The Miami Hurricanes women’s basketball team has started its season on a winning streak, improving to 4-0 after its 75-42 win over the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Owls on Wednesday night at the Watsco Center. This victory concludes a four-game homestand to start the season for the ‘Canes.
From the tip-off, Miami’s defense dominated, as Florida Atlantic was only able to muster 18 points in the first half while turning the ball over 12 times.
On the offensive end, numerous ‘Canes contributed, as nine different Miami players scored in the first half. Veteran guard Karla Erjavec led the way with eight points.
In the second half, the Hurricanes did not let their guard down, as they outscored Florida Atlantic by 15 points, shooting 44.7% from the field.
Defensively, Miami continued to stifle FAU’s offense, holding the Owls to 32.7% shooting as a team over the course of the game. A complete 40 minutes of basketball led to the 33-point win for the ‘Canes.
Freshman forward Lazaria Spearman finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, giving her the first double-double of her career.
“[Spearman] is a walking double-double and we are not surprised because we see it every day in practice,” head coach Katie Meier said. “She had a game where the team needed her and she completely stepped up.”
This was the third time in the young season a Miami player recorded a double-double, with the other two coming from forwards Destiny Harden and Latasha Lattimore against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Boston University, respectively.
Guard Lashae Dwyer, who scored 14 points, and Erjavec, who scored 11, were the other two Hurricanes in double figures. This marked both players’ first double-digit scoring game of the season.
The 4-0 start is the 11th such start in program history. All four wins have come at home, which is only the second time this has happened. The other time was last season.
“That was a tough game and I want to give Florida Atlantic so much credit. Certainly, their physicality on the perimeter is something that we haven’t seen yet this year,” Meier said. “Forty-two points from the bench matched FAU’s total output and we had some huge numbers off the bench. We had some really big-time performances.”
Miami will play its first road game of the season when it travels to Chicago to take on the DePaul Blue Demons. The game will take place at Wintrust Arena on Nov. 20, and tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.