KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team came up short this afternoon against the Miami RedHawks by a final score of 80-67. The defeat moves WMU to 12-7 on the season, and 6-4 in Mid-American Conference play.

The contest was back and forth for a large portion of the afternoon, with a total of 13 lead changes and a pair of ties through the game's 40 minutes. The Broncos and RedHawks split the first two quarters of play as Miami (7-12, 3-7 MAC) held a 17-13 lead after one, but relinquished their edge in the second quarter as WMU tied the game at 32 going into the locker room.

Sophomore guard Hannah Spitzley got things started for Western Michigan, cashing in on a three for the ballgame's first points. Spitzley also had a solid first half crashing the glass, pulling in six first-half rebounds to go along with seven points on 3-5 shooting through two quarters. Redshirt senior forward Reilly Jacobson played strong in the first half as well, adding eight points on 3-6 from the field, as well as two boards and a trio of blocked shots for her team. Sophomore guard Lauren Ross tallied six points in the first half for the Broncos as well, ending the half by burying a triple from deep to knot things up.

The outing's final two quarters went in favor of Miami as the RedHawks outscored WMU 48-35 in the second half to keep the Broncos at bay, despite the third quarter holding 10 of the game's 13 lead changes. WMU and Miami traded baskets coming out of the locker room and the RedHawks strung a few together to end the period with a six-point advantage. Reilly Jacobson and Lauren Ross shouldered the scoring load in the third as Jacobson went a perfect 3-3 from the field for seven third-quarter points while Ross added six points on 2-4 shooting and a pair of free throws for the Western Michigan cause.

The Broncos ran out of juice in the fourth quarter as Miami pushed their lead to double digits and would not look back before the final buzzer sounded. MU shot 16-31 (51.6 percent) from the field in the second half, while capitalizing on 3-7 (42.9 percent) from deep and 13-15 (86.7 percent) from the foul line.

For the game, Western Michigan was led by Hannah Spitzley, who finished with her first career double-double, scoring 14 points on 5-10 shooting while pulling in 10 rebounds and packing two Miami shot attempts in her 34 game minutes. Head coach Shane Clipfell spoke highly of Spitzley post-game: "I definitely loved seeing what she was able to do today. The kid is a winner; she's had some MVP-type games without scoring a point…she's really important. Her ability to score points for us would definitely bolster us for the month of February. We'd like to see that continue."
Reilly Jacobson and Lauren Ross both tallied 16 points each for the second game in a row as Jacobson got 6 of her 12 shot attempts to fall in addition to four boards and three blocks. Ross posted similar shooting numbers, netting 5-12 shots (41.7 percent) while dishing out a pair of dimes and registering two takeaways during her afternoon.

As a team, the Broncos played well offensively, shooting 22-52 (42.3 percent) from the field and 6-20 (30 percent) from three-point territory, while also sinking 17-22 (77.3 percent) from the free throw line. Unfortunately for WMU, Miami played perhaps their best ball of the season, knocking down 29 of 64 (45.3 percent) from the field and 7 of 17 (41.2 percent) from three. The RedHawks also went 15-18 (83.3 percent) from the charity stripe and 8-10 from the line in the fourth quarter alone.

Next up, Western Michigan faces another quick turnaround as the team heads to Buffalo for a Monday night hoop session with the Bulls. Tip-off inside Alumni Arena between two of the MAC's top teams on Feb. 7 is confirmed for 7 p.m. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN3 and listening via 95.5 FM.

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