Michigan
Ohio State
U-M Wins Fourth Straight, Defeats No. 19 Ohio State in OT
1/29/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Site:Â Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Arena)
Score:Â Michigan 85, #19 Ohio State 71 (OT)
Records:Â U-M (13-6, 5-4 Big Ten), OSU (13-6, 6-3 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game:Â Sunday, Jan. 31 -- vs. Wisconsin (Crisler Arena), 2 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- After playing four ranked teams this season, the University of Michigan women's basketball team was finally able to defeat one of them. It took overtime to do it, but the Wolverines handed 19th-ranked Ohio State University, the second-place team in the Big Ten Conference, an 85-71 loss in Crisler Arena Friday night (Jan. 29).
Michigan took a resounding 40-26 lead after one half but squandered it away, allowing the Buckeyes to tie it up at 66 at the end of regulation. The extra five-minute period was all Michigan though, with the Wolverines outscoring Ohio State 19-5 to claim their fourth straight victory. The win bumped Michigan up to 13-6 overall and 5-4 in the Big Ten after finding itself in 11th place with a 1-4 league record. Ohio State is now 13-6, 6-3 in league play.
Playing all 45 minutes, junior Stacey Thomas (Flint, Mich./Southwestern Academy) was once again the star of the game. On 11-of-19 shooting, she tallied a game-high 26 points, adding 10 rebounds, two assists, three blocks and five steals. Freshman Alayne Ingram (Lansing, Mich./Waverly HS) tied her career high with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The pair teamed up to score 13 of Michigan's 19 overtime points, including a Thomas triple from Anne Thorius (Horsholm, Denmark) with three seconds on the clock.
Sophomore Alison Miller (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) led all players on the glass, grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds to go with 10 points. Ohio State was led by All-Big Ten First-Team forward Marrita Porter, who scored a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
After Ohio State's first possession of the game -- a three-pointer from Lauren Shenk -- Michigan held onto the lead for the remainder of the first half. The Wolverines bounded out to a 16-point lead at 4:48 on a layup from Thomas. The Buckeyes got it back down to single digits, but Michigan closed the half scoring five unanswered points to take a 40-26 edge. By that point, both Thomas and Ingram had each recorded 11 points, while Miller was up to eight rebounds.
The Buckeyes showed they were not going to take Michigan's charge lying down and slowly whittled away at the Wolverine lead. Thorius' layup at 8:47 gave Michigan a 58-47 lead, but U-M managed just two more points in the ensuing four minutes while Ohio State went on a 14-2 run. Two Jamie Lewis three-pointers keyed the run as the Buckeyes came back to take their first lead since the opening minute of the contest, 61-60. Michigan rebounded to take a 66-64 lead with 3:02 left in regulation on a layup from Thomas. Thomas went on to block a Porter shot with 1:16 left, but Porter managed to tie it up anyway with 30 seconds left.
Tied at 66, the overtime session opened with two free throws from Thorius. Ohio State got stuck on 66 until Flint, Mich., native Larecha Jones netted a bucket at 3:13. By then, it was still anyone's game at 71-68 in Michigan's favor. A triple from Jones kept OSU within three, 74-71, but the Wolverines rattled off 11 straight points, shutting the Buckeyes out in the closing 1:17 of overtime. In the final minute of action, Ingram scored four points, while Thomas added six to assure the victory.
The Wolverines conclude a two-game homestand by hosting Wisconsin on Sunday, Jan. 31, at 2 p.m.
NOTES
• Friday night's win over Ohio State was Michigan's first over the Scarlet and Gray since Feb. 23, 1997. Ohio State swept the season series last year, winning 70-66 in Ann Arbor and 88-80 in Columbus.
• In the last four games, Stacey Thomas has had 20 steals. Her season total is now 78 and she needs just 12 more to break her own single-season school record for steals (89) which she set in 1998. Her career total is 238, 28 shy of Michigan's career record.
• Alayne Ingram has been on an offensive tear as of late. Over the last six games, she is averaging 17.2 points per game (86). Her season average is 10.3, while her average in Big Ten games is up to 10.6 per game.
QUOTES
Michigan Coach Sue Guevara
"Make no mistake, we beat a very, very good team today, and one of the best defensive teams. We were not intimidated, we were very resilient. Ohio State turned up their defense in the second half. They caused us to make long passes. They were switching on us. But we came back and hit some big shots. ... Marrita Porter is one of the best players in the Big Ten. We wanted to make it difficult for her to score."
On Ingram and Thomas combining for 48 points ... "Alayne Ingram and Stacey Thomas are warriors. They want the ball. The shot Alayne took at the end of regulation was a great shot, but it was a tough shot. After she missed it, she hid her face in her jersey, but there's no shame in missing that shot. I'd ask her to take it again."
U-M Freshman Guard Alayne Ingram
"We let Ohio State come back, but we were thinking in overtime, 'This is our court, we have to defend our court.' This was a good win for us because we had a lot of excitement and intensity. This game shows we're tough mentally. We've talked about having to be tough physically, but the other part of that is also mental."
Ohio State Coach Beth Burns
"I was very disappointed in the way we opened the game. ... We're supposedly ranked but I don't think we're ready for that."
"Tell Michigan (the state) they've got a good thing going on here, and they're missing it."
