UM women use height advantage to dominate FAU 79-47 and improve to 3-0
The University of Miami women’s basketball team kept a perfect record through three games with a 79-47 home win against FAU on Thursday night.
The Hurricanes had a major height advantage over the Owls, and it showed. Miami outscored FAU 44-22 in the paint. The Canes also won the rebounding battle 48-20.
Amarachi Kimpson, a UNLV transfer guard, had her best night so far in a UM uniform with a team-high 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
“We have great post players, so we’ve got to get the ball inside to them, especially against this team because we were much bigger than them,” Kimpson said.
Kimpson had been a bit frustrated the first few games, so coach Tricia Cullop was happy to see her have a good night.
“She’s a three-level scorer, if you look at her stats she was one of the most efficient guards in the nation last season,” Cullop said. “She really prides herself on details, she’s a very high-IQ kid. It’s good to see her knocking down shots and fun to see her get loose and do what we know she’s capable of and what we hope to see in the future.”
Ra Shaya Kyle, the 6-6 Florida transfer, went 6-of-7 for 13 points and had seven rebounds and a pair of blocks. Fresno State transfer Jessica Peterson grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
“We used our size to our advantage, and we also rebounded the ball really well,” Kyle said. “We just got in there crashing and we’re very versatile, so we have a lot of options we can throw at people down low.”
Israeli guard Gal Raviv, who transferred from Quinnipiac, chipped in 12 points with four assists and three rebounds. Raviv’s backcourt partner Ahnay Adams, one of just two returnees from last year’s team, led the Canes with five assists and had nine points and four rebounds.
Miami took control early, shooting 71 percent and outrebounding the Owls 14-3 in the first quarter to jump out to a 24-9 lead. Raviv got things going with a pull-up three-pointer in the first minute and the Canes were never threatened the rest of the night.
By halftime, the Hurricanes had widened the gap, 42-23, and they led 61-35 going into the fourth quarter.
Cullop was pleased with the team’s shooting percentage (54 percent from the field, 46.7 percent from three-point range), rebounding and points in the paint. The two areas was dissatisfied with were a season-high 17 turnovers and 50 percent shooting from the free throw line.
Last season, Cullop hosted ice cream parties every time the team shot more than 80 percent from the free throw line. “It might have to be 70 percent this year,” Cullop said, smiling. “It’s an emphasis. I think this team is capable, and we have to keep working on it.”
FAU was led by junior guard Grace Carstensen with 14 points. The Owls dropped to 2-1.
The Hurricanes head to Orlando next week for the WBCA Showcase, where they will face Davidson on Thursday and No. 21 Iowa on Saturday.
“Davidson shoots really well, takes good care of the ball, one of the best mid-major teams I’ve seen in the country,” Cullop said. “It wasn’t that long ago they beat Duke. And then, obviously, we all know what Iowa is capable of. Really good post game, very physical, run the floor hard and they’ve got great three-point shooters.
“This is going to be a great litmus test for us to see where we’re at.”