Michigan
Cincinnati
U-M Edges Cincinnati in Preseason WNIT Quarterfinals
11/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball team defeated Cincinnati 73-69 Monday night (Nov. 17) in the second round of the Preseason WNIT at Crisler Arena. Senior Stephanie Gandy (Detroit, Mich./Northern HS) led the Wolverines with 23 points, including a pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining in the game to seal the win.
| | Carney knocked down three triples on the way to setting a career best with 10 points. |
Poole opened the scoring for U-M with a jumper from the corner in the opening minute. The Wolverines remained hot over the next five minutes with a couple of transition baskets to push the score to 12-6. The Bearcats got a number of open looks but could not knock down the early shots as the first official timeout was called with 14:38 remaining in the half.
Out of the timeout, U-M was on the move again as it quickly grabbed a defensive rebound and on the outlet pass Gandy drove to the hoop for the basket and the foul. The free throw was her ninth point. Cincinnati got a spark from its defense as center Debbie Merrill swatted a Gandy layup and King drilled a three-pointer at the other end to trim the lead to five. The Wolverines' answer came from Rachael Carney (Flint, Mich./Powers Catholic HS), who drilled a trey of her own from the wing to give U-M a nine-point lead. Niki Reams (Jenison, Mich./Jenison HS) made two free throws to give Michigan its biggest lead of the game, 22-11 with 11:04 left in the half.
Out of the second timeout, UC made a small run on the Michigan reserves. The Wolverines missed a series of jumpers that were countered with baskets at the other end. Michigan was forced to call its first timeout as the score narrowed to 22-18 at the 9:36 mark.
Pool was re-inserted into the lineup for U-M and gave the team a lift. Over the next five minutes, however, the Bearcats settled in. The teams traded baskets with most of Michigan's coming from Gandy. At the 2:40 mark, Gandy had 14 points and the Wolverines owned a 34-33 edge on the scoreboard. The momentum may have shifted to the Bearcats as the teams headed to the locker rooms. Off of a late steal, King hit a pull-up jumper with seven ticks left to give Cincinnati the one point lead at the half, 37-36.
Michigan opened the second period with a quick bucket by Sierra Hauser-Price (Van Nuys, Calif./Notre Dame Prep), but the Bearcats responded with a pair of three-pointers from King to establish a five-point lead at 43-38. Cincinnati inflated its lead to 49-43 five minutes into the frame, prompting U-M coach Cheryl Burnett to call her second timeout of the half.
U-M responded after the break with a triple from Poole at 15:08. Two Bearcat turnovers allowed Michigan to pull within one with a Smith layin one minute later. Michigan then tied the game at 12:57 with a Carney three, but Cincinnati scored on its next posession to reassume the lead.
Two King buckets boosted the Cincy lead to 59-53 as the half approached the 10-minute mark. Gandy, however, converted what was only King's second miss of the night from three-point range into a four-foot jumper in transition to make the score 59-55 at 9:02. Gandy then capitalized on a turnover at midcourt to pull the Wolverines within two, 59-57, a minute later to force a Cincinnati timeout.
Gandy continued her tear after the break with a three-pointer at 7:08 to give Michigan the lead at 60-59. A turnover at midcourt gave the Maize and Blue a chance to increase the lead, and Poole was up to task, burying a triple for the four-point advantage.
The Bearcats fought to chip away at the Wolverine lead with an 8-3 run and pulled the score to 68-67 with 2:03 remaining. A foul in the paint called on Poole gave Cincinnati's Debbie Merrill two free throws and she converted both to put the Bearcats back in the lead, 69-68, with just 1:27 remaining.
Michigan halfcourt offense connected to create an easy jump shot for Reams with just a minute remaining. With the Wolverines holding the tenuous one-point advatage, Cincinnati pushed back down the floor. However, Merrill was called for foul, fouling out of the game and giving the ball back to the Wolverines.
Michigan drained the clock inside the 30-second mark, calling a timeout at halfcourt. Cincinnati quickly fouled on the restart of play and Carney hit the front end of the one-and-one to inflate the U-M lead to 71-69 with just 17.9 seconds remaining.
Micah Harvey had a chance to tie the game with her drive down the left side. Her layup missed and was rebounded by Reams with 7.9 seconds on the clock. With seven seconds remaining, Gandy knocked down two freebies to seal the win.
The Wolverines advance to the Preseason WNIT semifinal round to face Rutgers on Wednesday (Nov. 19) at 7:30 p.m. in Piscataway, N.J.
Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423
