Michigan
Illinois
Illinois Halts Michigan Winning Streak in Overtime
1/5/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Site:Â Champaign, Ill. (Assembly Hall)
Score:Â Illinois 75, Michigan 65 (OT)
Records:Â U-M (9-2, 1-1 Big Ten), Illinois (9-5, 3-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game:Â Saturday, Jan. 9 -- vs. Louisiana Tech (Crisler Arena), 1 p.m.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball team's school-record nine-game winning streak ended Tuesday, Jan. 5, but Illinois had to work overtime to do it. The Fighting Illini outscored the Wolverines 15-5 in the extra period to post a 75-65 victory in Big Ten Conference action.
There were nine lead changes and 16 ties in the tightly-contested game. Illinois (9-5, 3-1 Big Ten) used a 13-0 burst midway through the first half to take a 23-13 lead with 6:05 remaining before halftime, but Michigan (9-2, 1-1 Big Ten) then went on a 14-2 run of its own -- led by five points from Anne Thorius (Horsholm, Denmark) -- to regain the lead, 27-25, at the 2:20 mark. The game was tied 29-all at halftime.
The teams stayed within two possessions of each other throughout the second half, with Michigan taking its biggest lead at 50-46 with 8:23 to play. After Ann Lemire's (Fairgrove, Mich./Frankenmuth HS) basket put Michigan up 52-50 with 5:14 left in regulation, the Illini scored eight unanswered points to lead 58-52 at the 2:20 mark. Lemire hit a three to cut the lead in half and, after an Illinois basket, Thorius canned a trey and Stacey Thomas (Flint, Mich./Southwestern Academy) scored off her own miss to knot the score at 60-60. Illinois had a chance to win it in regulation but Tauja Catchings' shot was off the mark.
It was all Illini in the five-minute overtime as Michigan's shooting went cold and Illinois salted the game away at the foul line, scoring 11 of its 15 overtime points on 11-of-12 free throw shooting.
Thorius led the Wolverines with 15 points, while Thomas recorded her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Alison Miller (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds to set a new personal high.
After playing their last five games on the road, the Wolverines return home to host No. 5 Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Jan. 9, at 1 p.m. in Crisler Arena. The game will be regionally televised by CBS. It will be Michigan's first home game in over a month, since Dec. 4 against Central Michigan.
NOTES
• With Tuesday night's loss, Michigan snapped a school-record nine-game winning streak. Its last, and only other loss of the year, was back on Nov. 13 in the season opener at then-No. 20 Vanderbilt.
• The game at Illinois was just Michigan's third since Dec. 12. The Wolverines defeated Illinois State 86-43 on Dec. 12 before heading into final exams. The Big Ten season opened on Dec. 28 at Indiana with a 72-58 win, and then the Jan. 3 home game with Michigan State was postponed due to inclement weather. Pending approval from the Big Ten Conference office, the Michigan State game will be played on Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. in Crisler Arena.
• Michigan was out-rebounded for just the second time this year. Despite double-digit rebounding performances from Michigan's Alison Miller (12) and Stacey Thomas (11), Illinois had a 50-46 edge on the boards.
QUOTES
Michigan Coach Sue Guevara
"Between both teams combining for 49 turnovers, it got a little ugly out there, and you have to give defense credit for that. You have to give Illinois credit though, they hit some key free throws down the stretch (in overtime). Any time you hold Illinois to 29 percent shooting in the first half, you have a chance to win. We just lost to a better team tonight. Their winning streak at home (five games) is intact."
"I have to give my team credit too for making a comeback in the second half. We just lost momentum in overtime. If we don't do a better job boxing out and taking care of the ball, we're going to be in trouble. But if I know my team, I know that they are going to be ready for the challenge on Saturday of playing Louisiana Tech."
"We were changing out shot tonight because of Illinois' size and I told them not to do that. When you take a shot, you can't shy away. We kept waiting for our perimeter players to hit a jump shot. We ran well, but we had trouble finishing."
