The Illinois basketball team’s five-game Big Ten road winning streak came to an end Thursday.

Despite 25 points and seven rebounds from sophomore guard Ivory Crawford, Illinois (13-9, 6-4 Big Ten) couldn’t outlast Michigan (17-6. 6-4) in Ann Arbor, falling 72-69 to end its program-best road winning streak.

“I’m just really disappointed,” Illinois head coach Matt Bollant said. “I’m not sure how we can go play with the energy and fight that we did the last four games and come here and wait until the last four minutes before we had that energy and fight. For whatever reason, we weren’t ourselves, and we kept ourselves from winning a basketball game.”

Both teams played at a frenetic pace in the early going with the score tied 15-15 at the 11:07 mark. Both teams were shooting 7-for-12 from the field until that point and turned the ball over five times each.

Illinois led by a score of 23-22 with less than eight minutes left in the half and was shooting a sizzling 61.1 percent from the field. Twelve of its 23 points first-half points came off turnovers.

A 3-pointer by senior guard Jenny Ryan with 3:32 remaining in the half gave the Wolverines their biggest lead of the game at that point with a score of 31-25.

After starting the game shooting 11-for-19, Illinois ended the half shooting 4-for-10 from the field. Although Illinois found its 3-point stroke in its last three games, it only shot 1-for-8 from behind the arc in Thursday’s first half.

Illinois headed to the locker room with a 36-32 halftime deficit. Senior forward Karisma Penn led Illinois with 12 points, four rebounds, three steals and a block in the first half. Senior guard Adrienne GodBold struggled in the first half, scoring only three points and failing to grab a rebound. Senior forward Rachel Sheffer led the Wolverines with 15 first-half points.

Michigan outrebounded Illinois 20-12 in the first half, along with six offensive rebounds for the Wolverines. Despite the advantage, 12 Michigan turnovers leading to 14 points kept the Illini close.

Just as Michigan looked as if it was pulling away with a 45-40 lead in the second half, GodBold hit Illinois’ second 3-pointer of the game to bring it within two points with 15:07 left in the game.

Despite GodBold’s big shot, the Illini couldn’t get a rhythm going from the perimeter. After making at least seven 3-pointers in their last three games, the Illini shot 4-for-23 from distance.

The free-throw disparity loomed large in the second half, as Illinois shot only 7-for-12 at the line, compared with Michigan’s 17-for-21 from the stripe.  

After being down 60-51 with 6:22 remaining, Illinois charged on a 10-0 run behind two 3-pointers from Crawford.

Michigan senior guard Kate Thompson responded by draining consecutive 3’s of her own to give the Wolverines a 66-61 lead with 2:55 remaining in the game.

Penn fouled out with Illinois behind 66-65 with 1:51 remaining, leaving Illinois without its best rebounder and defender down the stretch.

Illinois missed several opportunities to tie the game, and Crawford’s missed 3-pointer with 13 seconds left gave Michigan a 72-69 win in Ann Arbor.

Michael can be reached at [email protected] and @The_MDubb.