Thome, Flaherty help Wolverines eliminate Bears from tournament
NCAA WOMEN: MICHIGAN 75, NORTHERN COLORADO 61
WACO, TEXAS» Hallie Thome has confidence that she can handle anybody in a one-on-one situation.
Put her against a team that can’t match her size, and that grows exponentially.
Thome scored 24 points, Katelynn Flaherty added 20 and seventh-seeded Michigan defeated No. 10 Northern Colorado 75-61 on Friday in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
“Just having that (confidence) in the back of my mind and then coming into this NCAA Tournament, even if I have an advantage, you know they’re going to give everything so you have to be prepared for everything,” Thome said. “Coach (Kim Barnes) Arico does an outstanding job of making sure we’re prepared and being able to take advantage of our height inside and shooters like Katelynn.”
The Wolverines shot 57 percent from the floor and took advantage of their size at nearly every position to dominate on the boards, 33-18.
They were also more aggressive going to the basket, and that manifested itself in a 23-15 edge from the free-throw line.
Northern Colorado (26-7) had 10 of its free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
Michigan (23-9) pulled away with a 20-4 run that turned a 7-6 deficit into a 26-11 lead that eventually stretched as far as 32-14. Thome scored 10 straight points for the Wolverines during that span.
“I thought it was a great basketball game for us,” Arico said. “Northern Colorado is really a well-disciplined team and shoots the 3 and runs their offense really well. We knew it was going to be a tough matchup for us, but I thought we came out and did a tremendous job on the defensive end, especially in the first half.”
Savannah Scott led Northern Colorado with 25 points and four steals. Big Sky player of the year Savannah Smith had points 16 for the Bears, who won 13 straight games before Friday to earn their first NCAA Tournament berth.
“In the first half, we played a badly executed game plan or maybe just game based on the fact we couldn’t take advantage of mismatches or the way they guarded our on-ball (screens),” Northern Colorado coach Kamie Ethridge said. “We didn’t handle that very well. That put us behind the eightball a little bit.”