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April 03, 2017 - Image 7

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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.”

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