CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Through its first 11 games, the No. 19 Michigan women’s basketball team earned 10 wins by burying its opponents in the second half. Building leads after slow first quarters was its path to victory, game after game — its lone loss was chalked up to an inability to overcome one of those flat starts.
But in the Wolverine’s upset of No. 6 North Carolina, senior wing Leigha Brown and sophomore guard Laila Phelia flipped that script. The duo’s first half outburst gave Michigan a lead that proved insurmountable for the Tar Heels, combining for 29 points on 67% shooting from the field. Their red-hot start — culminating in the highest-scoring quarter in team history — opened the game up for teammates, disrupting the UNC game plan and providing a glimpse of the Wolverines’ potential.
Michigan, known for its slow starts, let up a tough opening sequence immediately after losing the tip-off: guard Alyssa Ustby recovered the ball, then blew past the Wolverine defense to put the Tar Heels on the board.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Phelia evened the score, blowing past her defender into the teeth of the UNC defense for a layup.
“Laila is amazing,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “Amazing (as a) downhill player. And we knew we were going to be able to put her in those situations, for her to be able to get downhill, (so) we ran that action for her early on.”
From that moment up until a media timeout midway through the second quarter, Michigan was near-unstoppable at the offensive end. Brown, who shot just 3-for-19 from deep coming into the game, hit three of four 3-pointers. Her explosion from deep changed the course of the game.
“Brown hit three threes,” UNC guard Deja Kelly said. “That was not expected. She was 15% from three coming into this game. That was an adjustment we didn’t catch onto after she hit the first or second, and they were pretty timely.”
Barnes Arico, meanwhile, was a little less surprised, but was equally impressed by Brown’s performance from deep.
“I don’t know how you stop (Brown),” Barnes Arico said. “She’s so good off the ounce, and so good at the midrange and finishing at the rim. So when she got going with her threes, it was pretty incredible.”
Brown and Phelia’s red-hot start battered the Tar Heels, building a lead that the Wolverines never relinquished. But when their own shots stopped falling, the impact of those early points continued to have an impact. The duo drew aggressive attention for the entirety of the second-half, creating space for teammates to play an increased offensive role. Freshman forwards Alyssa Crockett and Chyra Evans each logged meaningful minutes, hitting first-half 3-pointers of their own.
“Ice in their veins,” Barnes Arico said. “(Crockett) came out and played three minutes, and had two threes. Like holy cow.”
As the game progressed, and the Michigan attack petered out, the duo continued to provide their team an edge at the defensive end. Phelia, in particular, kept the Wolverines in front with her defensive intensity. Possession after possession, she matched up with Kelly, holding the double-digit scorer to 2-for-13 shooting.
“When she comes to practice all she cares about is ‘who am I guarding and how am I going to stop them?’ ” Barnes Arico said. “She has this incredible mentality, and I don’t think she has any idea how good she is, or any idea of the impact that she has made thus far.”
Phelia and Brown continue to prove themselves as crucial to the Wolverines success, but the extent to which they can elevate their unit overall continues to be in question. In Tuesday’s win over UNC, the duo showed a glimpse of their full potential.
While doing so, they led Michigan to a statement win over an elite opponent.