Michigan
23-9,11-7Big Ten
UNLV
31-3,18-0Mountain West
Michigan Opens NCAA Tournament With Big Win Over UNLV
3/17/2023 6:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball team took a lead midway through the first quarter and never looked back, recording a 71-59 over No. 22 UNLV on Friday (March 17) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. U-M has advanced to the second round for the eighth time in program history and snapped UNLV's 22-game winning streak.
U-M had a trio of double-figure scorers, led by Emily Kiser's 18-point, 10-rebound double-double. Maddie Nolan turned in 18 points, hitting four three-pointers, with Leigha Brown going for 17 points, seven assists and three boards. Laila Phelia just missed out on a double-double, going for eight points and a career-best 11 rebounds. U-M shot 44.1 percent (26-for-59) from the floor while holding UNLV to a 38.3 percent clip (23-for-60). The Wolverines held a 41-31 advantage on the glass and forced 14 turnovers on the defensive end.
Kiser started the scoring with a three-pointer at the 8:39 mark of the first quarter, with UNLV eventually grabbing a 7-5 lead on a three-point play with 6:24 remaining in the first quarter.
Nolan scored on Michigan's ensuing possession and the Wolverines never trailed again in the contest. Her jumper ignited a 12-2 U-M run to end the quarter, which featured six points from Brown, a layup from Elise Stuck and a buzzer-beating layup from Phelia for a 17-9 lead after 10 minutes.
U-M used a 7-2 spurt to start the second, getting five points from Nolan and a bucket down low from Cameron Williams to open up a 24-11 lead just about a minute and a half into the quarter.
Back-to-back triples for UNLV brought them back within seven, 25-18, around the midway point of the second quarter. Neither team scored for nearly three minutes, as Michigan held its seven-point lead.
Michigan hit the half with a 28-20 lead, getting seven points each from Nolan and Brown. U-M weathered a slow end to the quarter, hitting just 1-of-9 down the stretch to maintain the eight-point halftime lead.
UNLV opened the third quarter by scoring the first four points to cut Michigan's lead to four, 28-24, but Nolan banged her second triple of the afternoon to push Michigan's lead back to seven points. The Lady Rebels got within three, 31-28, with 8:15 remaining. Brown hit a jumper on Michigan's next trip, followed by three-points from Kiser as U-M regained a 36-28 advantage with 6:58 left in the period.
Following a UNLV triple, Michigan embarked on a 12-0 run that was bookended by triples from Nolan and Kiser for a 48-31 lead with 2:31 remaining in the third.
U-M headed to the fourth quarter with a 54-43 lead as Phelia hit her second buzzer-beater to end a quarter with a lefty floater off the glass.
Michigan's lead never dipped below double digits in the final frame as U-M breezed to the 12-point win.
The Wolverines will face either No. 3 seed LSU or No. 14 seed Hawai'i on Sunday. Game time and television designations will be announced later.
