Michigan
Indiana
Smith, Reams Help Michigan Beat Indiana, Put End to Skid
2/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball team ended an eight-game losing streak with a 74-65 victory over Indiana today (Sunday, Feb. 23) at Assembly Hall. Paced by a 25-point effort from Jennifer Smith (Lansing, Mich./DeWitt HS) and 19 points from freshman guard Niki Reams (Jenison, Mich./Jenison HS), the Wolverines shot .500 (24-48) from the field and outrebounded the Hoosiers 42-28 en route to their first Big Ten road win of the season.
| | Reams stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, 10-10 foul shooting, nine rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot. |
Reams, who played maybe her best all-around game as a Wolverine, scored on a layup with 10:30 left in the half to cut the deficit to one (11-10). Michigan, however, could not get over the hump and Indiana stretched its lead back to four (17-13) before the Wolverines took off on a 10-0 run paced by six points from Smith and four from Pool.
A Pool layup with 5:14 left in the frame gave the Wolverines a six-point advantage (23-17), and that lead was due in large part to a solid effort on the defensive end. Smith and fellow post player LeeAnn Bies (Lakeview, Mich./Lakeview HS) did an excellent job of shutting down the smaller Hoosiers in the post while Rachael Carney (Flint, Mich./Powers Catholic HS), who finished with team-high three thefts, led a Michigan perimeter defense which constantly harassed the Hoosiers. Indiana did manage to knock down four first-half triples to stay in the game and cut the Michigan lead to two (28-26), but a conventional three-point play by Reams and a pair of free throws ensued to give the Wolverines a 33-26 lead heading into the locker room.
Smith closed the first half with 13 points while Pool and Bies each added six. Reams and Stephanie Gandy (Detroit, Mich./Northern HS) shared the first-half team honors with five boards apiece. Michigan outrebounded Indiana 24-13 in the first half and held the Hoosiers to just .333 (10-30) from the field.
Indiana scored the first hoop of the second stanza, but Reams immediately answered with a triple as the Wolverines kept Indiana at a safe distance of six to eight points for much of the second half. Indiana cut the lead to four (43-39) at the 11:42 mark, but Reams snatched an offensive board and hit both resulting charity tosses to kick-start a Michigan spurt which pushed the lead back to eight (51-43) with 7:50 remaining. Michigan maintained its lead despite Smith spending a few minutes on the bench with three fouls.
The only thing keeping Indiana in the game at this point was its three-point shooting and the Hoosiers drilled another one to trail by just five (51-46), but Michigan responded with a 9-3 run that appeared to put the game out of reach. Again it was Smith in the middle of the Michigan run with a pair of hoops to go along with another conventional three-point play by Reams. The Reams hoop was maybe Michigan's best execution of the game as a double-teamed Smith found Bies in the high post and a quick dish from Bies found Reams for the layin.
Michigan's control of the game then slipped a bit when Indiana converted a five-point trip on a hoop, foul, offensive rebound and triple to pull within four (62-58) at the 2:08 mark. Smith slowed down the run with another hoop in the paint and Carney put a halt to it altogether when she hit a scoop shot while slicing through the Indiana defense with the shot clock running down. The basket gave Michigan an eight-point lead (66-58) with under a minute to go. The remainder of the game was a march to the charity stripe with Reams hitting all six of her attempts in the final to finish the game 10-10 from the free throw line. The Wolverines finished .893 (25-28) at the line for the game.
Michigan closes out its three-game road trip on Thursday (Feb. 27) against Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Sue Guevara
on the game overall ... "We did a very good job defensively for the entire game and I thought the key was we got contributions from more than just Jennifer Smith today. Gandy gave us nine rebounds, Reams obviously played a great game with 19 points and LeeAnn Bies played a good game defensively. We did a much better job of attacking the basket with the dribble and it was just a good all-around team win.
N O T E S
Jennifer Smith has now scored 20 or more points in three straight games and in a team-best six games this season.
Niki Reams matched her career best in scoring with 19 points and set a new career high with her nine rebounds. Reams also shot a career-best 10-10 (1.000) from the free throw line. Reams' 10-10 peformance from the stripe is a Michigan season high for most free throws made without a miss.
Michigan is now 8-2 when scoring at least 70 points and is 11-0 when shooting a better percentage from the field than its opponent.
Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423
