April 4, 2013 - 7:06pm
Block 'M' Blog: Thompson places third in 25th annual State Farm Women's College 3-Point Championship
BY DANIEL FELDMAN
After hitting 110 3-pointers during the 2012-13 season, Michigan senior forward Kate Thompson took her talents to Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta on Thursday to participate in the 25th annual State Farm Women's College 3-Point Championship.
The second-team All-Big Ten Wolverine became the first Michigan player to participate in the event. After posting 20 games with at least three 3-pointers — including a program best of seven against Northwestern in January — Thompson finished third out of eight.
Thompson shot in the first pairing against Indiana's Aulani Sinclair to begin the night. Thompson tallied 14 points out of a possible 30. After watching North Carolina State's Marissa Kastanek get 24 points, Sinclair get 17 and Auburn’s Blanche Alverson tally 16 points in the first round, it came down to the last pairing of Delaware’s Lauren Carra and Kentucky’s A’Dia Mathies to determine the fourth semifinal qualifier. After tying Carra with 14 points, it came down to the tiebreaker of "money balls" made, which Thompson had more of.
In the semis, Thompson was paired with Alverson to start off the round. While Alverson rushed to get all of her shots off, Thompson took her time, just getting her last ball off as time expired to score 15 points, in comparison to Alverson’s 14.
With just two advancing to the final round, it would come down to the other semifinal pairing of Sinclair and Kastanek to determine the finals. It was there that Thompson’s competition ended as Sinclair and Kastanek recorded 20 and 17 points, respectively, to advance to the final round.
Sinclair would repeat that result in the finals, achieving 20 points to win the title.
