The RedHawks (24-5, 15-1 MAC) can clinch at least a share of the conference crown Wednesday night at home against Kent State.
Núria Jurjo scored 15 points to lead Miami, while Amber Scalia and Macie Taylor each added 13 and Tamar Singer finished with 12. Liz Murphy had 15 points for Akron (7-22, 4-12).
Miami shot 52.7% from the field, forced 21 turnovers and committed a season-low 10.
“Every win is difficult,” Miami coach Glenn Box said. “We typically get other people’s best punch. Akron made some shots throughout to kind of keep them hanging in, and our kids did a good job.
“Bottom line, we won — and winning is hard. Especially when people think you’re good.”
Singer’s three-point play gave Miami an early 5-4 edge, and Ilse de Vries later found Taylor for a wide-open 3-pointer to make it 8-7. Four consecutive layups from Mio Sakano, Amber Tretter, Taylor and Singer helped spark a 16-7 run late in the first quarter, though Akron closed within 16-12.
The RedHawks seized control in the second.
Leading 18-15 early in the quarter, Miami erupted on a 13-0 run fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers from Singer and Jurjo and a pair of layups from Taylor. Jurjo’s second triple of the period stretched the advantage to 31-15, and Miami carried a 37-21 lead into halftime.
“What’s interesting about it is I control a lot of who scores,” Box said of Miami’s balanced attack. “There’s a million ways to win. You get to choose how you want to win. We’ve found what works for this team, and we’re good with that.”
Akron trimmed the deficit to 39-28 three minutes into the third quarter, but Tretter and Scalia answered with back-to-back layups to restore order. De Vries and Jurjo combined for three baskets in a 60-second span later in the period, and Sakano drilled a 3-pointer with two minutes left in the third to push the lead to 19.
Scalia’s corner 3-pointer and Tretter’s layup made it 63-39 with 7:29 remaining. Miami extended the margin to 70-45 at the final media timeout and cruised from there. Akron got no closer than 18 points in the final five minutes.
Scalia’s fast-break layup early in the third quarter marked the 1,500th point of her career. She is now one 3-pointer shy of 200.
“1,500 is a lot of points,” Box said. “She’s a really good player, but she brings so much to the program. … She’s an unbelievable weapon. It’s fun to coach her.”
Scalia finished with 13 points despite combining with Tretter for just four points at halftime.
“We’ve always known this whole year that we have depth,” Scalia said. “Me and Tretter came in at halftime and kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘We’re good. We’re going to figure it out.’
“The biggest thing for us is we’ve got to play defense. Stops always lead to offense.”
Miami improved to 13-0 at home this season and matched the 1981-82 team for the most wins in a single season with 24.
“There’s just a feel-good from playing at home,” Box said. “But at the bottom line, you’ve got to win no matter where you play. We’re just trying to play good basketball right now.”
The RedHawks will try to do just that Wednesday when they host Kent State at 7 p.m., with a conference championship on the line.
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