Coach Regina Miller nets 300th win as Flames beat Oakland

Coach Regina Miller has won 65 games with the Flames. Photo: Joshua Clark/UIC Photo Services

The women’s basketball team (12-5, 2-2 Horizon League) picked up its third straight victory over Oakland (8-8, 2-1 Horizon League) with a 75-60 road win Saturday. The victory marks head coach Regina Miller’s 300th career win in 20 years of head coaching experience.

In her four seasons at UIC, Miller has won 65 games and 27 contests in Horizon League play. Miller has eight postseason appearances, 12 years of 15-plus wins and three seasons of 20-plus victories.

“While it feels good to get win 300 of my career, it feels even better to see our squad back in the win column,” Miller said. “I felt like we lost our defensive intensity in Thursday’s loss at Detroit and we regained that in today’s win. Our goal is to continue that intensity and string together multiple conference wins in a row.”

UIC concludes its four-game road trip with a contest at Milwaukee (5-11, 1-3 Horizon League) Saturday, with tip-off set for 2 p.m. at the Klotsche Center.

UIC made a season-high 22 free throws out of 31 attempts. The Flames converted 5-of-11 three pointers and 46 percent of their field-goal attempts (24-of-52).

UIC outrebounded Oakland, 50-30, and held the Golden Grizzlies to 35 percent shooting, including 28 percent in the first half. Oakland became the 12th UIC opponent to shoot less than 40 percent.

Ruvanna Campbell had 24 rebounds. Photo: Steve Woltmann

Ruvanna Campbell set a career high with 24 rebounds to go along with a game-high 21 points. Campbell’s performance is the second 20-20 effort of her career.

Campbell, who ranks third nationally with 14.4 rebounds per contest, is averaging 20 points and 21.3 rebounds over the last three games. She played all 40 minutes while also collecting three blocks and three steals.

Terri Bender played all 40 minutes and scored 19 points for her seventh straight double-figure performance. She picked up two steals to increase her season total to 52, which ranks eighth in the nation. She dished out a team-high four assists.

Melita Emanuel-Carr made 3-of-5 attempts from downtown and finished with 11 points. Caitlin Garant added 12 points for her fifth double-digit performance of the season.

Oakland jumped out to a 6-2 lead before the Flames scored 16 straight points and held the Golden Grizzlies scoreless for 10:29. Oakland missed 16 consecutive shots during UIC’s 16-0 run.

UIC led, 30-20, at halftime but Oakland narrowed the Flames’ lead to 35-29 with 17:08 left in the game. The Flames responded with a 9-0 run and scored 24 of the next 33 points to take their largest lead of the contest at 59-38 with 8:21 on the clock. The Flames remained at least eight points ahead of Oakland for the rest of the game.