Miame Giden leads the Broncos past the RedHawks for WMU’s second straight win

By Mitch Barnett
Western Herald

The Western Michigan University women’s basketball team won their second straight Mid-American Conference game on Saturday afternoon against the University of Miami Ohio RedHawks in a 75-69 decision.

The RedHawks cut a 14-point second-half Bronco lead down to four, but the Brown and Gold were able to hang on for the win.  The victory marked the Brown and Gold’s first over the RedHawks since the quarterfinals of the 2007 MAC Tournament.   It was WMU’s first win at Miami, Ohio since Feb. 8, 2006.

Sophomore Miame Giden led the Broncos with a tremendous effort, racking up 22 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Junior Kemmy Dominique also had a great game, hitting three three-pointers for 15 points and a team-high five assists.

Western Michigan got off to a fast start taking a 9-3 lead, but Miami would fight their way  back with an 11-2 run to pull out in front, 14-11.  The run didn’t break the Bronco spirit however.

After trailing by three, WMU outscored the RedHawks 25-16 through the end of the half to lead 36-30 at halftime.  Giden and Dominique scored 20 of the Broncos first 25 points and they both had 12 points in the first half.

The Broncos picked up where they left off in the second, especially Giden, who scored seven of the Broncos first nine points.  The Brown and Gold pushed the lead to 14 twice in the half, the second lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.

The RedHawks continued to attack WMU defensively, causing the Broncos to turn the ball over five times. Miami cut the deficit down to four and had a chance to bring it to within two with 2:03 remaining, but Miami’s Courtney Reed missed a pair of free throws.

Western Michigan’s Taylor Manley made the first of two free throws on the other end and the rebound bounced out of bounds off Miami, giving the Broncos another possession.

After allowing the clock to run down on the next possession, Manley hit a quick jumper as the shot clock expired. WMU regained control with the make, going up by seven with 1:11 remaining.  Western Michigan put the final nail in the RedHawk coffin from the free-throw line, making all eight attempts in the final minute.

The Broncos hit 74.2 percent from the line, going 23-for-31.  Manley finished with nine points, all in the final two minutes and with seven coming from the free throw line.

Cleary chipped in eight points and seven rebounds while senior Molly Dwyer hit a pair of three-pointers before fouling out. Dwyer moved past former Bronco Curleta Harris for seventh place on the school’s career three-pointer list with 107.

Shooting 42.9 percent in the second half, Western Michigan finished the game hitting 46.9 percent, the team’s best in the past couple of games.

WMU improves to 2-8 in the MAC and 7-16 on the season, matching last year’s win total. Miami drops to 6-17 overall, 4-6 in the MAC.

Western Michigan returns to play on Wednesday with a match-up against Kent State University in the last cross-division game of the season.  The match-up is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Feb 6 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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