Miami Women’s Basketball Start Another Historic Quest Today

After last year’s memorable run to the Elite Eight, the Miami Women’s Basketball program is ready to start their next historic quest. The Hurricanes will begin their run this morning at 11 a.m. when they open their season against Jacksonville at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables.

Junior guard Jasmyne Roberts reflected on last year’s run, “Knowing we did it before, so it can be done again. Even though we’re a new team, we’re still returning people who experienced it and can bring that confidence into the season coming up and apply it. So, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Roberts, a Jacksonville native and one of the breakout stars from last season’s tournament run will be looked upon to help Miami move forward, both on the court and in the locker room.

Last year Roberts averaged 19.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in Miami’s tournament wins and earned a spot on the Greenville-2 All-Region Team. She is one of three juniors, including Ja’Leah Williams and Lashae Dwyer, who have played together for the past three years.

With the departure Miami’s two leading scorers, Destiny Harden and Haley Cavinder, the trio will be expected to take the lead on the court this year. Williams, another returning starter averaged 6.6 points and 3.1 rebounds, while Dwyer averaged 5.9 points and 2.3 rebounds for the Hurricanes, who finished last season with a 21-13 mark.

Coach Meier joked “I keep telling them ‘You’re seniors twice You’re going to be seniors twice.’” “They’re my rocks. I’m like, ‘Who would you call?’ and you’re right, it’s those three. They’ve been kind of waiting to lead, waiting to see what the team needs from them. But you know, if we have a flat practice or something’s going wrong, I’m always blaming those three and they know it. It’s always going to be their fault until the other ones come around.”

Joining the trio of Hurricanes’ returning veterans are several transfers who are expected to step up and make a difference, including  Shayeann Day-Wilson, Lemyah Hylton, Jaida Patrick and Ally Stedman.

Day-Wilson and Patrick bring with them ACC experience, after both spent two seasons at Duke. Patrick, who played at Columbia last season, averaged 12.5 points and 4.8 rebounds to earn All-Ivy Second-Team honors, and Day-Wilson was the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2021-22 and averaged 10.2 points and 3.1 assists per game during her time at Duke.

Stedman enjoyed two seasons at Pepperdine, earned a spot on the West Coast Conference All-Freshman Team in 2022 and was an All-WCC Honorable Mention honoree last season after averaging 15.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season. And Hylton is a former four-star prospect who spent a season at Arizona before transferring to Miami.

The No. 25 team in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches Poll Tips off at the Watsco Center at 11 a.m. and the game will air on ACC Network Extra.

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