Hoosiers unable to make late-game comeback

INDIANAPOLIS — IU Coach Curt Miller could pinpoint the exact play when IU’s hopes of a second-half comeback slipped away.

With nine minutes 33 seconds remaining and the Hoosiers down by 10, freshman guard Larryn Brooks launched a 3-pointer from the wing. The ball carried too much steam and rattled off the rim and into the hands of Michigan’s junior guard Shannon Smith.

Brooks’ 3-pointer would have brought the Hoosiers within seven points. It was inches away from bringing the Hoosiers back within single-digits and back into the game.

But the opportunity went for naught. The shot missed and IU’s momentum slipped away. Throughout the entire second half, the Hoosiers could never get through the 10-point deficit barrier.

“Our best player got a wide-open three to cut the game to seven and unfortunately that shot didn’t go in,” Miller said. “I think the momentum would have really changed.”

The IU-heavy crowd was ready to explode if the Hoosiers (18-12) would have been able to cut the lead to single-digits.

But after the ball didn’t go in. It caused the Hoosiers’ shoulders to drop and broke their spirit, Miller said.

“You could see some of the wind come out of our sails,” he said.

Michigan (18-12) responded with a 12-0 run.

What could have been a seven-point game quickly turned into 22-point deficit.

“You’ve played nearly 11 minutes,” Miller said. “And you’ve only been able to cut the lead to 10 and you’re looking up and going, ‘We’re giving our heart and soul out there,’ and you still only cut it to ten.”

The Hoosiers pulled within 10 points six times during the second half, the final coming when Brooks missed her 3-pointer. All six times, Michigan stymied IU’s comeback chances.

Freshman guard Alexis Gassion initially cut the deficit to 10 with 17 minutes 49 seconds remaining in the second half, the first of IU’s comeback attempts.

Smith responded with a layup nine seconds later. She finished with 11 points in the second half and repeatedly had an answer to IU’s run.

“The game’s a run,” Smith said. “They make a run, we try to make a run back.”
Many of those runs were fueled by second-chance opportunities.

Michigan outrebounded IU 42-31. Michigan’s 12 offensive rebounds led to 24 second-chance points.

The 5-foot-7 Smith had two possessions where she managed to win an offensive rebound against IU’s post players and finish with a layup. Junior forward Cyesha Goree scored a game-high 18 points, most of which came in the paint off of rebounds.

Other times it was self-inflicted mistakes that cost the Hoosiers. IU had a stretch where the Hoosiers turned the ball over because of charge calls three times around the 10-minute mark in the second half.

“It felt like things weren’t going our way,” Gassion said.

Miller said IU fought in the second half to make a comeback, but those efforts simply fell short. Michigan’s 15-point halftime lead and IU’s inability to get stops late in the game effectively put an end to IU’s hopes of advancing in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2009.

“We really competed in that first 10 or 11 minutes in that second half,” Miller said. “We ran out of gas, but I hoped they learned how hard it is to play and the effort you need to play with.”