ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Olivia Olson scored 21 points, including 15 in the first half, and Te’Yala Delfosse added 15 to lead No. 8 Michigan to a 85-69 victory over No. 25 Illinois on Thursday night.
Mila Holloway added 13 points and Syla Swords had 11 for the Wolverines (15-2, 6-1 Big Ten). Michigan, which has won all 10 of its home games, is off to its best start since is started 20-2 during the 2021-22 season.
Berry Wallace scored 26 points and Jasmine Brown-Hagger added 16 for the Illini (14-4, 4-3), who have dropped three of their last four.
Michigan started by hitting its first five shots and led by as many as 18 points in the first half. Wallace and Brown-Hagger kept it from getting completely out of hand early by combining for the Illini’s first 19 points.
After trailing 47-32 at halftime, Illinois used an 11-0 run to get within 52-47. Michigan responded with a 15-4 spurt to push the lead back to 18. The Illini, who missed their last seven field goal attempts, could get no closer than 11.
The Wolverines kept the Illini’s offense out of sync throughout, forcing 15 turnovers and holding Illinois to 39.7% shooting. The Illini came in averaging only 12.8 turnovers and hitting 47% of their shots.
Starting guard Gretchen Dolan, Illinois’ second-leading scorer with 13.6 points per game, didn’t play because of a knee injury. She was replaced by Maddie Webber, who was held to 3 points.
Up next
- Illinois: plays Northwestern on Sunday.
- Michigan: plays Vanderbilt in the Coretta Scott King Classic in Newark, N.J, on Monday.