Syracuse University
University of Michigan
Orange Ends Historic Season at Michigan
3/28/2010 4:18:20 PM | Women's Basketball
Box Score
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The rv/rv Syracuse women's basketball team (25-11) ended its Women's National Invitation Tournament run with a 78-52 loss to the Michigan Wolverines (21-13) in the quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon at Crisler Arena. The Orange, which won more than one postseason game for the first time in a single season, concluded its historic campaign with the most wins in a season since it began competing in the NCAA in 1981-82.
“(Michigan) got up on us pretty early,” said head coach Quentin Hillsman. “When a team gets going, you can't really make your run. That's the way games happen. Part of our game is rebounding the basketball and that's what we didn't do today. Normally when we play tough, we win basketball games. We just didn't do what we've been doing all season.”
Senior forward Nicole Michael became the only player in program history to twice reach the 500-point plateau in a single season after recording five points against the Wolverines to bring her season point total to 501. Earlier this season, Michael became SU's all-time leading scorer (1787) and rebounder (996) under the direction of fourth-year head coach Quentin Hillsman.
Syracuse was led by senior forward Juanita Ward, who registered 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, while pulling down five rebounds in the final game of her collegiate career.
The Orange struggled in its perimeter shooting, making just 16.7 percent (2-12) of its 3-point attempts, while the Wolverines shot 41.9 percent (13-31) from downtown. Michigan converted 23 Orange turnovers into 25 points, while making 50.0 percent (29-58) of it shots to SU's 39.3 percent (22-56).
The Wolverines used a 10-0 run to open the scoring, while denying an Orange bucket until 16:14 when senior forward Vionca Murray put SU on the board. Ward cut the deficit in half, 14-7, with 15:15 on the clock, but UM increased the separation to 21-9 two minutes later.
Michigan pushed the lead to 17, 30-13, following Veronica Hick's second 3-pointer of the afternoon at the 10-minute mark. The Orange struggled to control the ball, while the Wolverines were able to take a 40-23 lead with less than four minutes remaining. Syracuse attempted to fight its way back into the game, but UM hit its ninth 3-ball of the game with 1:39 on the clock to go into the locker room with a dominating 46-26 lead.
The Orange came out slow in the second half and didn't score its first points until 17:48 to make the sore 48-28. It began to attack the offensive glass, pulling down four offensive boards in the opening minutes after recording just one in the first half. However, that didn't stop Michigan, which reached its largest lead of the afternoon with a basket to make the score 52-30 with 15:12 remaining.
UM continued to control the game, making it a 30-point game, 64-34, with less than 10 minutes remaining, and showed no signs of slowing down. It continued to hold at least a 25-point lead for the remainder of the game before crusing to a 78-52 victory.
