29 percent).
“We picked up Doan after our first game,
and then Tolbert came on board after winter
break,” McCoy said. “That right
there pretty much consolidated our team.”
McCoy gave praise to freshman forward Aubrey
Ritchie (rebounding), sophomore guard Nicole
Swink (defense), and sophomore guards Katie
Reimer and Sarah Keehner (all-purpose specialists)
for their contributions throughout the season.
“Give credit to our girls for playing
all year long,” McCoy said. “I’m
proud of them. They definitely deserved this
one.”
View
a photo of our winning team |
