Michigan
Illinois
Thomas Hits Milestones as U-M Rallies Past Illinois
2/12/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Site:Â Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Arena)
Score:Â Michigan 81, Illinois 79
Records:Â U-M (15-8, 7-6 Big Ten), Illinois (14-9, 8-5 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game:Â Sunday, Feb. 14 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), 5 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Friday evening (Feb. 12) was a big night for the University of Michigan women's basketball team for numerous reasons. Not only did the Wolverines avenge a January loss to the University of Illinois, upsetting the Big Ten's third-place team with an 81-79 win in Crisler Arena, but it proved to be a record-setting night as well for junior Stacey Thomas (Flint, Mich./Southwestern Academy).
Thomas, an All-Big Ten candidate, recorded her 1,000th career point in the first half en route to 19 points, and she broke her own single-season record for steals, grabbing four against Illinois to push her record to 91. She set the school mark as a sophomore in 1997-98 with 89 thefts in 29 games.
In their 15th win of the season, the Wolverines (15-8, 7-6 Big Ten) faced multiple 18-point deficits in the first half. Illinois (14-9, 8-5 Big Ten) went up by 18 for the first time on a Tauja Catchings layup at 6:53. With an 11-3 run, the Illini maintained their extensive lead until the closing two minutes, when Michigan made its resurgence. The Wolverines outscored Illinois 12-5, thanks to four straight free throws and three buckets from Thomas, Ann Lemire (Fairgrove, Mich./Frankenmuth HS) and Alison Miller (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS). Illinois was held scoreless in the final 1:48 as Michigan brought itself within 11 at the half, 44-33.
Michigan kept hammering away at the Illini in the second half, though the visitors enjoyed as much as a 10-point lead four minutes into the new session. That's when Michigan's three-point game made its grand entrance. Sophomore point guard Anne Thorius (Horsholm, Denmark) got the ball rolling with a triple at 15:15 to bring the Wolverines within five, 56-51. After sinking two free throws to bring Michigan within four, 58-54, freshman Raina Goodlow (Detroit, Mich./Dominican HS) followed Thorius' lead with a three-pointer of her own, closing the deficit to three (62-59).
Less than one minute later, Thomas hit her triple to bring U-M within two, 64-62. Two Illinois jumpers followed and gave the Illini some breathing room until Lemire hit her second triple of the half, keeping Michigan within striking distance (68-65). At 7:25, Lemire nailed her third of four three-pointers to tie the game up (69-69) for the first time since it was 2-2. Michigan took its first lead on a free throw from Miller and held onto it until another Catchings layup tied it at 77.
It appeared another overtime game was in the cards for Illinois and Michigan, with the final 39 seconds featuring two timeouts from each bench and a one-point game down to the final seconds. Thorius hit the second end of a two-shot foul to put U-M up 78-77 with 0:39 left.
Alicia Sheeler responded with a layup with 24 seconds on the clock, but Thorius put the Wolverines back up 80-79 at the 0:07 mark with a pull-up jumper in the lane that turned out to be the winning bucket. After a timeout, an errant Illini pass underneath turned the ball over to Wolverine hands and Lemire sealed the win with a free throw after being fouled by Melissa Parker.
Michigan travels up the road to East Lansing, Mich., to meet Michigan State on Sunday (Feb. 14) at 5 p.m. in the Big Ten Game of the Week on Fox Sports Chicago. Earlier this season, the Wolverines beat the Spartans 76-75 in overtime on Jan. 20.
NOTES
• Michigan head coach Sue Guevara needs just one more win to record her 50th career victory. She is now 49-29 at Michigan.
• Stacey Thomas ranks 12th on Michigan's career scoring list with 1,013 points. She is the 12th Wolverine to reach the 1,000-points milestone. With 251 steals, she is now just 15 shy of the school record of 266 held by Lori Gnatkowski. Thomas' four steals pushed her into 10th place in the Big Ten Conference's all-time career list.
• Ann Lemire came off the bench to play 35 minutes and record 17 points, three assists and one steal. She shot 50 percent from three-point range, recording a season-high four triples.
• Ranked 11th in the Big Ten Conference for three-point percentage, Michigan has found its long-range game in the last three contests, hitting a combined 21-of-39 (.538). In that time span, Anne Thorius has eight triples, while Ann Lemire has six.
• Illinois and Michigan last met on Jan. 5, 1999, in Champaign, Ill. The teams played to a 29-29 tie after one half and were tied 66-all after regulation. Illinois outscored the Wolverines 15-5 in the overtime period for a 75-65 win. Tonight's win over Illinois was Michigan's first in three tries against the Illini after dropping the last two. U-M last defeated Illinois on Jan. 12, 1997, in Ann Arbor, 93-87. Illinois leads the series 26-12.
QUOTES
Michigan Coach Sue Guevara
"We came out flat. Once we made some changes in the first half, we made a cut in the lead. We came out in the second half. I thought with Stacey (Thomas) picking up her second foul early, 'We can't have this happen again.' But she came back in and played smarter. Ann Lemire came in big for us off the bench. Raina (Goodlow) finally played the way she's been playing in practice. We did a decent job on (Alicia) Sheeler, one of the best post players in the Big Ten, and on Susan Blauser who leads Illinois. I really appreciated our effort and I'm very proud of this team."
"I told the team that we're in control of our destiny. We are. Not anyone else. This speaks volumes about where we think we can go. We could have rolled over and died, but we didn't."
U-M Junior Captain Stacey Thomas
On her record night ... "This was just a total team effort, I give my teammates all the credit in the world. I wouldn't be able to do what I have without them."
On the change in her game from last Sunday at Purdue ... "The biggest difference for me was just focusing and relaxing out there."
U-M Sophomore Guard Anne Thorius
On her tremendous play in the last several games ... "I have a lot of confidence in shooting the ball. I enjoy passing the ball because I know my teammates will be there to dish it in. ... I think we've come out flat the last two games, we weren't ready. I know we can play hard with a lot of emotion. We just need to play hard from the tip and get in the passing lanes right away."
Illinois Head Coach Theresa Grentz
"What's significant is of Michigan's last 10 possessions of the first half, they scored nine times. That's something we talked about at halftime. In the beginning of the first half we did a good job, we did what we had to."
On whether Illinois' ninth loss hurts its NCAA Tournament chances ... "I don't think this helps our chances with the NCAA Tournament. The most important thing is (for the committee) to realize just how good this league is."
Illinois Guard Melissa Parker
"Like Coach said, we stopped playing defense in the second half. We weren't making the shots we were in the first half. It just shouldn't have happened."
