The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
February 6, 2017 — 3B
After trailing the entire game, Wolverines eke out victory
Nicole Munger was the fourth
option.
The final play was meant for
sophomore center Hallie Thome.
If the ball wasn’t going to her,
junior guard Katelynn Flaherty
was supposed to receive, and after
Flaherty, freshman guard Kysre
Gondrezick.
But
Munger,
a
sophomore
guard, had the best matchup of
the five Wolverines on the court.
Flaherty knew that if she couldn’t
make it, Munger was going to be
the kickback. With 20 seconds to
go, Munger scored the winning
basket on a baseline layup.
“We got (Flaherty) coming off
like we wanted,” Munger said. “I
hesitated on the 3-pointer, but then
I just drove, and I got a step, and it
went in.
“That was just one play. Our
team grinded out for a full 40
minutes. We were a little rickety
in the first half, but we were able
to come back and fight. What we
did in that second half is just a
testament to our team and our hard
work.”
Hosting Iowa (5-5 Big Ten,
14-9 overall) for the first time this
season, the Michigan women’s
basketball team prevailed in its
closest final minute the team has
seen this season. The Wolverines
have gone undefeated on their
home court and have won 19 of 24
games this season — the best mark
in program history — and won
eight of their first 10 Big Ten games.
Contributing to the great game
was Thompson, as she became the
second player in program history
to reach 500 career assists.
But for the first time this season,
Michigan ended its first quarter
at Crisler Center trailing. The
Wolverines were down 20-15 and
trailed the Hawkeyes until the
final minutes of the game when
they pulled away to notch a 72-70
victory.
“I think Iowa’s a very good
team,”
Thome
said.
“They’re
scrappy.They would do anything
to get the ball. So
at the end of the
day we just had
to make sure we
were on point.”
In
the
first
period,
though,
things
looked
bleak.
Thome
had almost half of
the Wolverines’
points, but they
were unable to
defend against the Hawkeyes.
The second period didn’t bode
well for Michigan, either. In the
first minute the Wolverines let up
seven points, led mostly by Iowa
guard Tania Davis.
In response, Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico called the team’s
first timeout with 8:50 left in the
second, when the game stood at
27-15.
With less than
five minutes to go
in the first half,
Munger
brought
the Wolverines out
of their 10-point
deficit.
“I
thought
(Munger)
was
outstanding,”
Barnes Arico said.
“She
played
the
front of the press, her length is
great. She disrupts everything. Her
ability to get the ball and shoot the
ball is tremendous. She’s just active
and was all over the place, she was
a spark for us tonight.”
Added Gondrezick: “(Munger)
was very important. She’s as
important as one of our starting
five. The way that she was able to
come in and create
a spark off the
bench, it shows our
versatility.”
But
the
Hawkeyes
responded with a
pair of baskets and
the
Wolverines
found
themselves
facing a 10-point
gap
once
again,
eventually ending
the half down, 45-33.
“(In the Iowa game last year
at home) we were down 17 at
half and we came back and
won,” Munger said. “So this
year we were like, ‘Well, we did
it last year and we’re only down
12 this year so we know we can
do it, we just have to stick to
our morals.’ There’s no 12-point
shot so we’re
going to need to
defend.”
The
first
minute
of
the
second
half
was
almost
a
complete
turnaround
for
the Wolverines,
though. Flaherty,
Gondrezick and
Dunston
each
managed a layup apiece to make
the game 45-39.
The Wolverines entered the final
quarter trailing 61-52, but Munger
sunk a three in the first minute.
With two seconds left on the shot
clock, Thome then converted a
layup before Michigan forced a stop
on the next possession. Gondrezick
got the ball and brought it down
court for a layup to cut Iowa’s lead
to two.
Another
missed
layup
by
Iowa’s Gustafson had the crowd
on its feet. And an added free
throw
by
Gondrezick
made
the game 60-61 and created a
deafening Crisler Center crowd.
Iowa quickly called a time out,
sensing the game slipping from
its grasp.
With 3:54 left on the clock,
the Wolverines looked at a 61-66
deficit after Gustafson hit a layup.
But Gondrezick swooped in and
brought Michigan back in the game
with a 3-pointer, which was quickly
followed by an Iowa turnover.
The turnover ended in an injury
substitution, though, when Davis
finished sprawled on the paint and
had to leave the court.
Iowa guard Kathleen Doyle
fouled out of the game, leaving
Gondrezick with a chance to
make a quick free throw to once
again put the Wolverines within
three points. Gondrezick then
successfully made a pair of free
throws, pushing the Wolverines
within one point for just the second
time of the game.
Flaherty then hit a layup with
45 seconds to go after Gondrezick
forced
a
turnover,
but
Iowa
responded with a quick basket,
making the score 70-69. There
were 35 seconds to go.
The rest was a nail-biting
back-and-forth struggle between
the Wolverines and Hawkeyes,
but after Munger’s layup, Iowa
couldn’t capitalize within the
time-pressure
and
Michigan
maintained its undefeated streak
at home.
“This was a special game,”
Munger said. “We couldn’t really
get our mojo going in the first half
just with our offense, but I think
that makes this game almost
sweeter. We were able to fight
through that.”
‘M’ pulls away late
With only one minute left on
the clock in the fourth quarter, the
Michigan women’s basketball team
(8-2 Big Ten, 19-5 overall) trailed
Iowa, 68-65. The Wolverines
hadn’t lead since the end of the first
quarter, and had gone down by as
much as 15 points over the course
of the game.
But the energy in Crisler Center
was pulsing, and the crowd was
deafening. As freshman guard
Kysre Gondrezick stepped up to
the free-throw line, she felt the
pressure of the intense game and
the chance to redeem herself
after missing three of her last six
attempts at the line.
This time, she sunk both tries.
“I said, ‘If I miss another free
throw’ ... I told (senior guard Siera
Thompson) ‘If I get the ball, come
get it from me,’ ” Gondrezick said.
“I think we just had a tough day
at the line, but we were able to
convert when it mattered.”
The score was now 68-67, and
Michigan was close to solidifying
what once seemed an unlikely
victory. But 58 seconds remained,
and coming within one point of a
victory was not enough.
Seconds
later,
Gondrezick
snagged a poorly-handled Iowa
ball and bolted down the court,
passing it forward to an open
Katelynn Flaherty. The junior
guard finished the layup at the
47-second mark. The Wolverines
led for the first time in over 30
minutes, but their lead was still
tremulous.
The
Hawkeyes
(5-5,
14-9)
were not done battling. Iowa
passed around the offensive zone,
carefully setting up a 3-point
attempt that just missed. But it
still managed a hard-fought layup,
swinging the lead back in favor of
the Hawkeyes.
With just 35 seconds left on the
clock, the Wolverines needed to
overcome their scoring struggles
— they scored just 44.1 percent
from the floor all game — to keep
their home record immaculate. A
timeout was called, and Michigan
coach Kim Barnes Arico gave her
team a play to run — but things
turned out differently on the court.
“We
would
have
had
(sophomore
forward
Hallie
Thome shoot) first, Katelynn
second, Kysre third,” Barnes Arico
said. “So (sophomore guard Nicole
Munger) was actually a screener
in that play. But she had the best
matchup.”
Munger cut to the outside from
beyond the 3-point line, got her
shoulder in front of the defender
and drove down the baseline,
burying a layup.
“That was just the move that she
made to the basket,” Gondrezick
said. “It’s a move that she makes in
practice every day, and it showed
in the game. So we trusted her.”
But there were still 20 seconds
on the clock, and the ball was in
Iowa’s possession. Once again,
the Hawkeyes missed a 3-point
attempt, and there to snatch the
rebound was Munger, who got
fouled in the process.
Despite missing her free throw
attempts, the ball ended up back
in the Wolverines’ hands, as
Thompson grabbed the ball off of
Munger’s second attempt and was
promptly fouled as well. With just
six seconds left, she scored one of
two attempts, earning Michigan’s
final point for its 72-70 win.
The seconds that remained
could have been enough time for
Iowa to sink a 3-pointer, but Barnes
Arico still had a few tricks left.
“We had so many fouls to give
that we were trying to foul in the
back court and stop the play,”
Barnes Arico said.
The Wolverines gave three of
their four remaining fouls in the
last three seconds of the game,
slowing things down and killing
off the clock so the Hawkeyes had
no chance to reclaim the lead.
As the buzzer sounded, both the
team and the crowd exploded with
cheers to celebrate Michigan’s
comeback victory.
“Last year we didn’t come out on
the winning side of these games,”
Barnes Arico said. “We had to go
all the way down to the wire to get
our lead and to win the game, and
I think it took everything we had.”
Added Gondrezick: “That’s our
motto. By any means, we just have
to find a way to win.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
MAGGIE KOLCON
Daily Sports Writer
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
Sophomore guard Nicole Munger scored just seven points but managed to save the Wolverines from suffering their first loss at Crisler Center this season.
“Our team
grinded out
for a full 40
minutes”
“We couldn’t
really get our
mojo going in
the first half”
SYLVANNA GROSS
Daily Sports Writer
Nicole Munger scored a layup with 20 seconds remaining to maintain Michigan’s undefeated home record
Michigan starts year with same expectations
The 2016 season was the one
that got away for the Michigan
softball team.
The Wolverines had all the
ingredients for success: They
were
the
top-scoring
team
in the country, had a strong
defensive unit, went 21-2 in
conference play and won their
ninth-straight Big Ten title.
But, once again, the coveted
Women’s College World Series
title eluded them, after they
were eliminated by Florida
State to cap off a disappointing
performance in Oklahoma City.
Part of what made Michigan’s
WCWS
performance
so
heartbreaking was that the team’s
seniors went to three WCWS in
their four years but never took
home a championship win. Four
of those seniors were core players,
including 2016 National Player
of the Year Sierra Romero. As a
four-year starter, she posted a
batting average of at least .450 for
three straight years and cemented
her place as one of the greatest
collegiate softball players of all
time.
But the Romero-era is over,
and for Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins, it’s far in the past.
“It’s a huge loss, but I got over it,
like, in September,” Hutchins said.
“That’s Team 39. My only focus is
on Team 40.”
Hutchins
—
the
NCAA’s
winningest softball coach — will
begin her 33rd season at the helm
of the Michigan program, but she
has the same expectations and
goals that she has every year: to be
Big Ten Champions and to reach
the World Series.
But a 10th-straight Big Ten title
and a WCWS berth isn’t a certainty
for No. 6 Michigan. With the loss
of six seniors, the Wolverines are
younger than they have been in
recent years. Michigan has less
star power to bail them out, so a
balanced lineup will be crucial this
season.
While the infield is mostly
unchanged from last year, the
outfield will be almost completely
new, as senior outfielder Kelly
Christner is the lone returner.
This opening will allow some of
the four freshmen Wolverines
to see playing time, a unique
responsibility
for
such
a
historically impressive team.
“You really want your freshmen
to come in and not be freshmen,”
Hutchins said. “The game doesn’t
know if you’re a freshman or a
senior.”
To ensure that the freshmen
play with the confidence and
strength that Hutchins looks
for, strong senior leadership and
support from Michigan’s four
seniors will be imperative.
Christner, senior right-hander
Megan Betsa, and senior infielders
Abby
Ramirez
and
Lindsay
Montemarano are poised to step
into those familiar roles.
“We all got a lot of playing
time freshman year,” Christner
said. “Looking up to the seniors
and upperclassmen, that really
showed us how to lead a team and
how to be a voice on and off the
field.”
While Christner was a captain
last season, Betsa has mentored
junior right-hander Tera Blanco
and sophomore right-hander Leah
Crockett while she took the fall off
with an injury.
With an influx of youth and
strong
returning
talent,
the
Wolverines have all the pieces
to succeed in both the regular
and postseason. However, there
are
still
lingering
questions
determining the future of the
season.
A huge question mark for
the Wolverines will be whether
Christner can return to her form
from two seasons ago, which saw
her hit 21 home runs. Another
question is whether Betsa will
return to her top-notch pitching
form coming off her injury. Yet
another is whether Blanco will
demonstrate
prowess
on
the
mound as well as the plate, after
starting just five games as pitcher
last season.
Michigan will begin its season
in Florida for the Wilson-Demarini
Tournament in the first of five
non-conference tournaments the
Wolverines will participate in.
Michigan will take on teams such
as No. 4 Florida, No. 3 Florida
State and No. 8 UCLA to begin
their journey back to the top of the
collegiate softball landscape.
“We’ll see how well Team
40 does as we go through this
journey,” Hutchins said. “But
we’re excited to get started.”
ANNA MARCUS
Daily Sports Writer
MARINA ROSS/Daily
The Michigan softball team fell short of its expectations during the 2016 season, but could still make a push for the Women’s College World Series.