UM women lose to No. 11 Virginia Tech, but Meier feels gritty Canes clinched NCAA berth
The ninth-seeded University of Miami women’s basketball team trailed top seed Virginia Tech by two late in Friday’s ACC tournament quarterfinal, but the Hokies got hot and advanced with a 55-47 victory.
Georgia Amoore scored 23 of her game-high 27 points in the second half. Eleventh-ranked Virginia Tech (24-6) as missing three-time ACC player of the year Elizabeth Kitley, who injured her ankle against Virginia last weekend and will miss the ACC tournament.
Miami (19-12) was coming off a win over North Carolina and though the Hurricanes fell short Friday, coach Katie Meier gushed about her team’s effort, says “the light bulb turned on”, and she feels they have a strong enough resume to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. Last year the Canes reached the ACC quarters, got into the NCAA Tournament with 19 wins and reached the Elite Eight.
“I am so proud of my team, holy, moly,” she said. “We saw grit, effort, hustle, resilience, toughness…We can take a team that is very good and was in the Final Four last year and have a chance in the fourth quarter to beat them with grit, even if we’re not hitting. So, I think we’re a very dangerous team and I don’t think anybody’s going to want to play us in the NCAA Tournament, but there’s no doubt we played our way in.”
Jasmyne Roberts scored 12 points for UM, Shayeann Day-Wilson added 11 and Ja’Leah Williams had a career-high 12 rebounds. Miami went 1-of-14 from three-point range, and that was a key factor in the loss, as was Amoore.
“Amoore’s an incredible player, first half we contained her, second half shots started falling for her, we did the same defense the entire game, gapped up on her, took away her vision, but a couple of times she was able to get past and do what Amoore does,” Roberts said. “It felt like we were playing such amazing defense on her, and then, boom, she has 27.”
UM men vs. FSU in season finale
The UM men’s basketball team, which has lost eight games in a row, finishes its regular season on the road Saturday against Florida State at 4 p.m. (ESPN2)
Both teams are 15-15. The Hurricanes beat the Seminoles 86-63 in Tallahassee last season, but FSU has been the dominant team in recent years. FSU has won 11 of the past 12 games against Miami. The Seminoles won 84-75 in January, the sixth time in a row they beat UM as the visiting team.
Asked about the rivalry, UM coach Jim Larranaga said:
“There hasn’t been a rivalry; they’ve handled us so often for the last five, six years that we’ve not been able to figure out the formula for beating them. We’ve beaten Clemson three times in a row, we have beaten Carolina two or three times in a row, there’s certain teams you match up with better and can play better. Florida State’s not been one of those.
“Their defense and size really bothers us. They’re very, very quick. They’re long. They’ve got like three seven-footers, or 6-11 guys that can block shots and dunk the ball on you. They’re a very hard matchup for us defensively.”
The Seminoles have six players 6-9 or taller on their roster. The Canes have two.
If the Hurricanes make some threes, they are capable of going on a roll, Larranaga said, and he hopes they will do that. Nijel Pack left Wednesday’s game against Boston College with a knee injury and his status for Saturday is unknown.
