March Madness 2022: Hillmon’s 17 put Michigan women past S. Dakota in Sweet 16

Michigan earned its probability to maintain making historical past and believed in it.

The third-seeded Wolverines reached the Elite Eight for the primary time with a 52-49 win over tenth-seeded South Dakota on Saturday night time, helped by Naz Hillmon’s 17 factors and 10 rebounds and Laila Phelia’s 14 factors, together with a go-ahead layup within the last minute.

“We have now gamers that got here in right here with this imaginative and prescient and this perception that they might do one thing extremely particular,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico stated. “They needed to be part of that Block M and that excellence, and right here we’re sitting on the desk going to the Elite Eight. It’s only a dream like you might by no means think about, however it’s those who got here collectively and created one thing extremely particular. It’s superior.”

Michigan (25-6) will play No. 1 seed Louisville on Monday with a visit to the Last 4 at stake. The groups met earlier this season on Dec. 2, when Louisville beat Michigan 70-48.

South Dakota (29-6) was attempting to grow to be simply the fifth double-digit seed to succeed in the Elite Eight. The Coyotes had gained 27 of 28 and had been coming off a surprising upset of No. 2 seed Baylor.

“It’s laborious to lose,” South Dakota coach Daybreak Plitzuweit stated. “You at all times need another. But it surely definitely wasn’t from an absence of effort, lack of something. We simply wanted to make another play in all actuality.”

Hannah Sjerven had 17 factors and eight rebounds earlier than fouling out for the Coyotes. Chloe Lamb, the Summit League Participant of the 12 months who averaged 16 factors per sport, was held to simply six factors.

Michigan’s Amy Dilk (1) celebrates a 52-49 victory over South Dakota following a sport within the Candy 16 spherical of the NCAA girls’s event Saturday, March 26, 2022, in Wichita, Kan. 
(AP Picture/Jeff Roberson)

Lamb stated the truth that South Dakota had a historic season will not ease her short-term ache.

“Dropping sucks for lots of causes,” she stated. “I believe a kind of being you neglect all the good things that occurred, proper?”

The Coyotes practically pulled off one other win. With the group overwhelmingly on their aspect, they held the Wolverines with no area purpose for 3:40 to start out the sport and led for a lot of the primary half.

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Again-to-back 3-pointers by Grace Larkins put the Coyotes forward 25-23 within the second quarter, they usually led 26-24 on the break due to 11 factors from Sjerven. Phelia, who had averaged just below 9 factors per sport for the season, scored 12 within the first half to maintain Michigan within the sport.

Michigan took a 39-38 lead into the fourth quarter, with Hillmon scoring 9 factors within the third.

A mid-range jumper by Lamb rattled in to tie the sport at 48 with 48.5 seconds remaining.

Phelia made a layup with 22 seconds remaining, and Brown later made two free throws to place the Wolverines up by 4.

South Dakota’s Kyah Watson (32) drives to the basket as Michigan’s Cameron Williams (44) defends throughout the first half of a sport within the Candy 16 spherical of the NCAA girls’s event Saturday, March 26, 2022, in Wichita, Kan. 
(AP Picture/Jeff Roberson)

South Dakota’s Maddie Krull made the primary of two free throws to chop Michigan’s result in 52-49 with 7.5 seconds left. She unintentionally missed the second, and there was a scramble for the ball earlier than it went out of bounds. It wasn’t instantly clear whom the ball final touched, however South Dakota obtained it after the referees’ evaluation.

However the Coyotes could not get a clear look, with Kyah Watson lacking a 3 as time expired.

“I believe we had been most likely outsized in each place and possibly out-athleticized in all positions, and to our women’ credit score they saved preventing and competing and located a solution to be in that sport and have a possibility,” Plitzuweit stated. “I’m pleased with our younger women for what they did.”

BIG PICTURE

South Dakota: Lamb, Sjerven and Liv Korngable are super-seniors who got here again to make a run. They did that, practically propelling the Coyotes to the Elite Eight for the primary time. The opposite two starters are freshmen. With that basis and the help the Coyotes obtained alongside the best way, this system seems to be in good fingers.

Michigan: The Wolverines obtained off to a tough begin in what was basically a highway surroundings and scraped out a win regardless of Hillmon — a first-team All-American — going scoreless within the first quarter.

“I believe generally my protection will get me going … I knew if I might proceed that motor and get my teammates second alternatives by getting offensive boards, that may assist me and I can get into the circulation of issues,” she stated.

South Dakota’s Hannah Sjerven (34) and Michigan’s Maddie Nolan watch a unfastened ball throughout the first half within the Candy 16 spherical of the NCAA girls’s event Saturday, March 26, 2022, in Wichita, Kan.
(AP Picture/Jeff Roberson)

STAT LINES

Sjerven performed 28 minutes and made 7 of 11 photographs. She picked up all 5 of her fouls within the second half and performed simply 9 minutes after the break. When she fouled out, the Michigan bench celebrated wildly.

CROWD PARTICIPATION

Hundreds of South Dakota followers made the journey, they usually had been energetic all through the sport. Even after the sport, they began a “U-S-D” chant because the Michigan band performed its faculty music. Lamb referred to the group as a “sea of crimson.”

QUOTABLE

Barnes Arico on the postgame media session: “I’m unsure what I appear to be. I borrowed some garments to get right here as a result of we had a celebration within the locker room.”