The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, January 24, 1994 - 5 Cagers still looking for Big Ten triumph 60-point first half paves the way for Nittany Lion victory, 97-53 By J.L ROSTAM-ABADI DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER After putting up a memorable fight against No. 18 Ohio State Friday, the women'sbasketball team played a game that was altogether forgettable yester- day. The Michigan highlights from the 97-53 drubbing by Penn State were few, and the afternoon came to a de- pressing climax when Penn State guard Carla Coleman crashed to the floor after colliding in mid-air with a Michi- gan player on a lay-up attempt. The accident took place midway through the second half with the Nittany Lions ahead, 74-37. Coleman was later taken by ambu- lance to the University Medical Center for the injury initially diagnosed as a backsprain. Hours later, shewas treated and released, a relieving end to a fall that looked much worse when it oc- curred. "After Carla's injury, we weren't really interested in playing basketball anymore," said her coach, Rene Port- land. After the fall, Coleman lay face- down, motionless, and reportedly had little feeling in both her legs. She left the court on stretcher 20 minutes later. Her departure left the Wolverines (0-6 Big Ten, 3-12 overall) and Lions (6-0, 14-0) to finish the rest of the mismatch. A game effort against the NCAA Championship finalist Buck- eyes Friday left the seven-deep Wol- verines unable to physically deal with undefeated Penn State. "We played hard Friday night and then Sunday, with our lack of depth, kids played tired," Michigan coach Trish Roberts said. "I think it's some- thing that's going to plague us the rest of the year." Another problem they will face is unrelenting full-court pressure. Friday, Michigan handled the Buckeye press with relative ease by bringing a for- ward or center into the backcourt to provide a passing option for the guards. Sunday, the Lions' tactics stalled the Michigan strategy. "They didn't have a player on the ball, they just clogged the middle," Roberts analyzed in her inimitable style. "We couldn't get it up the middle." The Penn State press, spearheaded by point guard Tina Nicholson, squeezed the life out of the Wolver- ines. The taller, quicker Lions harassed Michigan into 30 turnovers. Eighteen of them came before halftime, when Penn State put together a 43-11 stretch that led to a 60-27 halftime lead. The press led to easy baskets for Penn State guard Katina Mack, who went four- for-four in the first half and led Penn State with 16 points. "They're the best team we've faced all year. They're an excellent team," Roberts said. "They had speed, they had quickness, they had poise, they had athleticism. "It's the best-coached team, it's the best team I've seen in probably the last two or three years. They are deserving of their No. 1 standing." Following the losses of previously- unbeaten Tennessee and Iowa, the Nit- tany Lions will climb two spots on the charts to claim the top spot in this week's polls. "I don't think you want to be No.1 before (the most difficult part of the season)," Portland said, "but we've been here before." They've gotten there this time behind dervish point guard Nicholson, last week's Big Ten Player of the Week. The 5-foot-3 Nicholson hung an eight- point, 13-assist, five-steal, one-turn- over line on the Wolverines and left them gasping for air. "She's awesome," junior forward Shimmy Gray said. "She's so fast. I'd give the ball to our point guard (Jenni- fer) Kiefer and (Nicholson) would be nowhere around and next thing you know she would be downcourt, having stolen the ball and going for a lay-up. She's probably the quickest player I've ever seen. She's like a lightning bug out there." Chasing her all day was Kiefer, who turned in her second consecutive 40-minute effort. Guard Amy Johnson and Gray also never left the floor. Kiefer knocked in two threes and added another basket for nine points, second on the team behind Gray, who threw in a game-high 18 on eight-for- 16 shooting from the floor and added eight boards. The high-scoring honors did not impress Gray much. "This was the toughest game I've ever played in my life," she said. MARY KOUKHAB/DaIly Michigan's Silver Shellman attempts a shot in yesterday's 97-53 loss to Penn State. The Wolverines are looking for their first Big Ten victory of the season where as the Nittany Lions should rise to the top spot in the AP poll. 'M' should listen to letters more often s By BOB ABRAMSON DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER Letters don't usually come by the boxload to the Michigan women's basketball office. But when letters actually do arrive, there influence can be overwhelming. After Michigan's 64-63 heartbreaking loss to Wisconsin last week at Crisler, a fan who had never seen a women's basketball game before was inspired to send along a note to l@oach Trish Roberts and her staff. "This guy writes us a letter, said he was really impressed with our team, and felt we should have won our game against Wisconsin," Roberts recalled. "At the end of the letter, he said Jennifer Kiefer needs to shoot the ball more." Kiefer, Michigan's point guard, took the advice to heart. It seemed like the words went straight - from her ears to her right shooting OURT hand. . .The freshman R r n -who didn't even attempt a shot in the entire first half of the Wisconsin defeat - came to life in Friday night's contest against 18th-ranked Ohio State. The guard who had been tentative to shoot the ball all- season long emerged into a gunslinger from long-range. l.ittle over a minute into the game, Kiefer launched a three- pointer that ripped through the net. By the time the buzzer had sounded to end the first half, Kiefer had nine points, shooting three-for-three from 3-point land, and Michigan had a 35-32 lead over a Buckeye club that advanced to last year's Final Four. While she only managed to score four points in the second half against a tight-reigned Buckeye defense that catalyzed the 81-61 win, Kiefer still matched her career high of 13 points. "I'm just starting to look for my shot more," said Kiefer, the 5-foot-7 floor leader of the Wolverines. This is the kind of guard production Roberts has been yearning for all season long. She keeps stressing that this team won't win unless it gets points from her backcourt. While Kiefer is fourth in the Big Ten in assists (5.4 per game), and has been handling the press a lot better in the past couple of games, Roberts has been riding Kiefer to pull up and shoot the open jumper rather than pass it up. So far this season, she has averaged only 6.7 ppg, which is too little ,or a guard who has an accurate outside shot. She is the only starter who is not averaging double figures. If she and her backcourt partner Amy Johnson (13.1 ppg) can start shooting consistently, Michigan may be able to pull out its long-awaited first victory in the Big Ten. When Kiefer poured in 10 points in the second half of the Wisconsin game and nine in the first half against Ohio State last week, the Wolverines were right in the thick of both games. But in the other halves of those games, when Kiefer PSU to take over BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK By BRENT McINTOSH DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER If you're going to get blown out like Michigan was yesterday, you might as well be destroyed by the best. And Penn State is the best, or at least they will be when this week's Associated Press NCAA women's basketball poll comes out. The Lady Lions were No. 3 in last week's poll, but top-ranked Tennessee fell to unranked Rutgers and No.2 Iowa was handily defeated by Indiana. Penn State (5-0 Big Ten, 13-0 overall) is now the NCAA's only undefeated Division I squad, and few are questioning whether they should occupy the top slot. "If they're not (No.1), I'd hate to see who is," Wolverine captain Shimmy Gray said. "This was the worst game of my life." The Lady Lions' 97-53 dismantling of Michigan (0-6,3- 12) ran their series record to 3-0 in Penn State's favor, and there is no sign that the Lady Lions are subject to upset any time soon. Their ease in dominating the Wolverines was startling, to the point that Michigan coach Trish Roberts already has them on top of her personal poll. "(Penn State is) the best team I've seen in two or three years," Roberts said. "They're deserving of their No. 1 standing." SILvER AND Amy: After the Ohio State game Friday night, Roberts said that it seemed like it would take complete games from both guard Amy Johnson and forward Silver Shellman to earn the Wolverines a Big Ten victory. How- ever, Roberts noticed that whenever one of the pair has an impressive performance, the other tends to have a sub-par showing. Her statement was evidenced by the stat line from that game: Johnson threw in 13 tough points, but Shellman had only four. What she didn't say was what would happen if both rookies played poorly, which was the case against Penn State. Shellman managed only eight points to go along with four fouls and eight turnovers; Johnson played all 40 min- utes, but had only two buckets in 11 attempts. "Silver hasn't played well the last two or three games," Roberts said. "The last two games she's been totally out of it. Amy'sbeen alittlebit more consistent the last two games. We didn't get much scoring out of either of those two, and we've got to have scoring from our perimeter players - that's a must if we're going to expect to win any games." top spot in polls While three Wolverines played the entire contest, no Lady Lion saw more than 26 minutes. With Penn State subbing five fresh players into the game once, Roberts' envy should come as no surprise. "That's the kind of depth I will have someday," Roberts said. "I realize this is a rebuilding process and it's going to take a lot longer than I anticipated, but I'm confident it will happen." MYV KINGDOM FOR A SCORING RUN: One of the deciding factors for Michigan in this weekend's games was scoring runs: Penn State and Ohio State had them, Michigan didn't. The Buckeyes, down three at the half, blazed out of the locker room on an 11-2 run. They never trailed again and never looked back in outscoring the Wolverines 49-26 after the break. As deciding as Ohio State's run was, the Lady Lions made the Wolverines look absolutely ineffective. Michigan quickly jumped out to a 8-5 lead, only to see Penn State outscore them 25-2 over the next seven minutes. That insurmountable run started the Lady Lions on the way to a 60-point first half, the most they had scored in a half this year and the most the Wolverines had given up. SMILE FOR THE CAMERA: Sunday's game against Penn State was the first of two Michigan games this season to be televised. The game was shown live on SportsChannel Chicago, just as the Wolverines' Feb. 20 contest at Ohio State will be, but freshman guard Jennifer Kiefer said the team was too concerned with finding a win to think about being televised. INJURY REPORT: Gray played Sunday's game with both ankles taped, a large brace on her left knee, and the index and middle fingers on her left hand taped together. While she led the Wolverines with 18 points and eight rebounds, she said the pain in her non-shooting hand bothered her during the game. "Today was really bad," she said. "I was pretty sore, pretty tired, but I'm the oldest on the team, and I'm the team captain. I can't complain and let other girls hear me com- plaining and asking to be taken out, no matter how tired or sore I am. That doesn't look good and it doesn't set a very good example." MARY KOUKAB/DaIty Michigan's Catherine DiGiancinto takes a jumper during yesterday's 97-53 loss to Penn State. did not put up as many shots, Michigan was a completely different team. "Kiefer is a very good shooter," Roberts said. "And for some reason, she just in the past hasn't looked for her shot. But I was real proud of Kiefer because she did look for her shot more against Ohio State. I think she really thought about that letter today." If only the guy who wrote the letter could send written advice to the basketball office after every Michigan game. NEXT UP: The Wolverinesgo on the road for two games I NEED REST: Perhaps more against Penn State than any next weekend as they face Iowa Friday and Minnesota other team, Michigan's lack of depth was painfully evident. Sunday. 'Second-half surge pushes OSU by Blue 8y SCOTT BURTON DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER There was one question that needed tobeasked afterFriday night'swomen's basketball game between Michigan (0- 5 Big Ten, 3-11 overall) and No. 17 Ohio State (3-1,10-4). Did the Buckeyes overlook the olverines going into the contest? If one lookedat thefinal scoreboard- Ohio State 81, Michigan 61-theywould probably imagine that the Buckeyes had the Wolverines' number all night. How- ever, a peak at the scoreboard from half- time - Michigan 35, Ohio State 32- the Buckeyes in the first half. Defying the intimidation of Ohio State's domi- nation of the series (25-2) and its lofty national ranking, Michigan used pure hustle to control the first-half action. "We're not intimidated by ranked teams," freshman point guard Jennifer Kiefer said. "We don't have anything to lose, so we just go in and play hard." Michigan would have an early lead it would relinquish only once in the half. Michigan was able to run the floor without much obstruction, converting numerous transition buckets. The hot shooting of Kiefer (three- Michigan 49-26 in the half. "In the locker room I told them that they were going to tighten the defense up and that it wasn't going to be as easy as in the first half-and I was exactly right," Roberts said. "A lot of times when you get really fatigued you make a lot of mistakes, and that's what hap- pened in the second-half." Silver Shellman and Catherine DiGiacinto carried four fouls for much of the second half, with Shellman even- tually fouling out with three minutes left. WithoutShellman defending Smith -whoshotonly 3-11 inthe firsthalf- I -