The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 9, 1988- Page 33-- 'Mgoing south for Alabama tourney BY LORY KNAPP Wouldn't it be great to take off, the weekend before finals, to a warm, sunny place to play basketball? : This is just what the Michigan women's basketball team is doing this weekend as they travel to the University of Alabama-Birmingham for the . Lady Blazer Classic Tournament. Michigan, (2-1), will be facing teams in this tournament that it has' never played before. But Michigan head coach Bud VanDeWege 'is confident. "We're going down there with the idea in mind that we're going to get a tournament cham- pionship." A TROPHY from a major holiday tournament would look great in the showcase at Crisler Arena that has not seen any additions during VanDeWege's tenure as basketball coach. The Wolverines have always come up short in final games. .Michigan, looking to end this streak of tournament losses, will open the competition Friday night against a Tulane(1-1) With seven returning letter- winners, Tulane is the toughest competition that the Wolverines will face. The Green Wave is led by junior. guard, Carmen Jones, who is aver- aging 17.5 points a game. Jones' scoring will be countered, however, by Michigan guard, Tempie Brown. Brown, who had. 17 points against Western Michigan Tuesday night, currently leads the Big Ten in scoring. SHOULD MICHIGAN beat c full court PRESS Powell .freethrow ace Tulane in the first match-up, they will face the winner of the Austin Peay-Alabama-Birmingham game for the championship. Austin Peay, 0-2 this season, is coming off of a 7-17, 1987 season. UAB has not fared much better, as they are also 0-2 for the year. "UAB and Austin Peay are struggling," said VanDeWege. "They are teams we are capable of beating." Michigan definitely has the talent to win the tournament, they need only to produce. The team hopes to return from Alabama with more than just amsunburn- maybe even a tournament trophy. Blue Banter - Guard Tempie Brown currently leads the Big Ten in scoring, aver- aging 22.0 points per game. - Brown has played the last two games with sprained ligaments in her left thumb. - Carol Szczechowski, guard, leads the Big Ten in both assists (9.0 per game) and steals (5.5 per game). . - Tanya Powell and Brown are No.'s 1 and 2, respectively, in free throw percentage in the Big Ten. Defense the key to women cagers' season BY ADAM BENSON It's crunch time. After last weekend's loss to Central Michigan, the Michigan women's basketball team can not afford to make another mistake during the non- conference season. The Wolverines are under pressure that makes finals look like a day in Disneyland. The NCAA selection committee historically has looked down on upset losses as they sort out the final few bids in the their .post-season tournament. A second loss to a Mid-American Conference team may devastate the Wolverines tourney dreams, not to mention the young team's confidence. But one would not have known that last Tuesday's Western Michigan game was so important by the Wolverines' first-half play. "I didn't feel like we came to play tonight," Michigan coach Bud VanDeWege said after the game. "It's nice to be able to win on a night that you don't really look like your ready to play." CONCERNING VANDEWEGE the most was Western guard Ruthanne Wisniewski, who scored 11 first-half points. The Wolverines spent halftime plotting how to stop her. Leslie Spicer, possibly Michigan's best defensive player, felt that the entire team deserved credit for the defensive improvement. "We came up with the steals that we needed and we played pressure defense when we needed to. In the second half, we changed the pace and took over like we should have." Wisniewski slumped to only six points in the second half. Michigan now hopes that they can carry that upbeat feeling out of its 72-63 victory and into the University of Alabama-Birmingham tournament this weekend. "We're a team that has to play emotional and very intense," VanDeWege said. "We need the spark out there and we got it in the second half. We didn't have it in the first half." MICHIGAN GUARD Tempie Brown felt the win was an example of what the Wolverines could do when they shut down the opponents offense. "We started out pretty sloppily in the first half. Bud came into the locker room and gave us a definite pep talk. We knew if we just executed, we could win this game, and win it handily." The Wolverines' defense created one new fan, Bronco coach Jim Hess. "We felt coming in that Michigan would be one the tougher non-conference teams we'd play," he said. "We're not a team that really turns the ball over that much, but tonight we made some mistakes that were forced by their defense. I think they'll do real well. This might be the year they crack that top four (in the Big Ten)." Michigan's defense will be tested this weekend, when the Wolverines play Tulane. But the true test will come next Tuesday, when Michigan hosts Auburn, last season's NCAA runner-up. This game will tell Michigan fans and players if their defense is ready to contend with the finest women's teams in the country. Rumeal Dakota's looks toc ROBIN LOZNAK/Daily Robinson tries to shake and bake past South Tony Matthews in last Saturday's game. Robinson do the same Saturday against Western Michigan. Broncos Continued from Page 12 time, but now our players have t prepare for early finals," he said. Blue Banter - Frieder has decided to redshirt first year players Eric Riley and James Voskuil. Riley, a 7-foot center from Cleveland, and Voskuil, a 6-7 forward from Grand Rapids, will each have four years of eligibility remaining. " With 21 points against Central, Glen Rice moved past Henry Wilmore into sixth place on Michigan's all-time scoring list with 1,653 points. The game marked the 55th time in 56 games Rice has scored in double figures. o - Michigan has been hot from the field so far this season, shooting over 57 percent in every game. The only team to shoot better than 50 percent against the Wolverines this season, was *Memphis State, which connected on 51 percent of its shots. - The Wolverines 108-62 victory over the Chippewas Wednesday night, marked the largest margin of victory Michigan ever has posted against Central. The previous high of 43 was set in 1976. ,_1 Rocker tops Messner BY MICHAEL SALINSKY WITH WIRE REPORTS For the second time this week, Michigan's Mark Messner came close but didn't quite get the trophy. Tracy Rocker, of Auburn, won the Lombardi Trophy last night as the top lineman in- the nation. Messner, Nebraska's Broderick Tho- mas, and Alabama's Derrick Thomas were the other finalists. Earlier this week, Rocker won. the Outland. Trophy as the best interior lineman. Messner was also a finalist for that award. Rcker had 101 tackles for an Auburn defense that led the nation in scoring defense and total defense. Messner only had 66 tackles, but a Michigan-record 25 of those were for lost yardage. For his career, he had 275 tackles and 36 quarterback sacks. Messner's Rose Bowl start against USC will be his 49th straight for the Wolverines. "He was facing some pretty stiff competition," said teammate and fellow defensive lineman, Brent White. "Everybody in competition with him was basically 10 to 20 pounds heavier than him." Messner, at 244 pounds, is relatively small for the defensive line. Despite that, he earned All-Big Ten recognition all four years at Michigan, and yesterday, he was named to AP's 1988 All-American team. "He shouln't hang his head," White said. "He's done a hell of a lot here.". GE TITI GUAPE Sat. Dec. 10 Sun. Dec. 11 The University of Michigan SCHOOL OF MUSIC Electronic Music Concert Computer Synthesis - Visuals - Dance - Live Performance Rackham, 8:00 p.m. FREE -- The Personal Column MICHIGAN DAILY CLASSIFIED ADS * ROSE BOWL * * ROSE PARADE * buy/sell CONCERTS * SPORTS * THEATRE 213-453-9003 SANTA MONICA TICKET SERVICES University Chamber Orchestra Gustav Meier, conductor and student conductors Armando Ghitalla, trumpet, Harry Sargous, oboe Barber: Eassy No. 2 Angell: "If at First" Copeland: "Quiet City" Hindemith: Concert Music for Brass & Strings McIntosh Theatre, 8:00 p.m. FREE For up-to-date information on School of Music events call the 24-Hour Music Hotline, 763-4726 i Congratulations Brad Francalossi Delta Sigma Xi Delta's "Mr. Phi Lungs Alpha 1988" Join the Front Line... -l} r } f~ .~' um i.i xr c v {f h T!I :7 , ~4~i'12, iaN/ 8 a f w w M . 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