BATON ROUGE, La. — In a
packed Pete Maravich Assem-
bly Center, the scenes at the two
benches couldn’t have been more
different. One by one, the Michi-
gan women’s basketball team’s
seniors checked out of their final
game, tearing up and embracing
each other and their coaches.
Yet just a few feet over and
throughout the stands, there
were palpable waves of excite-
ment, waves that had been
building since the first quarter.
Because No. 3 seed LSU was
advancing to its first Sweet Six-
teen in nine years, and it had
done so by thoroughly dominat-
ing the sixth-seeded Wolverines.
The Tigers knocked Michigan
out of the fight early. Unable to
generate offense for the entire
first half and unable to keep LSU
off the glass, the Wolverines’
(23-10 overall) opportunity to
advance to their third-straight
Sweet Sixteen quickly slipped
away as they fell to the Tigers
(30-2), 66-42, on LSU’s home
court.
“They were physical and real-
ly limited our scoring and didn’t
allow us to get into rhythm,”
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico said postgame. “I thought
they did a great job.”
Both teams initially struggled
to take the lid off the basket,
shooting a combined 24% from
the field in the first quarter, with
the Wolverines mustering just
seven points. But LSU created
separation thanks to star for-
ward Angel Reese, who grabbed
seven offensive rebounds in the
period, giving her team a multi-
tude of second-chance opportu-
nities.
Then Tigers guard Jasmine
Carson sent the crowd into a
frenzy, draining three 3-point-
ers in the first three-and-a-half
minutes of the second quarter
to help put LSU up by 14 points
and force a Michigan timeout to
try to stop the bleeding. But the
Wolverines continued struggling
to score, entering halftime facing
a 30-15 deficit.
The Tigers’ defense stymied
the Wolverines, all but eliminat-
ing the looks that they had relied
on all season by taking away post
entry passes and tightly guard-
ing the perimeter. Not only did
Michigan score its lowest first-
half total by a large margin, but
fifth-year wing Leigha Brown
and senior guard Maddie Nolan
— the team’s leading and fourth-
leading
scorers,
respectively
— entered halftime with zero
points to their names.
“They were really overplaying.
I mean, overplaying, overplay-
ing,” Barnes Arico said “Then
when we got the ball inside, they
really doubled down and were
just taking away passing lanes
for any open shots. Maddie didn’t
even get a real clear look most of
the game.”
To
compound
Michigan’s
offensive struggles, Reese con-
tinued to dominate, notching a
double-double by halftime and
ending the game with 25 points,
24 rebounds, six blocks and
three steals. And each time she
swatted a ball into the stands or
finished through contact, she
further electrified the crowd by
whipping her arms around or
griddying as she ran back down
the court.
But in the first minute of the
second half, the Wolverines
seemed to find new life. Scor-
ing five unanswered points in 55
seconds, including a triple from
Brown to finally get her on the
scoreboard, Michigan forced the
Tigers to take a timeout.
An ensuing game-wide scor-
ing drought nearly three minutes
long — filled with blocks, messy
transition play and missed open
looks — was broken by junior for-
ward Cameron Williams’ layup,
finally bringing the Wolverines
within single digits and giving
them one last chance to save
their season. But LSU had been
there before, in a loss just a few
weeks prior.
“We were up 17 against Ten-
nessee (in the SEC Tournament)
and look what happened,” Reese
said. “We couldn’t get comfort-
able. We came out, third quarter
pretty slow. I think they were on
a 5-0 run. Being able to come into
the timeout and telling us ‘Stay
poised, stay together. We have
to address this right now so this
doesn’t happen again, like it hap-
pened in SEC.’ ”
Despite the Wolverines scor-
ing more in the third quarter
than they had the entire first
half, the Tigers’ offense quickly
reawakened, burying Michigan
in a 16-point hole entering the
final quarter of play.
And in the fourth, with soph-
omore guard Laila Phelia the
only Wolverine able to generate
consistent offense, LSU contin-
ued to grow its lead. A couple
well-timed 3-pointers, emphatic
blocks from Reese and transition
buckets ballooned the Tigers’
lead and fully brought Michi-
gan’s season to a close.
As the fourth quarter wore on,
the reality set in for the Wolver-
ines — their season was over at
the hands of a thorough disman-
tling from LSU.
“Unfortunately, tonight didn’t
go how we wanted it to,” Brown
said, choking back tears. “Just
reflecting on the past three years
and even this season, I wouldn’t
change a thing. I wouldn’t trade
it for the world. Super happy to
have all these girls by my side.”
Well before the final buzzer
sounded, benches cleared and
seniors hugged as the clock
wound down on the game — and
on Michigan’s season, too.
Because there would be no
shot of a comeback, no final
play to try to extend the season.
Emphatic play after emphatic
play, dagger after dagger, the
Tigers had knocked the Wolver-
ines down and left no room for
them to get back up.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 — 11
SportsTuesday
Michigan’s season comes to a close in Round of 32,
falling to LSU, 66-42
LIZA CUSHNIR
Daily Sports Writer
KNOCKED
OUT
LSU 66
MICH 42
ANNA FUDER/Daily
ANNA FUDER/Daily
ANNA FUDER/Daily