CLEVELAND – The Miami University RedHawks women’s basketball team captured its first Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship in 18 years with a 68-58 win over the University of Toledo Rockets on March 14. The victory at Rocket Mortgage Arena will send the RedHawks to March Madness next week.
Four different RedHawks scored in the double figures and contributed all but one point to Miami’s total. Junior forward Amber Tretter paved the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds, good for her second double-double of the tournament. Sophomore forward Ilse de Vries scored 17 points and led Miami in 3-point shooting (3-7, 42.9%), while senior guard Amber Scalia and sophomore guard Tamar Singer added 14 and 13 points, respectively.
“I couldn’t be any more delighted with the group that we have,” said head coach Glenn Box in the postgame press conference. “The way they come together, the way they work hard every day, the way they listen. They’ve been such an amazing group. This tournament run, it puts a stamp on everything. We’re two-time champions now. We feel like there’s more out in store for us, but before we get there, we intend to have good times.”
Scalia totaled 50 points over the three postseason games and was named the Tournament MVP. Tretter and Singer joined her on the MAC All-Tournament Team alongside senior guard Bree Salenbien from Ball State University and graduate student guard Patricia Anumgba from Toledo.
Miami wasted no time getting to work, opening up the contest with a 16-0 run. The RedHawks kept Toledo from scoring on its first 10 shots, allowing the Miami offense to take advantage of the opportunity and cushion its lead 16-6 going into the second quarter.
The RedHawks’ defense dominated while Toledo committed 14 turnovers on seven Miami steals. By the end of the second quarter, the Rockets were limited to 25% shooting from the field. Meanwhile, the RedHawks shot 42%, and Scalia and Singer added eight points each.
Although the Rockets eventually found their footing, the RedHawks kept making their way to the rim. De Vries scored two of her own 3-pointers in the second quarter, and Singer put Miami up 28-10. The team wouldn’t score for the rest of the quarter, allowing Toledo to lessen the damage and send the game into halftime down 28-16.
Despite a strong Miami performance in the first half, the Rockets made the game interesting throughout the second half, closing the deficit to as few as five points. Anumgba led the comeback with 12 points in the third quarter alone. She finished the game with 22 points to lead the Toledo roster.
“We know it’s a game of runs,” Scalia said. “We had a little bit of a hard time getting out there in the third quarter, but we just kept coming together and said, ‘We just need to stay together, we just need to stay together,’ and that’s what we did.”
Toledo battled until the final minute of the fourth quarter, but Miami stayed up on the scoreboards thanks to a series of free throws in the final minutes. When the final buzzer rang, the RedHawks held a 68-58 lead and captured their second MAC championship in program history.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Tretter said. “I think we’re gonna enjoy it, but we also are not just going in there just to play in March Madness. We want to win games as well, and we have the capabilities to do so.”
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Scalia had another high-level performance in Cleveland with 14 points, five rebounds and four steals. She led the team in field goal percentage shooting 7-11 (63.6%). Tretter had yet another strong presence with her 11th double-double of the season and made nine free throws on 11 attempts (81.8%).
Miami’s championship title marks Box’s first since he joined the RedHawks in 2023. The RedHawks await their seed announcement on Selection Sunday to determine their date, location and opponent in March Madness.
“Monday, we’re back to work,” Box said. “We’re trying to win. People used to snicker when I got here for the first couple years when I talked about this, but [our goal] is to win championships. Now, we won a championship. Our goal is to be in the Sweet 16. That has not changed. That’s our expectation; that’s the standard.”
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