Women's Basketball Falls 69-63 In First Exhibition

Nov. 10, 2000

CORAL GABLES, Fla.–Amanda Papuga (Oak Brook, Ill.) led the University of Miami women’s basketball team with 16 points in the 69-63 loss to the All-Star Girls Report Premier Players Friday night in the first exhibition game of the 2000-01 season in Knight Sports Complex.

“I thought Amanda (Papuga) played really well,” said head coach Ferne Labati. “One of the things we have to continue to do is work on the chemistry of the team.” “We need to work together as a team.”

The Hurricanes, who had three sophomores and a freshman in the starting lineup, stayed close throughout the game. Papuga tied the game up 63-63 with 3:28 remaining in the contest until Trisha Stafford hit a jumper with 1:54 remaining to take the lead for the Premier Players. The rest of the game belonged to the former college stars as they used a 6-0 run to end the game and seal the win.

“We use the exhibition games to show our strengths and our weaknesses,” said Labati. “We have the ability to score points but we have got to do it for two halves.”

Sheila James (Rubonia, Fla.) and Alicia Hartlaub (Schaefferstown, Pa.) joined Papuga in double figures with 14 and 11points respectively.

Miami took a three-point lead into the locker room at halftime (39-36), but came out the second half shooting only 24 percent.

Premier Players threatened to blow the game open midway through the second half when they built a 54-48 lead at the 11:02 mark. But a Dalia Clarke (St. John’s, Antigua) jumper and two free throws from James followed by back-to-back jumpers from James and Kathryn Fowler (East Elmhurst, NY) pulled UM ahead by one with 7:58 remaining in the game.

Miami shot just 31.5 percent (23-of-73) from the field including 24.3 percent (9-of-37) in the second half, compared to 47.4 percent (27-of-57) for the Premier Players.

The exhibition season continues with a game against the Dynamo Kiev, Nov. 16, prior to the regular-season opener versus Florida Atlantic, Nov. 20.