Michigan women's basketball season ends with heartbreaking loss to Kansas
Sometimes, the ball doesn't bounce your way and that's the best way to describe what happened to the Michigan women's basketball team on Saturday in the NCAA tournament.
Ninth-seeded Michigan led most of the way against eight-seeded Kansas. However, the Jayhawks put together a furious rally and trailed by just three points with 15 seconds left. A 3-point attempt hit the rim, bounced around, and dropped, tying the game and sending it to overtime.
From there, it was all Kansas as they went on to win 81-72, ending the season for Michigan women's basketball. Cameron Williams was spectacular for Mchigan before she fouled out and finished with 18 points and four rebounds. Laila Phelia finished with 16 for the Wolverines, while Lauren Hansen, who knocked down three triples in the loss, scored 13.
This was the sixth consecutive NCAA women's tournament before for Michigan and head coach Kim Barnes Arico, but ended a three-year run of winning first-round games. In an interesting twist, former Michigan basketball head coach Juwan Howard was in attendance to support the Wolverines.
Michigan women's basketball finished the season with a 20-14 record. The future is bright in Ann Arbor with a star-studded recruiting class coming in. Michigan advanced to back-to-back Sweet 16s in the 2021 and 2022 NCAA women's basketball tournaments and it would be great to get the program back on that trajectory.
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Olivia Olson and Syla Swords are each five-star prospects. They are signed to join Michigan women's basketball in the 2024-25 season and despite this disappointment, the future is bright.