It wasn’t pretty, but Miami improved to 5-1 on the season
The Miami Hurricanes women’s basketball team overcame a 15-point deficit and poor shooting to beat George Washington in the Cayman Islands Friday, 83-77.
Rough Start vs. the Revolutionaries
Miami came into the game as huge favorites over GW, as the Revolutionaries (sick nickname) had only won two of their first six games of the season against less-than-stellar competition. ESPN’s had the Hurricanes’ win probability and 95 percent before tipoff, but that quickly changed.
George Washington kept up with Miami in the 1st quarter and then got out to a lead in the 2nd to take a seven-point lead into halftime, but the real story of this game started after halftime. The Revolutionaries went on a 13-2 run out of the locker rooms to extend their lead to 15, and Miami’s win probability went all the way down to 12 percent halfway through the 3rd quarter.
‘Canes Make A Comeback
The ‘Canes comeback started with a 9-0 run in the third quarter to cut that 15-point lead in half before the start of the 4th. Then, Miami went on a 7-0 run to start the final quarter to tie the game with more than seven minutes to play in regulation. Neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way, and GW’s Emma Theodorsson hit a game-tying three to send the thriller into overtime.
Miami hit the ground running at the start of OT with an 8-0 run, the first six points coming at the free throw line after aggressive offense from the ‘Canes. George Washington didn’t have another run in it, and UM escaped with an 83-77 win.
Gal Raviv led the team in scoring with 29 points on 21 shots from the field. Ra Shayla Kyle got a double-double with 26 points and 14 rebounds, and Soma Okolo added 10 points off the bench along with three blocks and three steals. Okolo finished as one of four Hurricanes with multiple steals on the day.
Cause For Concern?
The Hurricanes won the rebounding and turnover battle against George Washington, but poor shooting kept the Revolutionaries in this game. The Hurricanes went just 2-15 from three-point range on the day, while GW shot 53 percent (8-15) from behind the arc. Another worry; the slow start to the 2nd half. Miami had gotten the wakeup call in the first half and is good enough to easily beat a team at George Washington’s level, so why did the ‘Canes stumble out of the gates after the break? Coach Tricia Cullop and the squad needs to make the adjustments at halftime to fix the mistakes, and better teams won’t give Miami a chance to comeback if the Hurricanes take as long to get going as they did today.
Miami will stay in the Cayman Islands for a matchup with No. 24 Oklahoma State Saturday at 11 a.m. ET.
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