Women’s Basketball:No. 22 Michigan Women’s Basketball Darts Past LIU Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The No. 22-ranked University of Michigan women’s basketball team held LIU Brooklyn scoreless for 12:24 in the first half and used a 25-0 run to put the game out of reach, defeating the Blackbirds, 86-49, on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 2) inside the Steinberg Wellness Center.

Michigan had four players score in double figures, led by junior Hallie Thome‘s 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the floor. Senior Katelynn Flaherty and junior Nicole Munger went for 16 points each and freshman Deja Church turned in a career-high 12. Senior Jillian Dunston had nine rebounds and a career-best eight assists in the game, with U-M tallying 23 helpers on the afternoon. Michigan shot a season-best 53.2 percent (33-for-62) from the floor and hit a season-high 11 triples in the contest.

The Wolverines jumped out to a 7-0 lead on five points from Flaherty and an opening layup from Thome. Flaherty hit her second triple of the contest to give U-M a 10-3 lead just 2:19 into the contest.

With Michigan leading, 10-5 at the 7:08 mark of the first quarter, the Wolverines scored the game’s next 25 points while holding the Blackbirds scoreless. During the run, Flaherty (6), Thome (5), freshman Hailey Brown(5), Munger (3), Dunston (2), Church (2) and Robbins (2) each scored. Sophomore Kayla Robbins‘ putback layup with 5:28 remaining in the second quarter capped the run for Michigan. LIU Brooklyn scored for the first time since the first quarter with 4:44 remaining on the second-quarter clock.

Michigan hit the break with a 45-11 lead. All 11 players saw action in the contest as the Maize and Blue led by as many as 40 points in the game.

U-M got 24 points from its bench, spearheaded by Church’s 12, while sophomore Akienreh Johnson (4), Robbins (4), freshman Priscilla Smeenge (2) and sophomore KeAsja Peace (2) each finding the scoring column.

Michigan is back in action on Monday (Dec. 4), heading to Detroit to take on Detroit Mercy at 7 p.m.