IU Downs Michigan in OT for First Big Ten Win

Sunday, January 3

Bloomington, Ind.

12:30 pm

Indiana University

9-5, 1-1

MICHIGAN

8-5, 0-2

OT 1

Michigan

Indiana

1/3/2016 4:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana welcomed a new year with its first win against Michigan in half a decade.

The Hoosiers outscored the Wolverines 16-8 in overtime to pick up their first Big Ten win of the season, 77-69. The win was Indiana's first against its rival from the north since 2010 and improved IU's record at Assembly Hall to an unblemished 6-0.

"We've been here before where we've talked about gutsy wins," head coach Teri Moren said. "Today was another one of those."

Indiana trailed by nine points with 5:48 left in the fourth quarter before sophomore point guard Tyra Buss orchestrated a late rally to force overtime. Five different players scored as the Hoosiers went on a 12-0 run to take a late lead in regulation before Michigan's Katelynn Flaherty hit a 3-point field goal to force overtime in the final minute.

After trading scores twice to begin overtime, Indiana pulled away at the free-throw line. Twelve of Indiana's 16 overtime points came from the charity stripe, including their last 10.

"I think our mindset going in, especially in the fourth quarter, overtime, just keep attacking," Buss said. "Coach pulled me over to the side, she said, 'Attack, attack, attack.' That's something we need to keep doing. Keep pushing the ball, keep attacking. It was definitely working for us."

Indiana's advantage at the free-throw line proved vital in the win.

Michigan (8-5, 0-2) attempted 16 more field goals than Indiana (9-5, 1-1) but was outscored 32-8 at the free-throw line. The Hoosiers made getting fouled and scoring at the line a priority Sunday afternoon, as evident in their 42-18 advantage in total attempts. Those made and attempt totals were the most ever by an IU team in a Big Ten game in program history and second most ever.

Junior guard Alexis Gassion, sophomore forward Amanda Cahill and Buss did the majority of Indiana's damage at the line, combining to go 23-of-of-29 at the charity stripe.

"That's something we've been talking about since the beginning of the season," Buss said. "We need to get to the free-throw line. Our guards especially did a good job of attacking. Our post, whenever our guards missed, they did a good job of cleaning up the rebounds, getting second-chance looks for us."

Cahill finished one rebound short of a double-double with a team-high 19 points to go along with nine boards. It was just the latest in a consistent streak of games that has her averaging 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds over her last seven games.

Her day complemented a career-day from Jenn Anderson. The junior center finished with a career-high 11 rebounds and played a key role in limiting Michigan starting center Hallie Thome to just five points on 1-of-4 shooting.

"It was awesome that she had so many rebounds for us," Cahill said. "I'm really proud of her. She's a good inside presence for us. She can go in there and maybe her shots not falling, she's going to get others' looks. She'll rebound for us. She's a hard worker."

More than anything, Moren said she was most pleased with the way her team defended Michigan, who entered the game with the third-best scoring offense in the Big Ten averaging 81 points per game.

Despite the additional five minutes of overtime, the Hoosiers held the Wolverines to 12 points less than their season average. Michigan shot just 14-of-42 (33 percent) between the second half and overtime, setting the table for Indiana to walk out of Assembly Hall with its first Big Ten win of the season.

"I thought the reason we won this game was because we really just locked down defensively when we had to," Moren said, "especially down the stretch."