"I think when that buzzer went off, there's no doubt that we wanted to see them again," Motto said.

This week, at the Mid-American Conference Tournament, the RedHawks could get their chance - but only if everything goes right for both teams.

Miami, regular-season MAC champions at 14-2, enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed for the first time since 1990. For a rematch with the only MAC team that has beaten them this season, the RedHawks will have to win their next two games and make it to the MAC championship finals. So will the third-seeded Golden Flashes.

Miami plays Ball State at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Gund Arena in Cleveland - where the team will look to rebound from its first loss in seven weeks.

Miami University womens head basketball coach Maria Fantanarosa (left) talks with Princeton High School graduate Kim Lancaster during practice at Millett Hall in Oxford. (Jeff Swinger photo)

"We peaked and then we re-peaked, and now we need to re-peak again," Miami coach Maria Fantanarosa said. "We feel like an underdog still because people don't have respect for us. And it just happened. Kent State obviously felt confident they could beat us, and the other teams, when they read the score, will feel confident."

The RedHawks' goal is to be the first MU women's basketball team to go to the NCAA Tournament.

The RedHawks have won just one conference title - in 1982, the first year of the MAC tournament. But in that year, there were two national tournaments, the NCAA and the final year of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) tournament. Miami went to the AIAW and hasn't won the conference tournament since.

The RedHawks are ranked No. 65 in the most recent Rating Percentage Index rankings by CollegeRPI.com, so a tournament championship might be their only ticket to the NCAAs.

They start with ninth-seeded Ball State, which the RedHawks defeated 75-65 on Feb. 25. Ball State defeated eighth-seeded Northern Illinois 80-71 on Saturday to advance. Ball State is led by first-team All-MAC junior Kate Endress, averaging 19.2 points a game.

Colleen Day, who averages a team-leading 14.6 points and 8.1 rebounds, said entering the tournament off a loss could help.

"Maybe this will make us a little hungrier for that," Day said. "I don't think we ever lost focus. Maybe it makes you focus on the little things a little more and step back and look at those, but our attitude overall I don't think has changed."

All-MAC honors

MU senior Colleen Day was named first-team All-MAC Monday.

Senior Kim Lancaster, sophomore Cindi Merrill made the second team.

Amanda Jackson made the All-Freshman team.

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E-mail ckane@enquirer.com