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8 — Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan wins thriller
Wolverines take
the lead with 7.8
seconds left, then
hold off Temple
By TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
Twelve lead changes — all in
the fourth quarter — did little
justice in capturing the excitement
witnessed at Crisler Center on
Monday night.
It was pure joy for the Michigan
women’s
basketball
team
(21-
13),
which
advanced to the WNIT semifinals
for the second straight year after
a down-to-the-wire battle with
Temple.
The Wolverines won, 77-76, and
will advance to play Florida Gulf
Coast on the road Thursday night.
Temple (23-12) led by 15 in
the first quarter, but Michigan’s
furious third-quarter rally tied
the game at 60 heading into the
final stretch.
On
the
Wolverines’
final
offensive possession, they needed
four
consecutive
offensive
rebounds before freshman center
Hallie Thome scored the go-ahead
layup with 7.8 seconds to go.
Chance after chance, each shot
bounced off the rim, but Thome
— treading dangerously with four
personal fouls — banked in the
much-needed last attempt.
“We knew we needed a basket
and kept fighting after the ball
and giving ourselves second and
third and fourth opportunities,”
said Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico. “It was a great finish by
(Thome), but then we had to get
two stops to seal it, and that was
even more impressive.”
Temple nearly stole back the
lead on the ensuing play. Guard
Feyonda Fitzgerald drove to the
basket for a layup but was met in
the paint by Michigan’s Danielle
Williams. The ball rolled around
the rim three times before
falling out, but it was of little
importance, as Williams had
already drawn a charge.
“Honestly, it was a ‘I happened
to be in the right place, right time’
kind of thing,” Williams said. “I
was really excited, but there was
five seconds left on the clock, so
I was like, ‘We still need to win,
we still need to
win.’ ”
A
turnover
on the inbounds
play gave the
Owls one last
chance, but that
shot
bounced
off the rim, and
the Wolverines
could
finally
breathe.
A series of
clutch performances culminated
in the dramatic ending. There
was a third-quarter buzzer beater
from sophomore guard Katelynn
Flaherty, relentless drives from
senior guard Madison Ristovski
and lights-out shooting from
junior guard Siera Thompson.
And those were just a few
of the contributions that led to
Thome’s final shot and Williams’
drawn charge.
“I’m just happy that (Thome)
stuck with it,” Flaherty said of the
last play. “It’s been a big battle all
year for her, to stay with plays and
keep rebounding. She was tough
and won the whole game for us.”
As Flaherty
mentioned,
Thome’s
big
moment stands
out
during
a
season
in
which stronger
opponents
have
knocked
the
freshman
around. She is
6-foot-5,
but
Temple had a
match for her with 6-foot-3 center
Ugo Nwaigwe.
Nonetheless, Thome had two
of the four offensive rebounds on
the last play, a testament to her
continuous growth.
Flaherty ended the night with
a team-high 23 points, with 18 of
those coming in the second half.
Temple built a 17-2 lead as
the Wolverines committed six
turnovers in the first quarter, but
Flaherty, Ristovski and Thompson
were all scoreless at that point.
Once they got going and started
to hit shots, it was a whole new
ballgame.
The
Wolverines’
second-
quarter outing was far better
than their first, but their 10-point
deficit at halftime meant they still
had a ways to go.
They held Temple scoreless for
the first five minutes of the second
quarter, though, and Michigan
went on a 9-0 run to cut a 15-point
deficit down to five.
All nine points came from
Ristovski, who scored 13 of the
Wolverines’ 23 in the second
quarter, helping cut the Owls’ lead
to five.
That
set
the
stage
for
pandemonium at Crisler, and
the impossible comeback sent
Michigan onward and upward to
the WNIT semifinals.
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Senior guard Madison Ristovski’s second-quarter outburst helped Michigan overcome a double-digit first-quarter deficit.
TEMPLE
MICHIGAN
76
77
“(Thome) was
tough and won
the whole game
for us.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Wolverines make plays
down the stretch in win
Williams’ charge
sets up Michigan’s
game-winning shot
in final seconds
By CHRIS CROWDER
Daily Sports Writer
Madison Ristovski had the
ball in her hands on the inbounds
pass with 4.6 seconds left and her
Wolverines up by one. Temple
players scurried right and left in
her line of vision, doing their best
to deny Michigan the ball. The
Owls succeeded in their effort
to get the ball back, as Ristovski
threw the ball out of bounds.
Though the Wolverines lost
possession, they stifled Temple
from
scoring
on
the
next
possession when the last-second
attempt rimmed out. That was
the case for most of the game —
Michigan was closer to losing
than in any other matchup of the
WNIT, but it made plays when it
needed to.
“I think throughout the whole
year, I’ve always made the right
pass, and I messed up,” Ristovski
said. “I threw it out of bounds,
(sophomore
guard
Katelynn
Flaherty) got pushed, whatever
happened. With five seconds left,
with that timeout, (Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico) really
said, ‘You saw that opportunity
to win the game, all you have to
do is get a stop.’ ”
Even before the final result
was set in stone, it was evident
from the first minute of play
that Temple was different from
other opponents the Michigan
women’s basketball team had
encountered in the WNIT. The
Owls had to guard Michigan’s
6-foot-5 freshman center Hallie
Thome, but initially, instead of
guarding Thome with one of her
tallest players, Temple coach
Tonya Cardoza elected to use
5-foot-9 guard Tanaya Atkinson.
Despite
the
height
disadvantage, the plan worked
in the first quarter, as the Owls
were able to intercept passes
while the Wolverines focused
on getting the ball into the post.
Thome managed just two points
in the first quarter and Michigan
coughed up six turnovers, all
occurring within the first five
minutes of the contest.
With
the
unorthodox
approach to defense, Temple
held the Wolverines to just nine
points in the first quarter to
take a 23-9 lead. The Owls didn’t
score their next basket until five
minutes were left in the second
quarter, while Michigan started
the quarter on a 9-0 run. Temple
recovered
to
take
a
10-point
lead
into halftime,
capped off by
a 3-pointer in
the
waning
seconds
of
the
scrappy
first half that
included
five
jump-ball
calls.
“We knew, Coach Arico told
us, that they were a really good
first-quarter team,” said junior
guard Danielle Williams. “We
needed to play harder, honestly.
A lot of it was just effort at the
beginning, and we had to leave
it all out there. It could’ve been
our last game, and it almost
was. (We needed to) just leave
it all out there, play really hard,
play smart and see what they’re
giving you to play as a team.”
In the first half, the Wolverines
went 13-for-37 from the floor to
shoot 35 percent. Though the
Owls held Thome and Flaherty to
a combined 10 points in the first 20
minutes of action, the Wolverines
stayed close with the help of
Ristovski, who led Michigan with
13 points. With her leading the
way, the Wolverines committed
only one turnover in the second
quarter to give them momentum
heading into the third.
The Owls stalled Flaherty
in the first half, but had no
success containing her in the
third quarter. Flaherty found an
offensive spark, knocking down
two 3-pointers before the final
minute of the quarter.
Then
the
fireworks
really
started.
Senior
guard
Siera
Thompson
followed
Flaherty
with a 3-pointer of her own, only
to be followed by another basket
by Flaherty at the buzzer to tie
the game at 60 with the crowd on
its feet to start the fourth quarter.
“We executed well down the
stretch and kind of relaxed more
and took our time,” Flaherty said.
“In the beginning, we were kind
of
throwing
up some shots
and not being
patient.”
With
Flaherty
driving to the
basket within
the last minute
of the game,
the
Owls
blocked
her
attempt, but the Wolverines kept
possession after the rejection
went out of bounds with 33
seconds left. On the ensuing
possession,
Temple
halted
Michigan
three
times
with
hard-nosed defense, but Thome
hauled down a rebound and put
in a layup to give the Wolverines
a lead.
Then the Wolverines closed out
the game for good. Michigan was
put to the test Monday night, but
intangibles made the difference in
the toughest matchup it has faced
in the WNIT. The Wolverines
fought through poor shooting and
an aggressive defensive effort by
their opponent, but wouldn’t be
denied when a play needed to be
made.
“We needed a total team effort
to be successful,” said Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico, “and
everyone that came in really
contributed to that and bought
into that mentality.”
“It could’ve
been our last
game, and it
almost was.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Albrecht to play next
year as grad transfer
By SIMON KAUFMAN and
LEV FACHER
Daily Sports Editor and Daily
Sports Writer
Spike
Albrecht
has
been
granted his release to transfer
and will play out his final season
of eligibility elsewhere. ESPN
first reported the news Tuesday
night, and Albrecht confirmed it
with the Daily shortly thereafter
over the phone.
Albrecht
announced
in
December
that
he
was
prematurely ending his season
due to a longer-than-expected
rehabilitation process following
a pair of hip surgeries he
underwent over the summer.
Soon after the announcement,
however, Michigan coach John
Beilein raised the possibility of
a fifth year for the fan favorite,
and Albrecht later indicated that
his status for the 2016-17 season
would be determined as much by
his health as by the Wolverines’
scholarship situation.
While Albrecht apparently
expects to be healthy enough to
play next November, Michigan’s
roster outlook seems to have been
less forgiving. The Wolverines
are already one scholarship over
their limit for next year, with one
open spot carrying over from the
current season, two graduating
seniors
and
an
incoming
recruiting class of four members.