Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
UM women seek second Sweet 16
For senior ’Canes, their time has arrived
CORAL GABLES — When she signed on to become a Hurricane, Jessica Thomas believed in Miami’s potential.
She saw the success Hurricanes women’s basketball coach Katie Meier had had with the likes of Riquna Williams and Shenise Johnson. She trusted in the recruits Meier was trying to bring to Coral Gables.
And she felt Miami was a program on the rise, one that could do something special during her career.
Four years later, the moment Meier, Thomas and the rest of Miami’s seniors have worked for is here.
The fourth-seeded Hurricanes will take the floor Monday night for their final home game of the season – a Round of 32 NCAA Tournament game against 12th-seeded Quinnipiac.
A win will send the Hurricanes to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history and the first time since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1994. And it would continue to move the Miami women’s program forward, just as Meier and her veterans —
Thomas, Adrienne Motley and Keyona Hayes — have wanted to do since each arrived in Coral Gables.
“I knew what we were capable of doing and I feel like this was destined for us,” Thomas said. “We didn’t come here to be some team in the back of the conference. We knew if we always came out swinging and always gave our hardest that we could accomplish a lot. I believed we’d play for the Sweet 16 on our floor. We know what we’ve put into this program. … It’s my senior year now. The possibility is here.”
Possibility, yes. Is that Sweet 16 berth a guarantee? Absolutely not. And the Hurricanes know it.
Miami, which earned the right to host after a season that included several wins over top teams including Florida State and Ohio State, is the favorite entering Monday’s matchup against the Bobcats.
But they had to fight off an upset-minded Florida Gulf Coast team that rallied from 13 points down to twice take the lead in the game’s final two minutes before Miami hung on for a 62-60 win on Saturday.
And Quinnipiac, which has won two MAAC championships in the past three years, enters Monday’s game having won 11 in a row. One of those wins was one of the NCAA Tournament’s early upsets, a 68-65 victory over fifth-seeded Marquette on Saturday afternoon.
The Bobcats are poised, experienced, and have played in their share of high-profile games having already notched victories over both New Mexico State and Long Beach State in the Play4Kay Shootaround in Las Vegas this season. And while their NCAA Tournament tradition isn’t rich — their first win was that victory over Marquette — the Hurricanes don’t expect them to be a pushover today.
“They’re very confident. They don’t back down from anyone and they have a chip on their shoulder,” Meier said. “They feel like they’re an underrated midmajor and they are an underrated mid-major. They’re a major as far as I’m concerned. They don’t have to worry about us disrespecting them because that’s not going to happen. They’re awfully good and they’ve been good.”
Quinnipiac (27-6, 17-3 MAAC) is led by guard Adily Martucci, who averages 10.4 points per game, while forward Aryn McClure averages 8.9 points and 6 rebounds per game. But it’s their defense that has been problematic for opponents this season with the Bobcats holding opponents to just 35.9 percent from the field, a number that puts them 22nd best in the nation. They also average 11.1 steals per game, good enough for 16th in the nation.
The Hurricanes (24-8, 10-6) will be looking for Thomas and Motley to rebound after quiet performances Saturday. The two are Miami’s leading scorers, but they struggled against Florida Gulf Coast, Motley was held to just four points while spending much of the game in foul trouble and Thomas scored just nine.
Post players Hayes and Emese Hof were key against the Eagles, with Hayes’ 16 points and 10 rebounds marking the first time a Miami player finished with a double-double in tournament play since 2013.
Hof, meanwhile, added 14 points and 5 rebounds.
But the fact Miami still hasn’t put together the kind of game Meier envisions them capable of playing is intriguing — and there’s no better time than now, the Hurricanes say, for that to happen.
“We’re very clear that we don’t think we’ve played our best basketball game [Saturday] and we still haven’t played that perfect game,” Meier said, “but it’s coming and we have won in one thousand different ways. And we’re going to have to find a way to win [Monday].”