Molly Murray nailed a 3-pointer with 7.3 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and Pollyanna Johns iced the game with a free throw with three seconds left in the extra stanza as the Michigan women's basketball team beat Iowa, 69-65, yesterday in front of 2,303 at Crisler Arena.
The game followed a 79-63 loss to No. 17 Wisconsin on Friday.
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| WARREN ZINN/Daily Strong as she was making moves like this, Pollyana Johns did best when delicate. Her free throw with three seconds left in overtime iced the game. |
The Wolverines relied on defense and free throws to win the game in overtime. They only allowed two baskets in the period and their nine points came off of 7-for-10 shooting from the stripe and an Ann Lemire layup.
But the key play of the game was Murray's trey to force overtime. Coming out of a timeout with 11 seconds left, Murray inbounded the ball to point guard Anne Thorius. Three seconds later, Thorius found Murray coming off a screen by Johns.
"We were supposed to have a double screen up top," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said, "but she didn't get a double, she got a single. It was a good screen, she got a good pass and she got a great look at the basket."
Murray took Thorius' pass with 7.3 seconds left, and found herself open about a foot beyond the 3-point line. The senior, who holds Michigan's all-time career 3-point record, didn't miss.
"We never should have lost the game," Iowa coach Angie Lee said. "That was a game Iowa won, and it slipped right out of our hands. They should never have gotten the three off."
The Wolverines almost won the game in regulation when Thorius stole the Hawkeyes' inbounds pass with 3.2 seconds left. The freshman guard drove down court and was all alone for a layup at the buzzer, but it clanged off of the side of the rim.
"It was a huge game for us," Guevara said. "We played a good team, a bigger team, a very athletic team, and we beat them."
Despite being a smaller team and having their top rebounder - Johns - sidelined for most of the game, the Wolverines outrebounded the Hawkeyes, 39-35.
"If you looked at my keys for the game on the board, No. 1 was rebounds," Lee said. "We should have dominated on the boards."
Michigan point guard Stacey Thomas grabbed 11 boards, including four offensive, to lead all players in that category.
"I tried to box out more," Thomas said. "That's kind of hard for me. I like to go aggressively to the boards and anticipate where it goes, but today I just tried to box out more."
Johns, who missed Friday's game with a knee injury, played just 16 minutes, but had five points and three rebounds, and provided an emotional lift for the Wolverines.
"We had to use her sparingly but she was a lift," Guevara said. "She had a couple of big offensive rebounds."
The Wolverines took their biggest lead of the game early in the first half when Thorius capped a nine-point run with a jumper, putting Michigan up eight. But Iowa slowly chipped away at the Wolverines lead and tied the game at 22 with 3:26 left in the first half. The Wolverines entered halftime with a one-point lead, 27-26.
On Friday, the Wolverines got a glimpse of the future - what life will be like without Johns. And it's not pretty. The Wolverines lost to the Badgers, 79-63, at the Kohl Center in front of 10,295.
Michigan couldn't muster anything inside, relying solely on perimeter shooting and penetration.
And their perimeter shooters did not have their best game, going 7-for-22 from beyond the arc.
But the Badgers' Katie Voight did have one of her best games. The guard was on fire from 3-point range, hitting five of nine 3-pointers. She had 19 points and nine rebounds.
01-26-98
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