The Michigan Daily - SPORTSWednesday - Wednesday, January 5, 1994 - 9
*Bormet
takes 158-
lb. title at
Midlands
By BARRY SOLLENBERGER
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
Michigan All-American Sean
Bormet continues to stake his claim
to being the top wrestler in the nation
in the 158-pound division.
Over the winter break, the senior
from Providence, Ill. won the 158-
pound title at the annual Midlands
Vrestling Championships at North-
western University. He defeated Dan
Wirnsberger of Michigan State, 3-1,
in overtime to capture the title at the
meet Dec. 29-30.
"Since the tournament is in my
hometown, I went to watch it when I
was in grade school and high school,"
Bormet said. "It was good to finally
get to wrestle in it."
Bormet is now the second-ranked
58-pound wrestler in the country
behind Pat Smith of Oklahoma State.
At the tourney, he improved his
season record to 13-0 with 10 pins by
winning five matches, including four
by fall. He now ranks 10th on the all-
time victory list at Michigan with 105
wins.
"Actually, the competition was
tougher than I thought it would be soj
9 was a pretty good win," Bormetj
said. "Nothing compares with nation-
als but this was still a good win."
Bormet now has 40 career falls
and could surpass Mark Churella (41
falls) on the career list this Saturday
when the Wolverines hostFerris State,
Morgon State and Eastern Michigan.
Michigan moved up one spot to a
No. 4 ranking in the latest Amateur
Wrestling News poll released Dec.
W2. The Wolverines were one of six
Big Ten schools ranked in the Top 25
including No. 3 Iowa, No. 6 Penn
State, No. 9 Minnesota, No. 15 Wis-
consin and No. 18 Indiana.
IG T AN wI
Six Big Ten teams are in the
Top 20 in the latest Amateur
Wrestling News.
#3 - Iowa
# 4 -Michigan
#6 -- Penn State
# 9 - Minnesota
# 15 - Wisconsin
# 18 - Indiana
Hoopsters continue to
surprise in Oklahoma
REBECCA MARGOLIS/Daily
Michigan's Amy Johnson scrambles for a loose ball earlier this season. The Wolverines will have only seven players
on their roster when they open the Big Ten season tonight against Purude.
Ten opener with only seven players
By J.L. ROSTAM-ABADI
DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER
As the semester was winding
down, a series of non-conference
games left the Michigan women's
basketball team with a 3-5 mark that
already tops last year's 2-25 record.
Furthermore, the Wolverines will be
starting the Big Ten season in West
Lafayette tonight on a high note.
Michigan conquered Oral Roberts,
72-58, in game two of the Dec. 28-29
Oklahoma Holiday Classic. The Wol-
verines were the first on the board, as
freshman forward Catherine DiGiacinto
sunk two free throws after being fouled
by the Golden Eagles' Angie White.
The score rose evenly until the
clock read 13:13,at which time Michi-
gan went on an unanswered rampage
of seven points, to lead, 21-13.
However, Oral Roberts did not
remain dormant for long. With 5:30
remaining in the half, the Golden
Eagles were within a striking dis-
tance of two points. At the half, the
score was 32-27 Michigan, a lead the
Wolverines would never relinquish.
"We noticed they had trouble with
our 1-2-2 zone in the first half, so we
decided to use that defense strictly in
the second half," Michigan coach
Trish Roberts said. "That decision
was key in our win."
The previous day, the Wolverines
fell to Oklahoma, 96-86. Michigan
led in the early minutes of the first
half before succumbing to the Soon-
ers' shot-happy offense.
With 13 seconds left in the first
half, Michigan freshman guard Jen-
nifer Kiefer committed a dribbling
error which led to Oklahoma's dra-
matic last shot recorded by Etta
Maytubby as the buzzer sounded.
Going into the second half, the
Sooners led, 50-39. At 18:37, Okla-
homa attained a 16-point lead over
the Wolverines - the largest advan-
tage in the second half.
Just four minutes later, Michigan
trailed by a mere six points closing in
with a score of 61-55. The score wa-
vered in between those two extremes
for the remainder of the game, with
the end result, a 10-point deficit for
the Wolverines.
Two members of the Michigan
squad, freshman forward Silver
Shellman and junior forward Shimmy
Gray delivered stand-out perfor-
mances throughout the tournament.
Shellman collected 46 points and 15
rebounds, while Gray posted back-
to-hack career-high 19-point garnes
and a total of 24 rebounds. Both Wol-
verines were voted to the All-Tourna-
ment squad.
Five days before Santa Claus came
to town, Illinois-Chicago came to
Crisler where Michigan snuffed them,
83-78. Sophomore forward Jennifer
Brzezinski led the Wolverines with a
career-high 24 points and 14 rebounds,
despite fouling out late in the second
half. Gray - who was back on the
court after missing five game due to a
dislocated kneecap-added 12 points
and Shellman had 16 of her own.
At the half, the Wolverines trailed
by two. But a jumper by Shellman 25
seconds into the second half, followed
by a shot underneath from Gray a
minute and a half later, quickly re-
versed the situation.
Michigan soon led by its greatest
margin - 17 points - with 7:54 left
in the half. Seven minutes later, the
Flames turned up the heat as they
narrowed the Wolverine lead to two.
But Michigan kept its cool, hanging
on for what would become a five-point
victory, after UIC committed two des-
peration fouls in the last 30 seconds
against point guard Kiefer. She cashed
in on three of four free throws, giving
Michigan a little room to breathe.
On Dec. 18, the Maize and Blue
fell to Marquette, 83-70. Michigan
tried to play catchup for the first 20
minutes, but failed, going into half-
time down by 14.
Shellman scored first in the sec-
ond half, before fouling out with 5:16
remaining. She ended the night with a
team-high 19 points. Freshman Amy
Johnson and DiGiacinto added 15
points each.
The day after classes ended for fall
semester, the Wolverines were defeated
by Butler, 77-57. DiGiancinto and
Shellman led theoffense with 18 and 17
points, respectively.
Michigan enjoyed a three-minute
lead during the first half, but by half-
time, that lead had transformed itself
into a 12-point deficit. The Wolver-
ines unsuccessfully tried to regain
control in the second half - their
closest attempt brought them within
three points of the Bulldogs.
"Our pre-conference schedule was
a good one for our young players to get
a taste of college-level basketball,"
Roberts said. "The three wins, espe-
cially a win in the game just before the
Big Ten season, gives us momentum
going into the conference."
By BRENT McINTOSH
DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER
There's good news and there's
bad news.
For the Michigan women's bas-
ketball team, the good news is that
two wins since the end of fall classes
bucked their record up to 3-5, one
more win than all of last season.
The bad news is that the Wolver-
ine roster, already depleted by injury,
suffered another setback when a pair
of Wolverines dropped basketball to
focus on academics.
Even worse, the Wolverines, now
only seven in number, must start the
Big Ten season by facing 16th-ranked
Purdue (10-2) tonight at 7:30 p.m. in
Mackey Arena, Purdue's home court;
the Boilermakers, as their ranking
shows, are no pushover.
"They're a tough team," Michi-
gan coach Trish Roberts said.
"They've always been tough, and
they're going to be very tough for us.
"Their players ... are a little more
experienced than we are, and for us to
come in and just maintain and play a
good game, it's going to be a good
learning experience for our team."
While few teams are not more
experienced than the Wolverines -
four freshman are expected to start
the game for Michigan, along with
junior forward and eldest Wolverine
Shimmy Gray - the Boilermakers
are not exactly gray-haired or
wrinkled.
They are led by freshman Leslie
Johnson, who is averaging 18.4 points
per game; her supporting cast fea-
tures Jennifer Jacoby and Cindy
Lamping, both junior guards, and
sophomore forward Tonya Kirk.
Purdue coach Lin Dunn's squad is
much the same as last year's 16-11
team; in order to keep them from add-
ing another victory to their already im-
pressive record, the Wolverines will be
looking to maintain the intensity that
sparked their recent success.
"It's just going to be how well we
can play good defense," Roberts said.
"If we can keep them all healthy,
we're going to be fine. (The Wolver-
ine players are) in a unique situation
right now, because they're all going
to get to play."
The generosity with game min-
utes stems from the departures of
sophomore Angie Mustonen and
freshman Sonya Mays, who report-
edly both left to concentrate on aca-
demics. Mustonen, an honors student,
left the team in early December after
playing in two games; Mays left dur-
ing the holiday break after six games.
Both were walk-ons.
"(Mays' departure) was a big sur-
prise to us," Roberts said. "She really
felt she had to put the time into the
academics ... I really couldn't blame
her.
"That left us with seven kids, and
they've really gelled ... They've just
made up their minds that they're go-
ing to go out and play hard.
"We've been very careful substi-
tuting, making sure that they get
enough rest, playing five minutes and
subbing two more people, and it's
worked really well for us."
Defensively, the Wolverines are
playing zonemoreoften in an attempt
to save energy; the offense has been
taking care of itself.
Like Purdue, the Wolverine scor-
ing is led by a freshman: Silver
Shellman is averaging 17.1 points,
with Gray pouring in an average of
16.7. The two were named to the
Oklahoma Holiday Classic All-Tour-
nament squad over the break.
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