The Hurricanes women’s basketball team officially opened their 2019-20 season Sunday afternoon with an 83-68 win over the Jackson State Tigers.
“Jackson State was a great first game for us, boy they play hard,” head coach Katie Meier said after the game.
Miami turned the ball over 27 times but some hot shooting from the three-point line helped the Canes make up for their sloppy ball control. The Canes finished the game shooting 45.8 percent from the three-point range, led by junior guard Kelsey Marshall. Marshall had a game-high 18 points on four of seven shooting from three-point range and while junior guard Mykea Gray had 12 points on three of five shooting from downtown.
Miami started the game on fire, hitting three of the first four three-pointers and taking an 11-2 lead, forcing the Tigers to take a timeout just four minutes into the game. The Canes ended the quarter with a 24-10 lead thanks to a mid-quarter 13-2 run. Miami kept up their hot shooting in the second quarter to take a 42-23 halftime lead.
Beatrice Mompremier was honored before the game for scoring 1,000 career points. But the redshirt senior got off to a slow start, going one for six from the field for only two points at halftime, forcing head coach Meier to get on her a little bit.
“For the first time I really just chewed her out,” Meier said, “I didn’t really know what else to do, she was playing careful.”
Mompremier would respond with a big second half for the Miami, finishing with 16 points and shooting five for seven while grabbing seven rebounds, helping her get her 36th career double-double.
“I just had to calm down and get out my head,” Mompremier said after the win.
The Tigers didn’t give up though, as they outscored Miami in both the third and fourth quarters. It still wasn’t enough to over come Miami’s hot shooting and Mompremier’s big second half.
Sophomore Jamir Huston got her first career start and finished with six points and five rebounds. Junior Endia Banks also added 11 points to the scoreboard.
Miami will take on North Florida 11 a.m Nov. 13 at the Watsco Center.