Host Michigan had different concepts, nevertheless. And after the Eagles shot out to an early lead Saturday, the third-seeded Wolverines wore them down in a 74-39 first-round win.
“You can learn from these types of situations,” American Coach Megan Gebbia mentioned. “That’s what we talked about in the locker room. It wasn’t good enough.”
The Eagles (23-9) had an 8-4 lead in the primary quarter earlier than the Wolverines (23-6) closed with a 7-0 run. They had been simply getting began. Michigan outscored American 28-5 in the second quarter to determine management.
Michigan’s dimension offered an issue for the Eagles, who had a handful of shot-clock violations in the second quarter. Adding to the guests’ difficulties was the Wolverines’ entice protection, which compelled the Eagles into 21 turnovers that led to 25 Michigan factors.
“That had a lot to do with Michigan’s pressure and their denial and chopping and rotating on false screens,” Gebbia mentioned.
The sport turned on Michigan’s 15-0 run in the second quarter.
“A lot of it was the offensive end,” Gebbia mentioned. “I know they scored a lot of points, but we just couldn’t answer, and we need to be able to do a better job of getting an answer when things don’t feel great.”
Michigan was capable of exploit mismatches round all-American Naz Hillmon (24 factors) and senior Emily Kiser. The pair mixed for twenty-four of Michigan’s 39 first-half factors and 37 factors over the course of the sport, practically outscoring AU whole group.
To fight this, Gebbia rotated via her bigs. Besides junior ahead Lauren Stack and senior ahead Taylor Brown, all 4 forwards on the roster took the court docket to assist on the glass and accumulate fouls towards Hillmon and Kiser.
“The focal point is to crash the defensive boards collectively and trying to find a way to tip the ball out to your teammate or whatever that may be in order to stop the second-chance points that they might get,” Gebbia mentioned earlier than the sport.
For probably the most half, the defensive rebounding was ample. The Eagles held Michigan to an offensive rebounding proportion of 26.3 in the primary half, about 13 factors lower than the Wolverines’ common. They stored tempo with the Wolverines on the glass all through — Michigan’s benefit was a modest 41-35 for the sport.
Gebbia’s group might have achieved its rebounding purpose, however the Eagles’ protection allowed too many open seems near the basket. Michigan was 21 for 29 on layups, and on the opposite aspect of the court docket, the Eagles couldn’t discover the identical open seems.
American, which shot simply 27.4 p.c from past the arc on the season, missed its first 18 three-pointers Saturday and completed simply 1 of 21. On layups, it made 10 of its 18 makes an attempt.
Stack was the one Eagle to achieve double figures with 10 factors however was restricted to simply 20 minutes due to foul hassle.
The loss might depart a bitter style, however reaching the event was a purpose — particularly for the Eagles’ seniors.
“I think about the summer coming in freshman year and all of us getting to know each other, getting really close,” senior guard Jade Edwards mentioned earlier than the sport. “And then as the season started freshman year, wanting to win it all and coming up short. Four years later, we can say that we did it, the five of us all still here. It’s really exciting.”
The seniors mixed for 21 of the Eagles’ 39 factors and 15 of their 35 rebounds.
Gebbia feels good in regards to the nucleus coming again to Washington subsequent season.
“I’m excited because I think we can build on what this team produced this year going into next year since it’s basically the same team returning,” the coach mentioned.