Maybe it was because the Michigan women’s basketball team lost five of its last six games against Notre Dame.

Maybe it was because this year’s seniors had never beaten the Irish before.

Maybe it was because in the last game between the two teams — at Crisler Arena two years ago — the Wolverines thought they had the game wrapped up only to allow the Irish to go on a 10-2 run over the final 47 seconds to snatch the victory.

Whatever the reason, after Michigan had clinched its 63-59 overtime win against No. 8 Notre Dame, sophomore guard Veronica Hicks felt compelled to call on a higher power.

Right after the last question of the press conference, Hicks exclaimed, shortly but meaningfully, “Thank you God!”

Indeed, it did seem like there was a divine presence watching over the Wolverines as the final seconds of the game ticked away, especially after two straight missed layups by Notre Dame late in the game.

“I’d rather be lucky than good anytime,” Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. “You have got to be able to take care of the ball and make free throws down the stretch and we did all those things.”

The first half saw both offenses light up the scoreboard early. For the Irish, it was a balanced attack. Just one player scored under four points for the first half, but no one scored more than seven. For Michigan, the major contributor was senior center Stephany Skrba, who accounted for 12 points on six-for-seven shooting.

The half ended with Notre Dame in the lead, 36-35. Borseth described his team’s scoring output for the half as “unheard of,” considering the Wolverines’ offensive woes this season.

The two teams wouldn’t drift much further apart than that — neither held a lead of more than five points in the game.

The scoring calmed down in the second half. The two teams went back and forth, making key defensive stops when they had to.

With three minutes to play and Notre Dame up two, Skrba sent an Irish player packing with a he block, coming from behind and preventing a sure Notre Dame layup.

Finally, with 13 seconds left in the game and Notre Dame nursing a two-point lead, senior guard Jessica Minnfield brought the ball up court.

“Coach said to get the ball to half court and call timeout,” Minnfield said. “I waited for him to call the timeout, but he never did. So I just said, ‘ok, I’ll go to the basket.’ ”

After a quick crossover to beat the first defender, Minnfield found herself in the post against a much taller player. She spun and laid the ball up and in with her left hand as the crowd erupted. The game went into overtime.

After sitting relatively dormant in the second half, Skrba came to life again in the extra frame. After Notre Dame scored first with a 3-pointer, Skrba went to work down low, scoring on two consecutive, almost identical drop-step layups to give Michigan a one-point lead it would never relinquish.

“Coach told us to try to get the ball in the post,” Skrba, who shot 10-11 with a career-high 20 points, said. “I just tried to go out and do exactly what he wanted.”

Maybe it was Minnfield’s leadership down the stretch, or Skrba’s consistently clutch scoring in the paint. Maybe it was two clutch blocks from the 5’9” Hicks in the second half and overtime.

Whatever the reason, Michigan walked out of Crisler with a win against a top-ten team, and that warrants a “thank you” to someone.