The Washington women’s basketball team’s five-game winning streak came crashing to a halt in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.
Specifically, a disastrous third quarter spelled doom for the 12th-seeded Huskies and resulted in a 66-58 defeat against No. 5 seed Michigan at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“We had a great game today. I thought there was a battle on the floor,” coach Tina Langley said. “There’s obviously some things we could have done better, but Michigan is a great team, and they were able to pull out the win. But very proud of this team.”
The defensive battle that included six ties and nine lead changes bore little resemblance to their previous matchup — an 82-69 Michigan rout on Jan. 15 in which the Huskies trailed by 17 points in the first half and 20 in the final minutes.
In Thursday’s rematch, Washington led 39-36 with 6:37 left in the third quarter when the Wolverines scored 13 unanswered points to go up 49-39.
During the decisive six-minute spurt, the Huskies missed nine straight shots before junior guard Elle Ladine sank a jumper with 37 seconds left in the period.
Still, Michigan capped a 16-2 run with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to take a commanding 52-41 lead into the fourth quarter.
Minutes later, the Wolverines went up 57-43 when fifth-year senior Dalayah Daniels scored eight points during a two-minute stretch that cut UW’s deficit to 59-51.
Daniels, a 6-foot-4 forward, was sensational against Michigan’s relatively diminutive five-guard lineup while tallying 22 points on 10-for-13 shooting, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 36 minutes.
“What they try to do is they try to get you to help, and that’s why (Daniels) had such a big night,” Wolverines coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “They force you to help on her, and they kick it out for the extra pass. … We worked really hard on one-on-one defense to not be forced on scrambles, and to let their post player play one-on-one.
“So, we took away the three. It was a gamble, but that’s what drives them. That’s what gets them going offensively. So, we really stuck to that game plan.”
Ladine, who averaged 23.6 points during UW’s winning streak, recovered from a dismal 1-for-8 shooting performance in the first half and finished with 16 points, while converting 7 of 20 shots.
Barnes Arico said Michigan was “really concerned about” sophomore guard Sayvia Sellers, who scored a career-high tying 30 points against the Wolverines in their previous matchup. She finished with 11 points on 2-for-12 shooting, four rebounds and seven assists.
Meanwhile, Washington shot 40.4% from the field and 22.2% on three-pointers (4 of 18).
The 58 points were the third fewest for UW this season.
“Michigan’s a good team. I think they scouted us well,” Daniels said. “I feel like their switching made it hard, I think, to get the threes off that we normally do get.
“Usually in saggy defenses, we’re able to capitalize on that, but they were definitely applying more aggressive pressure, so it was hard to get shots off like normal.”
All-Freshman Big Ten guards Olivia Olson and Syla Swords led Michigan (21-9) with 21 and 15 points, respectively. The Wolverines shot 44.8% on field goals, including 4 of 16 on three-pointers.
After Swords hit a jumper that put the Wolverines up 14-9 late in the first quarter, Washington held Michigan scoreless on its next 12 attempts while scoring 10 unanswered points during a five-minute stretch to surge ahead 19-14 midway into the second quarter.
Michigan used a 5-0 run to knot the score at 19-19 before both teams traded baskets in the final four minutes of the first half.
Wolverines senior guard Jordan Hobbs (11 points) sank a layup with 43 seconds left that put UM on top 29-28 at the break.
During Thursday’s 79-65 win against No. 13 seed Minnesota in the Big Ten opener, Washington pulled away late in the game while outscoring the Gophers 47-37 in the second half.
However, 24 hours later UW seemingly ran out of gas against a rested Michigan team that had a first-round bye.
This time the Wolverines outscored the Huskies 23-13 in the third quarter, and held Washington to 36.7% shooting on field goals, including 2 of 12 on three-pointers in the second half.
“Michigan obviously went in at halftime, and they did a nice job adjusting, made some good set calls, I thought, and we struggled with some two-man actions,” Langley said. “Just had some miscommunications.
“I thought the offensive end of the floor, when we struggled a little bit, we let the transition D get us. So, they came out running off of our decisions on offense.”
Langley might also lament UW’s 17 turnovers that resulted in a 24-15 points off turnovers disparity that favored Michigan.
Washington (19-13) will wait until Selection Sunday on March 16 to discover if its late-season surge was enough to merit an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.
Heading into Thursday’s game, the Huskies were projected to be a No. 11 seed according to Big Ten Network analyst Autumn Johnson, ESPN’s bracket guru Charlie Creme and Her Hoops Stats.
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