By Joey Nowak The Grand Rapids Press

INDIANAPOLIS — The Michigan women's basketball team became the second victim in as many days to Illinois' improbable Big Ten Tournament run on Friday.

The bottom-seeded Fighting Illini, which lost 12 straight regular season games to finish last in the conference, led the entire way in a 55-47 win against the third-seeded Wolverines at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

It was Illinois' (9-22) second upset in 24 hours, coming on the heels of a 63-56 win against sixth-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday. The Illini, which have not trailed in either game, are the first 11-seed to ever make the tournament's semifinals.

"You have nothing to lose, everything to gain," Illinois coach Jolette Law said of her team's approach. "Everybody else is playing for something. What are we playing for? We've got to play for our respect, we've got to play for our pride. We've got to leave it all out on the floor with a sense of urgency."

The Illini did so, jumping out to a 12-2 lead with a balanced inside-out attack before the Wolverines (17-12) closed the margin to five in the first half. But Illinois, led by 12 first-half points from Karisma Penn and 14 from Amber Moore, used a 18-2 run to close the first half with a 37-16 lead.

"We were getting some good looks," said Michigan senior Veronica Hicks. "The people we wanted to shoot were shooting it. They just weren't falling for us. That's about how it was. In the start of the game, we got ourselves into a hole when they were making shots and we weren't."

Michigan began to mount a comeback midway through the second half, using a 17-2 run to narrow Illinois' lead to single digits. But the Wolverines — who shot 2-for-15 (13 percent) from 3-point range in the first half and 5-for-26 (19 percent) in the game — simply ran out of time.

"We were trying to play not to lose," Law said of the late surge. "We've never been in that situation, so I get it. I understand. I had to bring some calmness to them because we've never been up 20 on a great team down the stretch."

Kate Thompson had 10 points off the bench to lead the Wolverines, who swept Illinois in the regular season — including a 58-55 win on Sunday. Moore finished with 14, while Penn had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

"If we can play a 40-minute game, each and every game, for 160 minutes," Law said, "We can be that Cinderella story to sneak into the NCAAs. That's what I challenged them with and they're responding."

The defeat leaves Michigan, which emerged from the Big Ten's four-way tie for third place with the No. 3 seed, waiting more than a week to learn its next stop for the postseason.

"The locker room was somber," Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. "Our kids were disappointed with the outcome of the game. Obviously Illinois had something to do with that. But it's getting through the day, and tomorrow the sun's going to shine and we're going to pick up the pieces and get an opportunity to play somewhere down the road and forget about today."