MAC Women's Basketball Notes: Is Miami The Team To Beat?

Notes from today's women's basketball games:

MIAMI 61, ROBERT MORRIS 50 — Even though it happened simultaneously with the RMU men's win over OHIO, consider that loss avenged somewhat. Courtney Osborn had 20 points, her fourth 20-point game of the year, while Kirsten Olowinski had her sixth double-double of the year: 14 points, 17 rebounds (the latter stat a season-high).

And quietly the RedHawks are 10-3 after their nonconference doings, tied for the best record (with BGSU) and arguably the best so far. They'll play at Akron on Wednesday night to begin the conference. Or maybe others know about them; I've been involuntarily dismissing them as one of the MAC's best. After all, they were picked second in the MAC East's preseason media poll, and I've been focusing on BG, Toledo and EMU. Turns out that Maria Fantanarosa's ladies are right in the mix with the rest. MU has won six straight.

EASTERN MICHIGAN 65, WYOMING 43 — The Eagles cap a rocky nonconference schedule with a big win over the Cowgirls. And again you can thank Tavelyn James for showing up: 27 points, five rebounds, five steals. Olivia Fouty brought down a career-best 18 rebounds (10 offensive) as the Eagles technically pulled off a "Pink Line" upset over the Mountain West. But UW is now 4-9 so this really wasn't an unexpected outcome. Eastern improves to 8-5 and opens MAC play Thursday at Ball State.

TEMPLE 64, WESTERN MICHIGAN 52 — Struggles continue for the women from Kalamazoo. Maria Iaquaniello again led WMU in scoring with 18 points. Several freshmen are playing many minutes for this team, so I'm not sure how much noise they can make in the conference but they might be spoilers.

The MAC openers (most/all of these games ought to be seen live for free on MAC-Sports.com)

WEDNESDAY
7:00 p.m. — Miami at Akron
7:00 p.m. — Kent State at BGSU
7:00 p.m. — Buffalo at OHIO

THURSDAY
7:00 p.m. — EMU at Ball State
7:00 p.m. — Toledo at WMU
8:00 p.m. – CMU at NIU