Ja’Leah Williams’ second-half play sparks UM women to 59-52 win against Jackson State
University of Miami women’s basketball coach Katie Meier and her staff wore Christmas sweaters to the Watsco Center Wednesday night, but they were not in a festive mood as the Hurricanes headed to the locker room knotted at halftime against Jackson State.
They made adjustments, opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run sparked by point guard Ja’Leah Williams and came away with a 59-52 win to improve their record to 9-1.
Williams was scoreless at halftime but came out on fire after the break and finished with 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting, four assists, and seven of Miami’s 19 steals. Jaida Patrick, a Duke transfer, led the Hurricanes’ scorers with 15 points. Jasmyne Roberts added 10 points and five rebounds.
“We had to overcome adversity; just because we lost to Baylor doesn’t mean we’re going to keep losing,” said Williams, who then wished the crowd “Happy Holidays” and serenaded them with a few bars from the song, This Christmas. She added that coming out of halftime, associate head coach Fitzroy Anthony issued her a challenge.
“He told me and Shay (Lashae Dwyer) that he needed us to be the dogs, and that’s what my team needed of me,” Williams said. “I’m always willing to do whatever this team needs.”
Meier, flanked by Williams and Patrick after the game, said: “There’s a reason these two are captains. They showed a certain toughness and a will to win. We made a change in the lineup coming out of halftime. We had to play the players that had will to win. Ja’Leah was playing with way more care and energy and that’s what we needed.”
UM, which started the season undefeated at 8-0, lost its first game last week, 75-57 to No. 10 Baylor in a battle of unbeatens. The Hurricanes were ranked No. 24 in the AP and USA Today polls before that game but dropped out of the AP Top 25 after the loss.
A home game against Jackson State (5-4) was a chance for UM to get back on track, but it proved to be a bigger challenge than fans probably expected.
The Hurricanes’ offense went cold in the early going, as they shot 29 percent in the first half. Despite the poor shooting, they led 17-14 after the first quarter thanks to 11 points from Patrick.
Miami leads the ACC in scoring defense at 55.3 points allowed per game, and that tenacity on the defensive end kept the Hurricanes in the game. Miami had 11 steals by halftime and had forced 15 turnovers.
Back-to-back steals in the opening minute of the second half led to a pair of layups by Williams and another steal and layup by Lazaria “Z” Spearman sparked the Hurricanes’ 10-2 run. The Tigers stayed in striking distance with the help of Ti’Ian Boler and trailed by three heading into the fourth quarter.
Boler was Jackson State’s leading scorer with 18 points.
“We’re very fortunate to be sitting here with a win and it changed when we decided to play defense and be Miami and not worry about our offensive woes,” Meier said. “If you’re going to shoot like we shot, miss layups at the rim, the only thing you can do to fix it is get a stop and a rebound on the next play. Third and fourth quarter we played a little more of what we want, but still not good enough.”
The Hurricanes close out the year with home games against Alabama State on Dec. 28 at noon and Louisville Dec. 31 at 4 p.m.
This story was originally published December 20, 2023 at 9:19 PM.