10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 16, 1996 Struggling women's cagers hope once-hot Wildcats, suddenly-hot Spartans go cold By Andy Knudsen Daily Sports Writer Fora while, it looked like Northwestern might have two dream seasons in one year. After its football team shocked the nation by winning the Big Ten Championship and finishing 10-2 for the season, the women'sbasketball team tried to follow suit by starting out 15-1 and 5-0 in the conference. While the gridiron Wildcats climbed the polls with wins in front of Touchdown Jesus and in The Big House, the Lady Wildcats used their home floor of Welsh-Ryan Arena to knock off then-No. 4 Penn State, No. 16 Kansas and No. 25 DePaul. But shortly after the purple sea closed on top of Northwestern in the Rose Bowl, it also swept away the hopes of its women's basketball team. Since New Year's Day, the Wildcats (5-8 Big Ten, 16-9 overall) have lost eight straight conference games, with their only relief coming in an easy non-confer- ence win at Illinois-Chicago Feb. 6. Tonight they hope to break their slump when they take the floor against a struggling Michigan team (1- 11, 7-15) at 7:30 p.m. at Crisler Arena. "We were a little surprised at (Northwestern's) early pace since we played them last year and beat them," Michigan coach Trish Roberts said. The Wildcats, who were picked to finish in the middle of the conference in the coach's preseason poll, handily won their first meeting with the Wolver- ines Jan. 7 in Evanston, 88-65. "Their big players ran the floor well and got a lot of layups on our girls," Roberts said. But Roberts hasn't seen Northwestern play with the same aggressiveness during its slump. "They have not played with that intensity lately," she said. "This is a good time for us to be playing them." The Wildcats still have four starters averaging double digits in scoring, though. Seniorguard Michele Ratay leads the team, averaging 17.4 points per game. Junior forward Katrina Hannaford is chips in 17 points and 7.4 rebounds per contest. Roberts said Michigan will play a zone defense against Northwestern since the Wildcats have struggled against it recently. In the Jan. 7 loss, the Wolverines played man-to-man, defensively. But Roberts hasn't figured out what lineup she wants to put on the floor. Sophomores Pollyanna Johns, Akisha Franklin and Jennifer Kiefer should start, while senior Jennifer Brzezinski and juniors Molly Murray, Amy Johnson, Catherine DiGiacinto and Silver Shellman will compete for the two remaining starting positions. Michigan's weekena continues Sunday when it hosts Michigan State (6-6, 14-8) at noon. The Wolverines will have a score to settle against the Spartans for the heartbreaking 66-65 loss Jan. 5 in East Lansing. Michigan State didn't play like a .500 team last weekend, however, when it gave first-place Iowa (11- 1, 20-2) a run for its money in a 71-65 loss and handed second-place Wisconsin (10-2, 18-4) its second con- ference loss. "(Michigan State) started out slow, but with each game they have improved," Roberts said. But the Spartans don't have a true center in their starting five, a flaw which Michigan hopes the 6-foot- 3 Johns can exploit. The Wolverines will switch back to man-to-man defense for Sunday's game in hopes of containing Spartan point guard Tamika Matlock, who Roberts called, "the key to their game." With four games remaining, Michigan is still trying to match its conference win total from last year when it finished 3-13 in the Big Ten. "We definitely don't want to finish lower than last year," Roberts said. "We think our chances of winning (this weekend) are great." 11 WAHREN LINN/Uaily The Wolverines dove into second place after one day of the Big Ten Championships. I I Internship and Summer Job Fair Wednesday, February 21 Noon - 4:00 pm Michigan Union Some of the participating employers include: Capital One " Camp Chi " Comerica Bank " Community Residence Corp. " Camp Cody Camp Pinewood " Cedar Point " Coca-Cola " Dept. Store Division of Dayton Hudson * Enterprise Rent-A-Car* Huntington Banks Ford Motor Co. - Marketing & Sales " JP Morgan " Kalamazoo Nature Center " Mackinac State Historic Parks " Michigan Daily " Michigan Media " Nabisco Biscuit Division " Radio Shack " University of Michigan Family Housing " Sports Facilities Research Lab " and many more companies, camps, and resorts Stop by CP&P for more information: " Research participating organizations and review position requirements with the Internship and Summer Job Farr Briefing Books " Discover additional opportunities with our Internship and Summer Job Notebooks and other library resources The Unversity ofnMichigen Career Planning 'Placknent Vmsw~en of tuSdent Affairs4 s BIG TENS Continued from Page 9 ines, setting a pool record in the prelimi- naries of the 200 individual medley. He finished first in the championship, aswell. "I swam pretty well in the 200 IM," Lancaster said. "I had no idea that I had even broken the record this morning. "Last year I set the Big Ten record, so I was a little disappointed that I was off that this (year), but the pool record made me feel better." The 50 freestyle was amonochromatic art lesson, consisting mainly of red hues - Indiana crimson and Minnesota ma- roon. No Michigan swimmer even en- tered the event. Last year's Big Ten and NCAA one- meter diving champion, Minnesota's P.1. Bogart, repeated his title, while Michigan's Alex Bogaerts finished fifth. The 400 relay team of Buyukuncu, Dolan, Lancaster and Piersma finished first on the scoreboard but were disquali- fied for a false start on one leg. The disqualification was not seen as a complete loss for the Wolverines. "We all know we swam our best," Lancaster said. "Things happen and (the disqualifidation) is what happened. It was a good swim for us, though." Another bnght note of the disqualifica- tion is that Buyukuncu's backstroke split time of 47.70 seconds qualified him for NCAAs. TITLE RACE Continued from Page 9 all four teams can finish in the top spot or in fourth place. Here's the outlook (You may want to brush up on your math skills first): " MICHIGAN STATE The No.5 Spartans have the best record in the CCHA and have sat atop the league standings since the new year. They have the upper hand because they are three points ahead of the other contenders. However, Michigan State has played one more game than Michigan and Lake Supenor - which means its lead could shrink by two points without having a chance to make up the difference. But the second-place Broncos have played one more game than the Spartans, which can only help Mason's club. The key for Michigan State is to beat Lake Superior tonight at the Joe -a venue that the Spartans found so much success in during the 1980s, that fans dubbed it "Munn East,"in honor oftheirhome rink. Then they'll only need a split with Michigan coupled with wins on the road against Notre Dame and at Munn against fifth-place Bowling Green to secure their first regular-season title since they won two straight in 1989 and 1990. That would put Michigan State in a first-place tie with the Broncos and give the title to the Spartans due to a 2-1 series edge. MICIGAN The No. 4 Wolvennes are in somewhat of a bind, even though they control their own fate. Michigandroppedtothirdplace with Western's victory Tuesday. Tying Ohio State twice and dropping a 6-5 decision to Bowling Green the last week of January didn't help matters ei- ther. Even worse for the Wolverines, should they find themselves tied with Western Michigan for first place at the end of the season, the Broncos win the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Wolvennes also have the toughest schedule of the four teams. After this weekend'sgames, Michigan makes along trip to Lake Superior, then meets Michi- gan State and Bowling Green on the last weekend of the season. Even if the Wolverines beat Bowling Green, sweep the Lakers and get by Notre I University of Michigan Black History Month Celebration: ni CAMP CHI Xoba"y Mska Mar* Outof /amao'l I I At Camp Chi Join our staff Co-ed overnight camp of the JCCs of Chicago, located in the Wisconsin Dells Positions available Unit Supervisors, Counselors, Specialists in: waterskiing, sailing, athletics, aquatics, outdoor adven- ture, cultural arts, camping, rollerblading, song leaders, office staff, environmental ed, and the arts. Michigan on-Campus interview- ing on February 21. Contact the Camp Chi office at 847.272.2301 to set up an interview or stop by the summer job fair @ the Michigan Union. tai C 4- With two days of competition remain ing, the Wolverines hop --to become drop- outs. Of the school of hard knocks, that is. "Everything's turned out Ok consider- mg the 50 freestyle, the relay and the fact that the 500 didn't turn out the way we wanted," Lancaster said. "(But these) problems we have to take care of in the next two days, but it is possible." Competition continues today and Sat- urday with preliminaries at noon and fi- nals at 7 p.m. Dame, two wins over the Spartans is a lot to ask. If Michigan and Michigan State split, Berenson will have to root for Lake Supe- rior and Bowling Green to knock the Spartans off. A tie would favor Michigan State. Ifthe Wolverines split with the Lakers, but manage to take two games from thq Spartans, then only one team will need to beat Michigan State because the Wolver- ines would hold a 2-1 series advantage. . WESTERN MICHIGAN The No. 7 Broncos certainly have the easiest remaining schedule of any team. They entertain Miami (Ohio) tomorrow and then travel to eighth-place Alaska- Fairbanks for three games next week. If Western had swept Michigan State last week, coach Bill Wilkinson would be partying in Kalamazoo right now. The Broncos have played one more game than Michigan State and two more than both Michigan and Lake Superior. Even if they can go unbeaten in their next four games, the Broncos need Michigan State to lose twice and Michigan to tie at least once to win the title. * LAKE SUPERIOR STATE Okay, here's where it gets a little tricky. If the sixth-ranked Lakers win their reb mnaining six games, they'll be wearing' championship rings no matter what any other team does. No. 6 Lake Supenor already has the series edge over the Spartans and Michi- gan State has played one more game than the Lakers. So if Lake State beats Michi- gan State and either Ohio State or Miami (Ohio)the first weekend ofMarch, every- thing comes down to head-to-head play. If the Lakers split with Michigan and win the rest of their games, includin@ tonight against the Spartans, they'll need the Broncos to tie once and Michigan State to lose one other game. Michigan would have to lose another game as well T-SHIRT PRINTING . LOWEST PRICES! K HIGHEST QUALITY! FASTEST SERVICE! * 1002 PONTIAC TR. 994-1367 'Gin 0Fi VeC19 fiD. mNaim AJbar eaturing nationally recognized author, psychologist, and scholar. Saturday, February 17,1996 1:00-4:30p.m. Location: Michigan Union U FREE PASS exp 2/25/96 Special Events Duo Main Stage Events n 3 i2/16 Pie Eating Contest 2/18 10pm Wet "" Contest 2/20 5pm & 10pm Amateur Contest fyz2/21 10pm i * Workshops: Sisters & Brothers Finding Common Ground Progressive Professional Goals: Redefining Community The African Centered Family: Building Bridges The Campus Village: A Model of Unity Know Thyself: Change Dynamics for Self & Organization yea inoA . a .60 Av too much p FIi IA HARTLEY ii ii I