Veronica Hicks leads Michigan women's basketball team to a 69-59 win over Illinois
Michigan's Carmen Reynolds (left) and Veronica Hicks celebrate a play as they walk off the court for a time out during the Wolverines' 69-59 win over Illinois at Crisler Arena on Sunday.
Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com
Veronica Hicks matched a career-high with 24 points and the Michigan women’s basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 69-56 win over Illinois at Crisler Arena on Sunday.
Hicks scored Michigan’s first eight points and had 18 by halftime, but she handed over scoring duties to sophomores Rachel Sheffer and Kate Thompson in a critical second-half stretch.
Sheffer scored eight points and Thompson five during a 13-2 Michigan run that pushed its lead from 50-48 to 63-50 -- the largest lead of the game -- with 5:27 left to play. Illinois wouldn’t get closer than nine points the rest of the game.
Thompson finished with 13 points and Sheffer added 12.
It was the overall game played by Hicks that impressed coach Kevin Borseth. The team’s lone senior hit 9 of 14 shots, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range, and contributed eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.
“When you’re around long enough and your days get numbered, you kind of feel that,” Borseth said. “Ronnie is playing like there’s no tomorrow, which is really good.”
Hicks said it was important to get off to a fast start after her 4 of 12 shooting performance in Thursday’s 8-63 loss to Big Ten-leading Penn State.
“My teammates did a great job of moving the ball around and found me a couple times and I was able to get to the rim a couple times and finish, unlike last game,” she said.
Karisma Penn led Illinois (7-17, 2-9) with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Penn State knocked the Wolverines (14-9, 7-4) from a tie for first place to fourth place in the Big Ten standings.
Hicks summed up the Wolverines title chances in Sunday’s post-game press conference, saying they needed to win games and hope some other teams lost.
They didn’t get much cooperation on Sunday. Penn State (20-5, 9-2), Michigan State (20-3, 8-2) and Wisconsin (13-10, 8-3) all won.
Michigan is off until it plays at Michigan State next Sunday.
Comments
Blu n Tpa
Mon, Feb 7, 2011 : 9:20 p.m.
MS, not sure what you meant about COACH KB making a bigger deal regarding KT. I really enjoy watching this team, even with the up and down results, often in the same game, because they play as a TEAM. Yesterday happened to be KT's time to step up and that's what she did. They have 6 days to get ready to beat Miss Sparty at her house. Hopefully that will be on "real" TV. TiM Go Blue!
Blu n Tpa
Tue, Feb 8, 2011 : 3:35 p.m.
Got it. I understand the concept here but I'm a little old and still think media outlets actually provide content on a first hand basis. (For all we know he did mention her but it was left in cyberspace.) I know KB and it's well within his coaching hat to use this to motivate KT to perform like this more consistently. Either way, we agree she helped secure the win. I do enjoy watching this team grow and most people would have to agree this isn't the same old, same old, Michigan women's BB program. So on to EL and make some more history. TiM Go Blue!
Macabre Sunset
Tue, Feb 8, 2011 : 2:06 a.m.
To explain my comment - this is what they call a "rewrite" story, meaning they didn't have anyone at the game, and relied on Borseth to call the sports desk in the evening. So they will essentially print whatever he focuses on during their brief phone call. So I was surprised that he didn't make a bigger deal about Kate's performance. She did step up and she made the difference yesterday. I'm pretty sure Sparty is on tv next weekend. That would be a big, big win. I'm not sure they're ready for that kind of challenge, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.
tim
Mon, Feb 7, 2011 : 3:47 p.m.
Hicks is from Illinois and they did not try to recruit her so it always fun to watch her put it in their face.
Heidi Koester
Mon, Feb 7, 2011 : 3:02 p.m.
Michigan needed this one, and got it, despite their slow start. Loved Kate Thompson's game today; she plays with a lot of heart and joy, and it was great to see her come up with a big game. Very happy for Roni Hicks, too -- not only is she a great player, turns out that she's an engineering major and really strong in the classroom, too. We love watching this team: they play tough, they play together, and they really seem to enjoy themselves while doing it. Go Blue!
Macabre Sunset
Mon, Feb 7, 2011 : 9:10 a.m.
I'm a bit surprised Borseth didn't make a bigger deal about Thompson's performance when he called this one in. She entered the game after an Illinois player launched the Illini to a 7-0 lead and completely shut her down. She had a career-high in minutes played and did some damage offensively, including hitting all three free-throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt just when Illinois had closed to two on a huge second-half run. Hicks was everywhere in the first half and was the player of the game, but they wouldn't have won without Thompson. And given Illinois is a last-place team coming into Crisler, a loss would have done some major damage to their tournament hopes.