Miami women’s basketball drops first-round matchup against West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia – The cavernous interior of Hope Coliseum is a daunting place to play, but playing a NCAA tournament game in front of more than 13,000 screaming fans makes the challenge even harder.

The 13-seed Miami University RedHawks women’s basketball team (28-7) encountered this hostile environment against the four-seed West Virginia University Mountaineers (28-6). The RedHawks dropped the matchup 82-54 in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament on March 21.

West Virginia dominated the paint all game, scoring 48 points inside while Miami scored 22. Despite both teams having nearly the same amount of turnovers, the Mountaineers added 21 points off 15 turnovers. The RedHawks trailed with 13 points off 12 turnovers.

“We ran into a buzzsaw today,” head coach Glenn Box said. “We ran into a really good team. They were well-balanced today, they hit us with a lot of different things. Our kids fought, they competed for 40 minutes, and I could be no more proud of a team than I am. It wasn’t our day, but we live, we learn and we improve.”

The trio of senior guard Amber Scalia, junior forward Amber Tretter and sophomore forward Ilse de Vries comprised the RedHawks’ double-digit performers (14, 13 and 12 points respectively). Sophomore guard Tamar Singer nearly hit the double-figure mark with nine points and led the team with eight rebounds.

The Mountaineers’ dominance in the paint largely came from graduate student forward Kierra Wheeler, who scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Senior guard Sydney Shaw paved the way for West Virginia with 19 points and matched Wheeler with nine rebounds of her own. Redshirt junior guard Gia Cooke and senior guard Jordan Harrison rounded out the Mountaineers’ leading scorers with 18 and 15 points respectively.

“Going into the game, we were very prepared for what they were going to show us,” Tretter said. “I think we were executing that at the beginning. Maybe we had one or two [turnovers], and it was a domino effect at one point. I think that also was part of the momentum. They were getting more momentum scoring off the turnovers as well.”

West Virginia ran away with the game late in the first quarter, but the RedHawks utilized the 3-ball to keep the score close early on, trailing 11-9 after seven minutes. With 1:22 left in the quarter, the Mountaineers embarked on a 17-0 run led by Harrison, who scored six of those points. They used a stifling full-court press defense that forced several early turnovers to maintain their run.

The RedHawks fell victim to foul trouble in the first half as junior guard Núria Jurjo picked up her third foul and senior guard Clara Gonzalez Planella her second with more than five minutes to play in the second quarter. Singer would pick up her second later in the same quarter.

The RedHawks’ guards struggled to adjust to the size of the West Virginia players in the first half. As a result, Miami entered the locker room down 14.

The story continued throughout the third quarter. The taller Mountaineers worked Tretter and de Vries out of position, allowing easy baskets in the paint. Timely West Virginia 3-pointers further erased any momentum from Miami.

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The RedHawks finished the game shooting 20-51 (39.2%) from the field and 7-20 (35%) from range. Miami could not replicate the open shooting spots nor the driving lanes it relied on so heavily to generate offense in Mid-American Conference play. Tretter and de Vries were the only RedHawks who could get to the basket consistently. Scalia worked hard for her shots, but the overwhelming West Virginia defense forced an inefficient shooting night for her (4-14 on field goals).

Miami’s deficit continued to widen throughout the fourth quarter, leading to the RedHawks’ 82-54 defeat to close out the 2025-26 season.

No matter what the scoreline indicates, Box noted that this season was a major stepping stone for the program. Projected to finish seventh in the MAC, Miami only suffered two losses in conference play, winning both the regular season and tournament titles. Box highlighted the three seniors on the team —Scalia, Planella and Ashton Elley — who all transferred in before the season began.

“They were able to take us to new heights, and we owe a lot to them,” Box said. “They jumpstarted this thing. We have big goals here, and this is just a step. They helped get us here … They’ve helped get us to another level, and next year, we intend to blow the roof off.”

The RedHawks return to Oxford with a final record of 28-7 in the 2025-26 season. West Virginia will face the University of Kentucky Wildcats in the second round back at Hope Coliseum on March 23.

babukc2@miamioh.edu

meneghcj@miamioh.edu