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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | April 3, 2017

AMELIA CACCHOINE/Daily

Sweeping through 

The Michigan softball team 

outscored Northwestern 

20-0 to sweep the weekend 
series and improve to 6-0 in 

the Big Ten. 

 » Page 4B

Test of will
The Michigan women’s 
basketball team turned a 
NCAA Tournament snub 
into a WNIT title.

» SportsMonday Column, 

Page 2B

Michigan 89, Georgia Tech 79

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan defeats Yellow Jackets in triple overtime 

to claim first championship in program history

DETROIT — The Michigan 

women’s 
basketball 
team 

needed 
a 
miracle 
and 

then 
some 
to 
become 
the 

Women’s National Invitation 
Tournament champions.

Tied at 67 with 10 seconds left, 

Georgia Tech was taking the 
ball up for the final possession 
of the quarter and potentially 
of the season. Staunch defense 
forced a routine, long-range 
two from Elo Edeferioka. Her 
shot appeared wide right, but 
not before the whistle blew 
on a shooting foul by senior 
guard Siera Thompson with 0.6 
seconds left on the clock. Any 
energy that the Wolverines had 
was sucked out of the room.

Edeferioka 
went 
to 
the 

charity stripe in what would 
have decided the game’s fate. 
With 44 years as a program 
under its belt and nothing to 
show for it in the Crisler Center 
rafters, it appeared that one 
controversial foul call could 
dash the hopes of changing 

that.

“I was praying that they 

wouldn’t go in,” Dunston said. 
“It’s a very hard moment to be 
in, to win the game on free-
throws. I was hoping that she 
was going to miss.”

Hopeful booing from the 

Wolverine faithful permeated 
Calihan Hall as Edeferioka 
stepped to the line for her first 
attempt. 
The 

shot 
clanked 

off the back of 
the 
rim, 
flew 

in the air and 
hit the ground 
— the thought 
of her missing 
the second free 
throw becoming 
a reality in the 
minds 
of 
the 

thousands 
of 

fans looking on.

As Edeferioka 

released the ball on her second 
attempt, she found the inside 
of the rim, only for it to bounce 
out to the right into the arms 
of Dunston, whose prayers 
were answered. In improbable 

fashion, Michigan was neck-
and-neck in overtime with a 
team they beat by 40 points 
earlier in the season.

“We’ve been in that situation 

before and I’m like ‘Not again. 
Let the kids win the basketball 
game.’ ” Barnes Arico said. 
“Our kids just played their butt 
off and when you get that call at 
the end of the game it’s a tough 

one.”

From 
there, 

the 
rest 
is 

history. 
The 

back-and-
forth 
nature 

of 
the 
game 

continued 
for 

two 
overtimes 

with both teams 
struggling 
to 
capture 

momentum, 
before 
the 

Wolverines blew 

the door wide open in the third 
and final overtime period, in 
which they came out with an 
89-79 win to become WNIT 
champions.

The thought of Michigan as 

WNIT champions, and especially 
the 
missed 
free 
throws, 
is 

remarkable 
considering 
how 

the Wolverines fought to tie the 
game. Georgia Tech appeared 
poised to win after an and-one 
layup put the Yellow Jackets up, 
67-61, with 1:23 remaining in 
the final quarter. The entirety 
of Michigan’s season, marred 
with program record-breaking 
victories 
alongside 
extreme 
disappointment, 
would come to 
a 
close 
in 
83 

seconds.

The 

Wolverines were 
gassed, 
and 

sought the hero 
that 
they’ve 

rarely 
needed 

this season. And 
they found one 
in Katelynn Flaherty.

The junior guard received a 

pass at the top of the arc from 
Nicole Munger, where Flaherty 
danced around screens set by 
Jillian 
Dunston, 
ultimately 

launching a 23-foot trey that 
found the bottom of the net 
to bring Michigan’s deficit to 
three with 1:06 remaining.

After an errant Georgia Tech 

layup attempt, the Wolverines 
called a timeout to draw up 
what could have been their 
final play of the season.

But it seemed as if the 

final play was decided before 

Michigan coach 
Kim 
Barnes 

Arico 
said 
a 

word 
— 
the 

ball had to be 
in 
Flaherty’s 

hands.

Sure enough, 

coming out of 
the timeout, she 
was in a similar 
situation 
with 

the ball at the 
top of the arc, 
looking 
for 

separation to launch a three. 
With 12 seconds remaining, 
Flaherty dribbled to the right 
corner 
behind 
the 
3-point 

line, using all of her might and 
kicking her legs mid-air to 

rocket the ball, arching over the 
height of the shot clock.

Flaherty drained the three 

to tie the game, and she jumped 
into Dunston’s arms at halfcourt 
with the accompaniment of a 
roaring crowd and the entire 
Michigan bench out of its seats.

“I saw two good opportunities 

to shoot the ball,” Flaherty said. 
“I knew that was as much space 
as I was getting so I just relaxed 
and shot. That was the big 
thing. A lot of my other shots 
I was tense and it’s funny how 
when I just relax and do what I 
had to do I made it.

“Watching 
UConn 
and 

Mississippi 
State 
yesterday, 

when the girl hit the final shot 
I was like, ‘Wow, I wonder what 
that feels like.’ And then we got 
on a similar stage. It’s smaller, 
but it’s awesome.”

Call it luck, or call it hard-

fought will, but Michigan finally 
made it over the hump to hang 
a banner. For the Wolverines, 
they needed a flawless final 
minute of regulation. And in 
that minute, 44 years of waiting 
materialized right on cue.

“I knew that 
was as much 
space as I was 

getting.”

CHAMPI
NS

“I was 

praying that 
they wouldn’t 

go in.”

