The Falcon women’s basketball team fell to the Miami RedHawks 66-62 Saturday afternoon, and the team suffered its fifth straight loss of the season.
“Miami made a couple of tough shots there at the end,” Falcons head coach Jennifer Roos said. “I thought this game was going to come down to the last possession the way that it was trending. … We were really proud of our effort at the start. We haven’t started our last two games well, and today they brought it from the beginning and carried that over through the fourth quarter.
The game began with the Falcons getting off to a good start as junior guard Sydney Lambert hit a jumper and fellow junior guard Carly Santoro made a 3-pointer to give the team a 5-0 advantage. However, Miami was able to quickly close the gap back up to make it a 5-5 game. The teams traded the lead back-and-forth in the first quarter, with Miami coming out with a 14-13 lead going into the second quarter.
The second quarter was similar to the first in terms of scoring, as the teams continued to go back and forth on the scoreboard, with Miami holding onto a 33-32 lead at halftime. Senior guard Haley Puk led the team in scoring in the first half with nine total points by making three field goals, one of which a 3-pointer, and two free throws.
In the third quarter, the Falcons evened the game up at 48, and the Falcons briefly retook the lead and went ahead by five; however, Miami was able to fight back late to tie the game back up. The fourth quarter continued to see both teams swapping the lead, eventually resulting with the Falcons holding the lead 62-61 with 1:23 left. However, a successful Miami 3 point shot with 51 seconds remaining put them ahead again. A Falcon foul with 13 seconds to go gave Miami a chance at two free throws, both of which were good, allowing Miami to go on to take the 66-62 win.
“The biggest Achilles’ heel for us was our turnovers and second chance points,” Roos said. “When you are in the double digit deficit in both of those categories, it should be a wide margin, but credit our kids, they did not stop after those two categories were so skewed, and they kept battling.”
The team will next play Wednesday night at home against the Western Michigan Broncos.
“We’ve played them before, so we know what we need to do,” Puk said. “I think we can get this defense going and put 40 minutes together, so I’m looking forward to playing them again on the home court. So, we’re going to get a good game plan for them.”
