Miami women’s basketball team rises to 18-4 record and 10-0 in the MAC
RedHawks’ 40-4 combined record with women’s and men’s teams is 2nd in nation behind UConn
Miami women’s basketball team rises to 18-4 record and 10-0 in the MAC
After Saturday’s win over Ohio University, the Miami University women’s basketball team is 10-0 in the Mid-American Conference — the 10th best start in MAC history.
And when the women’s 18-4 record is combined with the men’s 22-0? The RedHawks’ 40-4 record is second in the nation behind the University of Connecticut (men 21-1, women 23-0), said Dave Meyer, assistant athletic director for communications.
Miami women’s basketball coach Glenn Box called the RedHawks' success “an unbelievable feeling” and said it is gratifying to be able to offer Miami basketball supporters “the product that we’re giving them, and I’m sure Travis (Steele) feels the same way.”
A few more noteworthy stats:
- The women’s team is 9-0 at home.
- The RedHawks have won 11 straight games.
- The team ranks No. 12 in the Mid-Major Poll, climbing eight spots last week after wins against Buffalo and Ball State.
‘A lot of positives’
The team’s success is having a positive impact on recruiting, said Box, who is in his third season leading the RedHawks.
“People are attracted to winners and positive things, and I think our program has exhibited a lot of positives,” he said.
Box joined Miami in May 2023 after seven years with the Indiana University women’s basketball program (the last four as associate head coach).
He attributes this season’s success to “the people. I feel like we have done a good job bringing in the right people, both players and staff.”
He’s most proud of the growth.
“I get almost as much satisfaction from winning as seeing individuals around me improving,” said Box, who described himself as a competitor and a teacher.
“It’s fun to watch people challenge themselves in ways they didn’t think that they could,” he said after Friday’s practice in Millett Hall.
A team tested
Box said he had high expectations when he took over the program, expecting to compete for championships and NCAA berths.
Year 1 was a major building year, with Box adding eight newcomers to the roster in his first month as coach. The team went 9-20 overall and 6-12 in conference play.
The RedHawks saw a big turnaround last season. The 2024-25 team went 19-12 overall and 11-7 in MAC play, earning the No. 5 seed in the MAC conference tournament and advanced to the WNIT for the first time since 2018-19.
Box said his main goal is to help the RedHawks get better every day, focusing on the now with a team he described as extremely competitive, feisty, coachable, and generous.
The team was tested this past year with the untimely deaths of two players’ parents. Box had met both of them during a summer trip to Barcelona, Spain.
“I wanted to meet their family to have a better understanding of them and their culture,” he said. “I just felt like if I understood their families better, I would understand them better.”
‘We really felt like a family’
Of the 12 players on the roster, five hail from other countries.
Ilse de Vries, last week’s MAC player of the week, is from the Netherlands.
Núria Jurjo and Clara Gonzalez Planella are from Spain. Tamar Singer is from Israel, and Mio Sakano is from Japan.
“We had a lot of success with international players in my previous job (Indiana). I really wanted to continue that,” Box said, adding, “It’s an advantage for me because they fit me, my coaching style.”
The coach had traveled to Barcelona last summer to meet with the parents of Jurjo and Gonzalez Planella. He met Jurjo’s mother and Gonzalez Planella’s father. He described the meetings as “a really intimate time and it was a beautiful thing.”
Gonzalez Planella, a senior guard, said, “It was a nice gesture, and that he took time to meet my parents.” Her mother had asked her to fly home before her father’s emergency surgery. She arrived in the morning and he died that night.
When Jurjo and Gonzalez Planella were back in Spain, their Miami teammates and Coach Box texted them to let them know they were thinking of them.
De Vries, the sophomore forward, said it brought the team closer.
“I definitely would say that once they were both gone, we were all really concerned,” she said. “And I think that's when you see how much we care about each other. I mean, we always care about each other, but this was like a time that we really felt like a family.”
‘Going game by game’
De Vries attributes the close team dynamic and plenty of hard work for fueling the RedHawks’ success this season.
“We're working really hard on the court, and every win that we're having is not enough for us,” she said. “I mean, we're always striving for more, so we're just going game by game. I think that's a really big part of why we're winning.”
De Vries came to Miami after seeking an opportunity to play overseas, especially in America. “I just wanted to try,” she said. “And when I came here on my visit, the coaches were so welcoming to me and the team was great. So, I felt like this could be my second home, and it is.”
Her father and brother came to watch a game in Oxford last year. This season, her mother came to the last game before winter break.
“It was awesome to have them here,” she said. “My mom never saw a game of mine, so that was really nice."
Her parents met President Gregory Crawford and Miami Ambassador Dr. Renate Crawford, who is from the Netherlands.
‘When I came here on my visit, they met the president and his wife, and so they just connected,” she recalled. “And when my dad saw the president here or the president saw my dad (at the game), they just connected again.”
Gonzalez Planella transferred from Jacksonville State in Conference USA.
“All my teams that have been here in the States, there's always been a lot of international players. I think in my experience, I believe it's better because we give to the team a different viewpoint than North American team players,” she said.
Why Miami?
“I really liked the campus, the coaches, and they told me this year we were going to be great, and we're being great,” she said. “So, I'm very happy with the results we're having right now.”
Millett Hall crowd sets record
Gonzalez Planella will graduate in May with a Liberal Studies degree and plans to pursue a master’s degree in Marketing somewhere. In the meantime, she'll keep playing basketball.
Both players said they have not adjusted to Ohio’s recent frigid temperatures and so much snow, but they are thrilled about the success both the women’s and men’s basketball teams are having this winter.
“I would say it helps us to stay motivated,” de Vries said, “and it keeps the students coming to Millett, so that's really nice.”
Added Gonzalez Planella: “Now people have started to know Miami, Ohio.”
Last weekend, Millett saw its largest crowd ever as 10,640 fans turned out for the men’s and women’s One Miami games. Seeing more robust crowds than last year’s pleases de Vries.
“Hopefully that’ll keep growing as the season continues,” she said. The team's next game is at 1 p.m. Saturday in Millett against Georgia Southern.
