Michigan women's basketball team makes it look easy, reaches WNIT semifinals
Michigan sophomore Carmen Reynolds raises her arms as the Wolverines walk off the court Sunday after beating Syracuse, 78-52 to advance to the semifinals of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. (Photo: Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com)
There’s the giant 1989 men’s basketball National Championship banner, which has a spotlight shining on it, and a slew of Final Four banners. Several banners honor retired jersey numbers and women’s gymnastics NCAA appearances.
But, looking up at the high rafter of the building, you wouldn’t even be able to tell Michigan had a women’s basketball program. No Big Ten titles, no nothing.
With a 78-52 blowout win over Syracuse Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, this Michigan women’s team is one step closer to changing that. The Wolverines will face Miami (21-13) at Crisler Arena at 7 p.m. Wednesday for a chance to play in the championship game.
“I hope we’re building a fanbase with these wins,” Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. “There’s nothing going on Wednesday, nothing on TV. I hope we get a lot of people here, 13 grand, just pack the house. I’d love to see that.”
And at this point in the tournament, it would almost seem weird to see Michigan (21-13) winning by less than 20 points. The Wolverines have dominant in the WNIT and it was no different Sunday afternoon against Syracuse. Michigan once again jumped out to an early lead and finished strong.
“I like winning like this, because it keeps me from biting my nail,” said junior Veronica Hicks, who finished with 24 points. “I have a really bad problem with that. … I can’t say we expected (to win in a blowout), but I definitely aim for it.”
The Wolverines’ success in the tournament is almost inexplicable. Simply put, they’re not supposed to be beating teams like Syracuse and Northwestern by such lopsided scores.
Until yesterday, the Orange (25-11) had beaten all of their WNIT opponents by at least 14 points, and conference foe Northwestern had given Michigan fits all year.
The Wolverines are in that “zone” right now, where seemingly every shot goes in and every bounce tips their way. Anyone can step up and carry the Wolverines.
For example, it wasn’t freshman Dayeesha Hollins or senior Krista Phillips, the two stars of the WNIT so far, that sparked Michigan’s run to open the game.
Forward Carmen Reynolds started 4-of-4, hitting two 3-pointers and two layups in the games first three minutes to put Michigan up 10-0 before the Orange had a chance to get settled.
“I didn’t panic, didn’t call a timeout,” Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman said. “That’s probably happened to us 33 times this season, gotten behind 10, 12 points. … But you’ve got to respond.”
Reynolds finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting
The Wolverines haven’t trailed for almost 90 straight minutes, since a 21-2 run against Toledo in the second round cut through the Rockets’ five-point halftime lead.
Andy Reid covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at andrewreid@annarbor.com
Comments
green1
Sun, Mar 28, 2010 : 5:54 p.m.
First of all, thank you for the recent coverage and photo displays. It seems like more and more members of the local community are coming out to support this team. Wednesday looks to be another good match-up, and hopefully Michigan will win and be able to host again on Saturday as a result of it's good home attendance. As a matter of history, Michigan WBB did have a banner hanging in Crisler to honoring its NCAA appearances. It was hung after the program's second trip to the tournament. During the most recent administration, it was decided that only conference championships and tournament championships would be honored in the Crisler rafters, so the banner was removed. I'd be happy to see it re-hung along with a WNIT championship!