ST. THOMAS, USVI—Winthrop's women stayed within striking distance of undefeated Michigan for one quarter, but the Eagles could not fend off the Wolverines who improved to 6-0 with a 76-39 win in the second round of the 2016 Paradise Jam.
 
The Eagles are now 1-5 and will meet No. 25 Gonzaga in the final game of the tournament at 5:45 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Winthrop was successful in holding Michigan 16 points below its season average of 92.1 points per game. The Wolverines entered the tournament with an average victory margin of 51 points and knocked off Gonzaga 76-62 in the first round.
 
Winthrop trailed the Wolverines 18-13 after one quarter as freshman guard Danyael Goodhope accounted for six of the points and Noell Kellers banked in a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.  Michigan took advantage of nine first quarter Winthrop turnovers to score 13 of its 18 points. 
 
The Wolverines, however, began to warm up in the second quarter as they opened the period with a 10-0 run to take a 28-13 lead with 4:08 remaining as 6-5 sophomore center Hallie Thome made the first of four straight layups.  Her final bucket put Michigan up 34-17 at halftime.
 
"I thought we had a great first quarter and we didn't capitalize on some of the opportunities we had," said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook. "Once again the turnover bug hurt us. We had 17 in the first and second quarter which is just way too many."
 
Despite eight points from junior guard Naima Jackson in the third quarter, Michigan put the game out of reach as they connected on six of its first eight shots, including three straight from behind the arc, to take a 49-23 lead with just under five minutes left in the quarter.  The period ended with Michigan increasing its lead to 57-30.
 
Michigan opened the final period on another 10-0 run and led by 40 at 70-30.
 
Jackson and senior forward Erica Williams were the high scorers for Winthrop with eight points each. Michigan, which finished the game shooting 51 percent (31-60) placed three players in double figures with Katelynn Flaherty leading the Wolverines with 17.  Thome scored 12 and Nicole Munger added 11.
 
"There are challenges for every team and we will continue to battle and get better. We had a lot of positives to build on tonight," he said.