March 23, 2008

Box Score

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - In its first NCAA Tournament game in program history, Miami University's women's basketball team fought valiantly, but fell to the No. 21 Louisville, 81-67, in the New Orleans Regional Sunday afternoon. Senior guard Amanda Jackson led Miami (23-11; 12-4 MAC) with 22 points, her 20th 20-plus scoring game of the season, while Chauntise Wright led Louisville (25-9) with 21 points.

Junior guard Jenna Schone opened up the Miami scoring by putting in five points, including a three-pointer from the left baseline, but the Cardinals went on a 9-0 run to take a 16-5 lead with 13:05 to play in the first half. Another three-pointer by Schone with 8:25 on the clock closed Miami within six points, 24-18, but three straight buckets by Wright expanded the Cardinal lead to 11 points, 30-19, with 5:26 remaining in the half. Five straight points by Jackson kept Miami within 11 points, but two free throws by Louisville's Angel McCoughtry sent Miami into the half trailing by a score of 41-28.

Both teams struggled with turnovers in the first half as Miami had 16 turnovers, but the RedHawks forced Louisville into 17 first-half turnovers. Schone led Miami with eight points at the half, while McCoughtry led Louisville with 16 points.

Miami came out of the half and hit four of its eight shots to close within 11 points, 49-38, by the under-16-minute media timeout. From that point, Jackson scored 11 straight points for Miami, but consecutive treys by Louisville's Brandie Radde kept the Cardinals up by double-digits, 61-49, with 7:56 to play. Louisville went on a 9-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game, 70-51, but the RedHawks kept fighting and closed within 14 points, 70-56, with 3:42 to play. However, Miami was unable to close within single digits as the RedHawks fell to Louisville, 81-67.

Jackson led all scorers with 22 points, 16 of which came in the second half, while senior forward Laura Markwood was the only other RedHawk player in double figures as she scored 13 points. Markwood also grabbed eight rebounds, which gave her 359 rebounds for the season and makes her the Mid-American Conference single-season rebounding leader. Jackson scored 712 points for the season, becoming just the third player in conference history to score over 700 points in a season.