BLOOMINGTON - February has finally brought temperatures above freezing, but there is still enough ice on the sidewalk to cause a hard fall.
And fall is what the Michigan women's basketball team's shooting percentage did yesterday, when Indiana tripped up the Wolverines, 73-56.
The Wolverines shot only 29 percent from the field (21 for 72) one week after scorching the nets at a .604 clip in their win over Iowa.
Michigan (4-5 Big Ten, 12-6 overall) trailed by only one with 30 seconds remaining in the first half. A layup by Indiana's Tatjana Vesel extended the Hoosiers lead to three. With the shot clock turned off, the Wolverines should've held the ball for the last shot, but Michigan guard Akisha Franklin was called for travelling.
Indiana point guard Kristi Green made the Wolverines pay by draining a 3-pointer with two seconds left. That sent Michigan to the lockerroom trailing, 35-29, its largest deficit up to that point.
Indiana (4-6, 12-9) took control of the game at the start of the second half with a 12-3 run, and Michigan was never within single-digits of the lead the rest of the way.
"We have not done a good job in the last two minutes of the first half in our last three basketball games," Indiana coach Jim Izard said. "Today we went from plus-one to plus-six."
"We came out in the second half and took it to them on both ends of the floor and built a commanding lead."
Michigan made only nine field goals in the second half despite attempting 42 shots.
"We couldn't score," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "We had some wide-open looks. Obviously, if you can't score from the perimeter, your big girls aren't going to be open inside, and I thought we tried to force it down inside."
Indiana's outside shooters were successful early, which opened up their post game.
Hoosiers' foward Bridget Porter scored 16 points, on six-of-eight shooting, to lead all scorers.
"We went back to getting the ball to the perimeter," Izard said. "We wanted to get our one, two, three and four spot players involved in the offense.
"Bridget Porter comes out in the first half and has 11 points because she had the green light to hit the shots and not to be so concerned about getting the ball into (center) Quacy Barnes."
Barnes, who had 18 points in Indiana's 72-59 win over Michigan on Jan. 17, only had two points in the first half yesterday, but finished with 10.
The Hoosiers made more free throws (18) than Michigan attempted (14).
"Indiana goes to the free-throw line a lot," Guevara said. "They put their head down and penetrate to the basket. The hardest thing to defend is penetration, and they do a very good job of it."
Michigan's Amy Johnson received her most extensive playing time in weeks and provided 13 points off the bench, 10 in the first half, to lead her team. Stacy Thomas, who finished with 10 points, was the only other Wolverine to score in double figures.
Michigan guard Ann Lemire didn't start or play in the first half due to a violation of team rules.
Both teams started slowly. The game was scoreless for the first two minutes until a 3-pointer by Jennifer Kiefer. Michigan held a lead as large as six for the first 14 minutes of the game.
A 3-point basket by Porter gave Indiana its first lead, 18-17, and the Hoosiers never trailed the rest of the game.