UM women fall to Duke 74-58, Katie Meier’s legacy celebrated with banner raising
Katie Meier, the beloved retired University of Miami women’s basketball coach, was honored on Thursday night with a banner raised to the Watsco Center rafters.
It seemed fitting that the tribute took place on the night the Hurricanes played Duke, Meier’s alma mater, where she set records, was an Academic all-American and inducted into the school’s Hall of Honor.
She received a rousing ovation during the halftime ceremony, but the night ended on a downer for Hurricanes fans as Miami lost 74-58 to the 20th-ranked Blue Devils.
UM trailed by as many as 19 points and cut it down to five, 55-50, by the end of the third quarter. The Hurricanes came within three with 9:47 remaining in the game, but Duke answered with a 12-0 run and was never in danger after that.
Miami was held scoreless for seven-plus minutes in the fourth quarter.
Duke remains undefeated in conference play at 10-0, has won 12 games in a row and is 15-6 overall. Miami dropped to 12-9 and 4-6 in the ACC.
“We didn’t play our best in that third quarter, I thought they did a great job of competing and changing the momentum in their favor,” said Duke coach Kara Lawson. “Our fourth quarter was such an incredible response, holding them to eight points, and really shut the door. It was awesome.”
The Hurricanes were coming off a road win over SMU during which they overcame a 15-point deficit. They clawed back again, but were not as fortunate against Duke. Nevertheless, UM coach Tricia Cullop was pleased with her team’s resilience.
“I was really proud of how hard we played, this team didn’t ever give up,” Cullop said. “They’re a very, very good team and the first half they were on fire, hitting every tough shot. But we didn’t give up, even though we had a slow start.”
The Blue Devils raced to a 15-5 lead while the Canes missed eight of their first nine shots. Riding the hot hand of forward Toby Fournier, Duke was ahead 39-23 at the break.
Duke stretched its lead to 19 points early in the third quarter, but then the Hurricanes went on a 7-0 run and started closing the gap. Point guard Gal Raviv, still wearing a face mask to protect her broken nose, made clutch plays during the run and a three-point play by Ra Shaya Kyle got UM to within striking distance.
Asked what she was thinking at that point, Kyle said: “I was thinking, `Oh, man, we got this’.”
Instead, Duke took over and never let down.
“The third quarter we executed really well, the fourth quarter we had some good looks that didn’t go down,” Cullop said. “I don’t think we took bad shots. I just thought shots weren’t falling.”
Duke sophomore Fournier was the top scorer of the night with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go with her game-high 11 rebounds. Taina Mair went 7-of-10 for 18 points for the Blue Devils.
Kyle finished with 21 points and nine rebounds for UM. Raviv had 16 points and Somo Okolo contributed nine points and five rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.
Although the night ended with a Miami loss, it did not diminish the tribute to Meier.
The winningest coach in UM history (men’s and women’s) with 365 victories, Meier led the Canes to 10 NCAA Tournament berths and the school’s first Elite Eight in 2023.
She was named the Associated Press National Coach of the Year in 2011 and the 2013 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year. She decided to retire in 2024 at age 56 and remains at UM as a special advisor and professor.
“When I was begging for this job 22 years ago, I told them, `I’m going to bring a lot of banners to Miami’, and I meant those [pointing to team banners]; I never expected this one,” Meier told the crowd from mid-court.
She went on the thank the UM administration, her staff members, “the most amazing players a woman could ever be blessed to coach,” her mother, Phyllis, and her wife, Hunter Reno. She also thanked fans for supporting Cullop and her players.
Cullop heaped praise on her predecessor after the game.
“I’m really, really happy that her name’s in the rafters,” she said. “Not many coaches stay for 19 years and not many that coach that long can show you how many times they went to post-season play and how much they won. She is beloved by this community and left an incredible legacy. She set the bar really high for all of us.”
Lawson said she, too, was proud to see Meier, a Duke alum, being recognized.
“She is one of the great players in the history of our program, we’re proud of what she accomplished as a player and also what she’s done in coaching,” Lawson said. “So, every time we come play in Miami, we’ll see, yes, a Miami coach but also a Duke alum…We’re really proud that she’s a Blue Devil.”
The Hurricanes are back home Sunday at 2 p.m. against Syracuse.