The Michigan women’s basketball team finished the regular season 19 wins and 10 losses.
Six of those losses came in the month of February.
The Wolverines’ 79-71 loss to Iowa on Sunday capped their regular season, along with their abysmal February. Samantha Logic was the main factor for the Hawkeyes, finishing the game with a triple-double: 13 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
Iowa’s 79 points was the most the Wolverines have surrendered this entire year. Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said that it wasn’t a result of poor defense, just the Hawkeyes’ hot shooting.
Iowa did finish the game shooting 46.9 percent from the field compared to the Wolverines’ 40.9-percent mark. Four Michigan players scored in the double digits — junior center Rachel Sheffer and junior forward Sam Arnold each finished with 13, junior guard Kate Thompson tallied 14 and senior guard Carmen Reynolds scored 13.
“(Iowa) is just a really good team, especially at home,” said senior guard Courtney Boylan. “They’re just on fire, especially shooting. We came out early and we hung with them but then they built up a lead and we were never able to recover from there.”
Unlike Michigan, the Hawkeyes finished the regular season on an eight-game winning streak. During that stretch they beat the Wolverines twice — once in Ann Arbor and once at Iowa City — within 10 days of each other.
The one positive during the loss to Iowa was the re-emergence of Michigan’s bench. Coming off of its worst performance of the season against Purdue on Feb. 23 where it scored just five points, the bench tallied 30 points against Iowa.
The bench will be important for the Wolverines success as they commence post-season play this coming Thursday at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. But Michigan’s confidence isn’t lacking, even after the poor February.
“It’s always hard when you go on a little bit of a losing streak, but you’re able to see how tough your team can be,” Boylan said. “Through this 3-6 spurt we’ve struggled a little bit but we’ve seen that our team can stick together. I think we’re going into the tournament with a lot of confidence.”
Added Borseth on Michigan’s February: “I told the players it’s easy to win. Everyone can be a winner, but if you lose a couple of games I think it tests your character and shows what you’re made of. Through thick and thin I think our kids have really done a good job of staying together. Your fight within isn’t really against your opponent, but more so the battle that you have within and I think our kids have really stayed together.”
The Wolverines will open the Big Ten Tournament on March 1 against Illinois.
The players insist that they have moved past the losing month and are looking forward to the game against the Fighting Illini. Sheffer said that Michigan understands the importance of the game and has had a sense of urgency all week in practice. Boylan also added that she believes the Wolverines have had one of their best weeks of practice following the Iowa loss.
But the game against Illinois is more than just a first round match-up in the Big Ten Tournament. A victory on Thursday would give Michigan 20 wins on the season — the first time the team will have reached that number since Borseth took the reins in 2007. The players have continually stressed how it was a preseason goal to achieve that number, and it is finally within reach.
“I think we lost a lot of close games (during February),” said junior guard Jenny Ryan. “It’s not like we ever got blown out of the water. We were close and sometimes that’s just the nature of sports. The ball bounces your way and the score ends up on your side but I can’t say that it was anything like we fell apart.”
If the Wolverines are able to reach 20 wins, they might need some of the bounces to come their way. The mark will also be a big step towards their first NCAA Tournament berth in 12 years. As a bubble team, a first-round loss to the Fighting Illini would severely hinder Michigan’s tournament hopes.