IU beats Michigan 67-61, finishes out regular season

In basketball, March signifies one thing: the NCAA tournament. With no spot solidified for the Hoosiers, a win against the 10th-place team in the conference would only help their case to get in. The Hoosiers got that win Sunday, defeating Michigan 67-61 on Senior Day.

This was the Hoosiers’ first game in a week, and for the first 26 minutes, the Wolverines were in control, leading by as many as 15 points with 15:40 remaining.

IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said some of the struggles could have been attributed to the time off, but she also pointed to Michigan’s hot start from the field.

“Michigan came out and shot (56.7 percent) in the first half,” said Legette-Jack. “I think it had a lot to do with Michigan, but we also were pushing the tempo so fast, and I think that was even faster than what we are comfortable with.”

The third-year coach said her team needed to reign in on that enthusiasm and harness it a bit, something she said junior guard Jamie Braun was able to do effectively.

“I know we wanted to push the tempo, but I knew we had to push it with poise,” Legette-Jack said. “I talked with Jamie at halftime and I told her to find our pulse, and she certainly found a way to get it pushed, but also to slow it down enough to get up underneath it.”

Up six at the half, the Wolverines’ first two possessions pushed the visitors’ lead to 11. Legette-Jack called a 30-second timeout, which senior Kim Roberson said was to get the team focused.

“She told us to get stops,” Roberson said, “and she kept motivating us and instilling the passion that she always has to bring the intensity on the court. We made a run, which helped, so great timeout, Coach Jack.”

After sinking to a deficit of 15 with 15:40 remaining, the Hoosiers outscored Michigan 34-13 the rest of the way. One of the catalysts to IU’s run was the insertion of freshman guard Ashlee Mells. During the 10-plus minutes she played during the second half, she scored seven points and pulled three rebounds – two offensive – and had two steals.

Most importantly, the Hoosiers went on a 23-9 run that cut Michigan’s lead to 57-56 by the time Mells left the game with 5:15 remaining.

Mells said knew she had to bring IU energy when she came off the bench.

“I wanted to bring a little spark in, because just watching on the sideline, it seemed like that’s what we were lacking a little bit of,” she said. “Once I came in, I knew just to play ball and to play good defense.”

Capping the comeback in the second half, Legette-Jack said the game proved just how good her team can be.

“This game signified to me that we took the cap off our ability to be great,” she said. “We don’t know how great we can be. We are just going to go out there and keep playing and see where the chips fall.”

The Big Ten Tournament begins in Indianapolis this week, and the Hoosiers will face Michigan on Thursday in the second game on the schedule. Game one begins at noon, and the Hoosiers’ rematch with the Wolverines will come 25 minutes after that game is over.