The #13 Michigan women’s basketball team won its first game of the season by 60. 100-40 against the Canisius Golden Griffins on Tuesday night.
Here's our report card from the Wolverine season-opening win.
Offense: A+
Michigan women's basketball shot 51% from the field. They were active with rebounds, getting 19 offensive ones. Ball movement was solid with 23 assists. The only issues were a 27% three-point percentage and a 61% free throw percentage, but for the first game hard to knock that too much with a 60-point win. Mila Holloway scored a game-high 21 points on 8/10 shooting. Olivia Olson added 18 points. Ashley Sofilakanich, the Patriot League Player of the Year last year at Bucknell, had 14 points, as did Te’Yala Delfosse off the bench. Holloway had eight assists. Michigan had 23 assists to Canisius' five. Michigan women's basketball was up and down the court with 36 fast-break points.
Defense: A+
The Wolverines defense may have been the most impressive thing of the night. Brook Quarles Daniels had eight steals in 16 minutes off the bench. Holloway added seven steals. For the game, Michigan had 25 steals. They also had four blocks. Nobody on Canisius scored in double figures. They held the Golden Griffins to 38% shooting. As for total turnovers, Michigan only had 10, their opponent 45.
Coaching: A+
Head coach Kim Barnes Arico did the right thing by getting the starters out of the game and going deep into the bench. I like that out of the 14 players on the team, 12 saw the court. Yes, once again it’s the first game of the season against a lessor team but it’s encouraging to see that kind of play. Michigan should be tested more in its next game against Harvard.
Overall Grade: A+