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. 7 4, 4 4, Yl vse 'the F Th4 Ris Tan haf fla ennfninIac ri.-im . 49 rW /% -or TT 100% t 7 T