Michigan women’s basketball eliminated from March Madness in nailbiter
Unfortunately, the University of Michigan is done playing basketball in the 2023-24 season. The Wolverines had a strong regular season but could not get past Kansas in the opening round of the tournament, falling in overtime by a score of 72-81.
In the matchup, forward Cameron Williams led the team in scoring with 18 points while Laila Phelia (16) and Lauren Hansen (13) also hit double digits. The Wolverines started the fourth quarter with a nine-point lead but couldn’t hold on and allowed Kansas to force overtime. Michigan’s defense faltered in the overtime period and allowed 14 points against just five scored.
Michigan finishes with a record of 20-14. The Wolverines were just 9-9 in Big Ten play but had a great conference tournament run that put them into prime position to make the March Madness tournament.
One of the highlights of the season was the 69-60 victory over 17-ranked Ohio State. At the time of the game, Michigan was 10-3 and looking to make a statement against their bitter rivals… which they succeeded in doing. Phelia dropped 26 points in the matchup to push Michigan to victory.
Apart from that win, however, Michigan failed to win another rivalry matchup. They lost the second game to Ohio State and dropped both matchups with Michigan State, giving them a 1-3 record against rivals on the season.
Guard Laila Phelia led the team in points per game with 16.8. Phelia scored 593 total points, which is 146 more than the next-highest scorer (Lauren Hansen) who averaged 11.9 per game. Phelia also scored the highest single-game total of the season with 30 points against Indiana in the Big Ten tournament and led Michigan in scoring in 17 of the team’s 34 contests. Cameron Williams was the team’s most prolific rebounder with 4.7 per game, but Chyra Evans, Elissa Brett, and Jordan Hobbs each averaged over four per game as well.
Overall, Michigan can look back on the season with pride. There was a period towards the middle of the season where it looked like the tournament was out of reach, but a clutch push down the stretch meant that Michigan would be represented in March Madness.
