By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Something lit Miami's fire against Xavier Wednesday night at the Cintas Center.

Whether it was coach Maria Fantanarosa "raising (her) voice"in the team huddle or simply their 22-year postseason drought fueling them, Miami went on a 16-0 run to end the first half and never let the Musketeers come back.

The RedHawks ran away from the opening round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament with a 77-65 win in its first national postseason tournament since 1982.

"They certainly were way fired up for the game, and had a tremendous amount of emotion and desire, and we never matched that at any point," Xavier coach Kevin McGuff said. "That's one thing I talked to the kids about. They haven't been to the postseason in a long, long time, and I think it's something that our kids around here take for granted ... Quite frankly, they played harder from start to finish."

Miami (22-8) advances to play at Iowa State in the round of 16 Friday night.

"We are going to enjoy this all night because we don't take time enough to enjoy the wins," Fantanarosa said.

The Musketeers couldn't manage the high-scoring RedHawks, who sparked the decisive first-half run with four 3-pointers. They also scored 20 points off 22 Musketeers turnovers.

It was just the fourth time all season Xavier has given up more than 70 points. Miami averages 77.8 points a game, which is sixth-best in the country."We wanted to come out and play defense, but obviously that wasn't working for us," XU forward Tara Boothe said. "We weren't hitting shots. We weren't rebounding. We weren't doing the things we normally do."

Boothe, who averages 18.3 points and 7.6 rebounds, was held to three points and one rebound in the first half. The sophomore finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

"Even when we had mismatches, she still didn't touch the ball quick enough," Fantanarosa said. "I'm glad we were able to get away with her having an average game. But to give my post players, and really my whole team credit, that was the whole key - to make sure she doesn't get touches."

Xavier was led by Miranda Green's 14 points. Senior Colleen Day's 18 points and nine rebounds and freshman Amanda Jackson's 16 points and five steals led Miami.

"Our plan was to come out aggressive and attack," Jackson said. "It was about us, so I took the opportunity and went with it."

"We had good spurts, but good spurts weren't going to win a game like this," McGuff said. "What we've got to do in the offseason is figure out we have to play hard every night There were a lot of occasions that we didn't give consistent effort for 40 minutes. And that's no way to lose."

Xavier, which returns all of its starters next year, ends its season with a 17-13 record.

MIAMI (22-8) - Day 6-17 6-6 18, Lancaster 5-8 0-0 10, Jackson 7-17 1-2 16, Motto 3-8 3-4 12, Merrill 5-9 3-5 14, Beck 0-0 0-0 0, Kozlowski 1-3 2-3 5, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Totals: 28-64 15-20 77.

XAVIER (17-13) - Boothe 5-11 0-1 11, Olanrewaju 4-7 3-3 11, Green 6-11 2-2 14, Wallner 2-4 2-4 6, Granderson 5-17 0-0 13, Chowning 1-4 2-3 5, Geryak 0-0 0-0 0, Wells 0-0 0-0 0, Sarajlija 2-6 0-0 5, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0, Totals: 25-60 9-13 65.

Halftime: Miami 43, Xavier 30. 3-pointers: Miami 6-16 (Day 0-1, Jackson 1-4, Motto 3-6, Merrill 1-2, Kozlowski 1-3), Xavier 6-19 (Boothe 1-2, Green 0-1, Wallner 0-1, Granderson 3-7, Chowning 1-4, Sarajlija 1-4). Rebounds: Miami 34 (Day, Lancaster 9), Xavier 43 (Wallner 7). Assists: Miami 18 (Motto 7), Xavier 9 (Green, Wallner 3).