Canes Women’s Hoops Recap: Winning in Style on Senior Night

The no. 15 Miami Hurricanes used a classic duel-threat to control and slowly suffocate the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Thursday night at the Watsco Center, 69-56.

Miami (24-6, 12-3 ACC) was dominant on all areas of the floor en route to the win, their 10th of their past 12 games. Georgia Tech (17-11, 7-8 ACC) fell back below .500 after being three games under the mark as recently as February 2.

Canes forward Beatrice Mompremier scored her 1,000th career point in just the second basket of the game. But the early milestone was just the start of a monster game from the Baylor transfer.

With a game-highs in points with 22 and rebounds with 16, the graduate of Miami Senior High had reached a double-double by halftime. It was her 22nd of the season, and is a stat she has achieved in all but two ACC games she has played in 2019.

The post presence of Mompremier matched perfectly with the skill and athleticism of Mykea Gray, a 5-4 guard from the state of Maryland often compared to Chris Lykes.

Gray finished Thursday’s game with 18 points on 3-4 shooting from three-point range. The sophomore finished in double-figures for the fourth consecutive game, and like Mompremier, has only twice missed out on at least ten points this conference season season.

With the help of Mompremier and Gray, the Canes had both the paint and the perimeter in control for all 40 minutes.

UM out rebounded the Yellow Jackets 44-38, and scored 30 points in the paint to Georgia Tech’s 24. Miami also outshot the visitors 44-35 percent; and from three-point range, that advantage increased to a wide 47-23 percent margin.

And Miami, in spite of committing the ninth-most amount of giveaways per game in the ACC, the scored 20 points off forced turnovers compared to just 12 from their opponent.

Seniors Emese Hof and Khaila Prather were honored before their last regular season home game in a Miami uniform. Prather, who took a redshirt during her true freshman year, will become the first UM player—on a men’s or women’s team—to make the NCAA Tournament five different years as a player.

The pair of seniors mean the world to head coach Katie Meier.

“I write them [Hof and Prather] their cards this morning,” Meier said about crying when writing thank you notes to her players. “When I came out [of my office] afterwords...my operations person asked ‘Did you spill water on your sweatshirt?’”

The Hurricanes found themselves down 14-13 after one quarter, shooting just 25 percent in the opening frame.

A 17-7 UM second-quarter advantage gave Miami separation heading into the break, sustained by a 9-2 run over the final 3:05 of the half, leading 30-22.

Elizabeth Balogun led the Jackets in points with 15, while Elizabeth Dixon followed closely with 12.

With the win, the Canes move into sole position of third place in the ACC with North Carolina State’s loss Thursday. The teams will play Sunday, with the losing team finishing in fourth place and the winner finishing no lower than third.

Miami still has a chance at the regular season ACC championship, with a win Sunday combined with losses by Notre Dame to Virginia and Louisville to Pittsburgh.