UM women come out flat, rally in second half, but fall short 67-59 on road to FSU
University of Miami coach Katie Meier let out a long sigh when she sat down for her post-game interview Sunday afternoon. The Hurricanes had just lost 67-59 on the road to rival Florida State University a week after beating the Seminoles by 15 in Coral Gables.
Meier was frustrated that her starters came out flat and let them know at halftime.
“I told them, `This has to be getting old. You expect me to come in here and fire everyone up, give some kind of rah-rah, wake up kind of speech. I already burned two timeouts doing that, so we’re going to talk about solutions and see who is willing to listen and stay focused and get it done,’” Meier said.
The Hurricanes rallied, shot 67 percent in the third quarter and shrunk an 18-point deficit to six with under a minute to go. But they couldn’t get any closer. Both teams were dressed in pink for breast cancer awareness.
With the loss, Miami dropped to 8-9 overall and 5-9 in the ACC. The Seminoles are 8-5, 7-5 in conference.
UM’s bench scored 30 points, led by Mason, who had 13. Starter Destiny Harden added 12 points. Starting guard Kelsey Marshall had an off night, going 2-of-10 for four points with one rebound and no assists. Starting forward Naomi Mbandu struggled early and finished with seven points and seven rebounds.
“I’m proud of the bench,” Meier said. “I think the starters were absolutely flat, which, I’m sorry, but in a rivalry game I shouldn’t be coaching energy. I had to and I burned two timeouts in the first quarter because we weren’t awake, which wound up biting us in the butt later in the game.”
Meier added: “We have all the ingredients but they have to show up together and then you need to follow the recipe.”
One of the bright spots for Miami was freshman center Nyayongah Gony, who scored a season-best three three-pointers for nine points. “She was a big-time gamer. She had great poise, and was plus-eight, the best on our team.”
FSU had four players in double digits, led by Kourtney Weber, who went 6-of-10 for 15 points. Bianca Jackson added 13.