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Michigan women’s basketball suffers key loss to Indiana

By Chris Peterson

Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico reacts during a NCAA Big Ten Conference women's basketball game against Iowa, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.220227 Michigan Iowa Wbb 022 Jpg
Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico reacts during a NCAA Big Ten Conference women's basketball game against Iowa, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.220227 Michigan Iowa Wbb 022 Jpg /
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Everything would have gone right for Michigan women’s basketball on Monday night if the Wolverines had just beaten Indiana. 

If the Michigan women’s basketball team was going to win the Big Ten championship or even have a shot this season, at least at the regular season title, it needed to beat Indiana on Monday night in Ann Arbor.

And despite a stellar effort from Leigha Brown that featured her scoring 31 points and dishing out six assists, Michigan’s defense couldn’t find a way to get enough stops and dropped a key game to Indiana by the score of 92-83.

Michigan women’s basketball isn’t completely out of the title race. Iowa knocked off second-ranked Ohio State in Columbus, which leaves the Wolverines just two games back. However, a win over Indiana would have put Michigan just one game back.

Yet, Mackenzie Holmes and the Hoosiers took control of the game with a 26-point first quarter. Holmes came in averaging 21 and the 6-foot-3 forward delivered another big performance for the sixth-ranked Hoosiers who led 48-38 at the break and extended the lead to 12 by the end of the quarter.

Laila Phelia also scored 21 points for the Wolverines who also got a double-figure scoring effort from Emily Kiser with 15.  Michigan made 6-of-12 shots from beyond the arc, yet the Hoosiers connected on 9-of-18. That nine-point difference was a huge advantage, as was the 41-24 edge Indiana had on the glass.

As well as the Michigan women’s basketball team played, that was always going to be hard to overcome.

What’s next for Michigan women’s basketball

The 14th-ranked Wolverines are still in a prime spot to make the NCAA tournament and are just two games back of Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio State who are each 8-1.

Maryland is 7-2. Michigan is 6-3 and is aiming for the top-4 finish and first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament as well as the league title.

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Thursday’s game against Maryland will be hugely important in that regard. That’s Thursday in College Park. A loss would mean that the Wolverines would fall to two games out of fourth.