The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MAY 2017 THE WOLVERINE 57 BY LELAND MITCHINSON W hen the field of 64 teams for the women's NCAA Tournament was announced, many thought that would include the Michigan women's basketball team, including the Wolver- ines themselves. When the selection show ended, Michigan found itself on the outside looking in and eventually was named to the Women's National Invitation Tournament field. That snub by the NCAA selection committee stayed with them as they began play in the WNIT. "I think we just had to refocus," se- nior guard Siera Thompson said. "I think there were some games where we didn't follow the game plan or just made mental mistakes that we didn't make at the beginning of the season. So the WNIT was a time to focus back up and prove something to the NCAA committee, who didn't choose us to make it to the NCAA Tournament. "We kind of used that to motivate us and push us through the tournament, and that was something that was al- ways in the back of our minds while we were playing. We had extra motiva- tion during our last couple of games." That motivation powered the team to five straight wins at Crisler Arena, including a narrow four-point victory over Villanova, before the team took on Georgia Tech in the WNIT Cham- pionship game in Detroit. It wasn't easy, but the Wolverines eventually prevailed with an 89-79 tri- ple-overtime victory over the Yellow Jackets to bring home the program's first postseason tournament champi- onship and a banner to Crisler Arena. The back-and-forth contest saw 11 lead changes, and Michigan was powered by standout performances from junior guard Katelynn Flaherty and sopho- more center Hallie Thome, who scored 27 and 25 points, respectively. Flaherty was named the MVP of the tourna- ment while both she and Thome made the All-WNIT team. In her final game, Thompson played every minute and scored 13 points to go along with eight assists and four rebounds. When the final buzzer sounded, Thompson knew that her last appearance in maize and blue had been something special. "It hit me at the end of the game, first that we had done something at our school that has never been done before, and just the game, how back and forth the game was and how long the game was," Thompson said. "It was just a special moment for myself and my teammates." Just a year ago, Michigan was able to make it to the WNIT semifinals before falling to Florida Gulf Coast, and this year they were determined to go even farther. To reach that final game this season, the Wolverines had to reverse a slump that marred the end of their regular season. Michigan lost three of its four final regular-season games and fell to Michigan State 74-64 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Thompson attributes the postseason turnaround to players refocusing and finding their grooves in close games earlier in the year. "I think people's confidence [had] gotten better," Thompson said. "Just people knowing their roles and step- ping up, making plays when we needed them. For example, [sopho- more guard Nicole] Munger made some plays in the Iowa game to help us out. It's just different players step- ping up and contributing to the team." In addition to winning the WNIT, Michigan set a program record for wins in a season with 28. Head coach Kim Barnes Arico also earned her 100th win as the coach of the Wolver- ines. Bringing home the team's first banner also marks the end of the ca- reers of Thompson and fellow senior guard Danielle Williams. Thompson will graduate as the program leader in assists (540), eighth on the all-time scoring list (1,427 points) and second in program history for three-pointers made (237). On top of all that, she has played more minutes (4,681) than any- one in school history, man or woman. "[Winning the WNIT] means a lot, OLYMPIC SPORTS Women's Basketball Storms To WNIT Championship After NCAA Tourney Snub Junior guard Katelynn Flaherty was named the WNIT Most Valuable Player after averaging 21.3 points during the tournament. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS