Indianapolis — The Michigan women’s basketball team set a program record for regular-season wins and Big Ten wins, and now the eighth-ranked Wolverines want to set another bar by reaching the Big Ten Tournament final.
Michigan, the No. 3 seed, took another step toward that goal by reaching its third-straight tournament semifinals after defeating No. 11 Oregon, 80-58, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the Big Ten Tournament’s late quarterfinal Friday night.
“I was really proud of the way that we play and we defended,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “We took care of the ball, shared the basketball, got to the free-throw line, made our free throws. I just thought we played really well throughout the entire game.”
The Wolverines, ranked No. 8 nationally, are now 25-5. They went 2-0 against Oregon this season, including a 92-87 double-overtime win at Oregon on Dec. 29.
Late in the third quarter, it was clear Oregon, playing its third game in three days and coming off a thrilling second-round upset of No. 6 Maryland, 73-68, in which there were 11 lead changes and 10 ties, had run out of steam. That’s when Michigan took advantage. The Ducks are now 22-12.
Syla Swords led the Wolverines with 17 points and eight rebounds, Olivia Olson had 16 points, Ashley Sofilkanich added 14 and Kendall Dudley 10. Mila Holloway had 10 assists. Michigan had the rebounding edge, 44-31, and parlayed that to 20 second-chance points to Oregon’s four.
“We really emphasized rebounding especially looking at our numbers from the last game (against Oregon),” Sofilkanich said. “We knew going into this game the rebounding battle was something we really had to win. And coach emphasized offensive rebounds at halftime and we really went in with that mindset in the second half to get (offensive) boards, get the second-chance points.”
The Wolverines, who had a two-round bye, will next face ninth-ranked Iowa (25-5) on Saturday. The Hawkeyes advanced after beating Illinois, 64-58, Friday night, their seventh straight win heading into the semis.
Iowa and Michigan finished tied for second in the conference, but the Hawkeyes earned the No. 2 seed because they won the only meeting between the teams, 62-44, in Iowa City on Feb. 22. That was Michigan’s only loss in a tough four-game stretch against four top-15 opponents at the end of the regular season.
“We want to get this back,” Dudley said. “We didn’t feel great about how we showed up in the last game.”
Michigan responded from that loss and won an overtime game at Ohio State, 88-86.
“That was a really tough game for us,” Barnes Arico said of the loss at Iowa on the Hawkeyes’ Senior Day. “That was a tough environment. For everyone with the exception of two people on our team, they had never played at Iowa. They jumped on us. They were super physical. The score didn’t indicate how close the game was, but they’re a tough team to play there.
“For us, that shook us a little bit because we hadn’t had a loss like that in — I don’t know if we have all season — so we really wanted to respond at Ohio State, and that gave us a little bit of confidence back. We know they’re going to defend, we know they’re going to be physical, we know they’re going to be gritty. We know they’re tough as heck, but our kids are super competitive and they want an opportunity to play against someone that beat ‘em.”
The Wolverines looked like a confident team Friday night in the win against the Ducks. They took over the game in the third quarter, thanks to two runs and never looked back. It helped having Olson on the court the full 10 minutes, considering two early game fouls limited her playing time in the first half. Michigan led by as many as 17 and closed out the quarter, 56-43. The Ducks had come out of halftime scoring the first two baskets to cut its deficit to four, but Michigan responded with a 6-0 run. With 4:22 left, the Wolverines went on a 7-0 run while Oregon’s shooting went cold as the Ducks made only 1 of 8 shots.
Olson, Michigan’s leading scorer who was hit with two personal fouls in the first quarter, played only eight minutes in the first half and her production clearly was missed. Despite her absence and some struggles offensively, the Wolverines led 33-24 at halftime.
Michigan shot 37.1% from the field and were 2 of 10 from the 3-point line. Swords had eight points and made both of the Wolverines’ 3-pointers. Holloway also had two early fouls and was 0 of 6 from the field. The Wolverines outrebounded Oregon, 24-16.
Michigan held an 18-13 at the end of the first quarter, but Olson and Holloway each had two fouls. The Wolverines dominated the boards, outrebounding Oregon, 13-8. In the first six minutes of the game, the Wolverines were shooting 57% from the field but that dropped to 41.2% by the end of the quarter.
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan women roll past Oregon in Big Ten tourney, earn Iowa rematch
Reporting by Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
