The Michigan Daily - SPORTSTuesday - Tuesday,_January 16, 1996 - 3B Wolverines remain winless in Big Ten after loss to Lions 9ARREN EVERSON Darren to be Different For Robert basketball in t the only thingto kamfm books ortunately for the Michigan women's basketball team, coach Trish Roberts doesn't read much of what Bobby Knight has to say. Roberts is an avid reader, someone who tries to learn from the authors she reads. However, nothing thored by the fiery Indiana men's sketball coach - the General, as he is often called - sits on Roberts's nightstand. Perhaps that's why, after seeing her Wolverines (0-5 Big Ten, 6-9 overall) drop six in a row, Roberts is still more likely to curl up with a good book than to throw a few at her team. "I'm not a screaming, yelling, violent coach," Roberts says. Mtead, she releases the stress and tension caused by Michigan losses by reading the works of the top scholars in her field: NBA coaches Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, to name a few. "These are guys who have been successful," Roberts says, "so hopefully some pf that will rub off on me." It hasn't just yet - not at ichigan, anyway - but Roberts is still alive, well and in good spirits, despite all that's happened during her time here. Despite criticism from former players and their parents, despite a rash of player wijuries and despite one loss after another, Roberts is still plugging away, trying to turn around Michigan's eternally dormant woman's basketball program. And it appears she's making some ogress. After going 2-25 in 1992, -her first season, Roberts's Wolver- ines have posted a better record - each year since. Those seasons were all marked by improvement, as Michigan began to seriously compete with its Big Ten foes. But those years were all marked by more defeats than victories. Michigan is used to losing with ch frequency - the Wolverines have had but three winning seasons in their 22-year history - but for Roberts, failure is something new. "I've always been a winner in everything I've done," says the 40- year-old Roberts. She's excelled as both a player (she was Tennessee's leading scorer and rebounder in 1976-77) and as a coach, winning 72 percent of her games while at *aine from 1988-92. "I envisioned us turning this program around a lot quicker than we are," she says. "I knew it was going to be tough. But coming from a school like Maine ... the level of competition has gotten tougher. (And) we've been such an inconsis- tent team." That's what puzzles Roberts most bout her Wolverines - their 4ility to compete with strong teams like they did against No. 6 Penn State Sunday, and their inability to beat the teams they should, like Northern Illinois earlier this season. "I understand what she's saying," forward Silver Shellman says. "I don't know if we expect to lose or what." Shellman doesn't think that's it, and she's probably right. The Jolverines are like any other team, competing in practice with game- like intensity. But they're also loose enough to sing a tune from a car dealer ad, the one with the guy playing a banjo with his dog, that ends, "Get a good deal." - There's something about winning, though, that has an effect on a player's attitude. At least, that's what Roberts's experience has been. @ "Every school that I've been with that's won, it's had a winning tradition," she says. "The players go in there thinking, 'I'm expected to win.' I'm not so sure that our kids come in with the same attitude." They might have begun to develop that kind of attitude at the By Andy Knudsen Daily Sports Writer With the Michigan women's basket- ball team (0-5 Big Ten, 6-9 overall) hosting No. 5 Penn State (4-1, 13-3), many might have expected the mascot game at halftime to be more exciting. But after losing their first four con- ference games, the Wolverines were not going to roll over and be fodder for the Nittany Lions. "We just wanted to win," Pollyanna Johns said. "We'rejust sick and tired of losing." Michigan gave a strong effort in the 79-64 loss in front of 2,853 fans at Crisler Arena, and the game was closer than the score would indicate. Junior Amy Johnson nailed a 3- pointer from the right corner with 8:21 left in the game to bring the Wolverines within five points, 49-54. The trey capped a 14-3 run by Michigan over 5:23. That was as close as the Wolverines would get in the second half, however, as Angie Potthoff carried the Nittany Lions from inside with a game-high 26 points and 13 rebounds. "I think the biggest turnaround was when Pollyanna (Johns) went out with her fifth foul," coach Trish Roberts said. "We just didn't have anybody to match up as far as size inside with them." Johns, who led Michigan with 20 points and 15 rebounds, fouled out with 4:40 left, but the Wolverines pulled back within ten points with 2:46 left. Seven straight Penn State points killed any of Michigan's hopes for a miracle comeback. The Wolverines accomplished what they wanted to do on defense, playing a zone to limit Penn State's inside looks and keeping even with them on the boards. "In the games where we have lost people have played a zone," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "When we saw the zone against Michigan we knew they at least did their homework." Penn State couldn't break the zone as they hit only one of their 10 shots from the arc in the first half. "We relied too much on the 3-point shot and that was really poor shot selec- tion on our part," Portland said. But Penn State got most of the loose balls and won the transition game, as Michigan couldn't buy a friendly roll on its few breakaway attempts. The Nittany Lions' aggressiveness also caused 23 Wolverine turnovers, while they only surrendered the ball 14 times. But Roberts was pleased overall with her teams' performance. "I think we played a very good game for 75 percent of that ballgame," Rob- erts said. Roberts, though, still saw some of the same problems she's been seeing all year. "I want us to be able to hit key shots down the stretch," she said. "When you go three or four minutes without scor- ing, that really hurts." The Wolverines hadonly six fieldgoals in the first half, but kept even with the Nittany Lions for the first 13 minutes primarily due to Johns' ability to draw fouls. Johns had nine of Michigan's 13 points from the char- ity stripe in the half, while the team com- bined for only 12 points from the field. The Wolverines got their only lead after a Johns' free throw made the score 22-21 with 7:01 left in the half. But Penn State went on al7-3 run for the rest of the half, giv- ing them an insur- mountable lead. "We have a rule that we want to win the last five minutes of each half," Port- land said, which they did handily in both cases. One of the brighter points for Michigan was the play of Catherine DiGiacinto off the bench. She was eight-of I from the field for 16 points and 13 rebounds to complement Johns Catherine DiGlanci in the paint. effort, but were un The Nittany Lions' frontcourt rota- tion was limited by an injury to sopho- more center Stacey Hrivnak, whosejaw locked open in a recent practice. "We're lucky we got away with what we got away with inside," Portland said of her depleted frontcourt. The Wolverines hope this strong per- formance against a highly ranked team will serve as a confidence-builder. Michigan next plays at Illinois Fri- day and at Ohio State Sunday. And after this Sunday's close lose, Johns said. "We're looking forward to (the games), as a matter of fact we can't wait." ,UNYA UR VAU /Dly Michigan forward Sliver Shellman drives the lane in the Wolverines' 79-64 loss. Portand quetons etofficials'cal By Dan Stillman Daily Sports Writer Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland questioned the referee's interpretation of legal defensive posi- tion, or what Portland called "straight- up" position, in the press conference following Sunday's 79-64 victory over. the Wolverines. A total of 22 personal fouls were PENN STATE (79) FO FT RES MIN M-A M-A 4-7 A F PTS Parsons 28 3-9 1.2 24 1 1 7 Nicholson 35 38 0-0 0-3 9 3 8 Mack 27 6-11 4-6 24 1 216 Potthoff 30 10-21 6.9 7-13 4 3 26 Calhoun 25 5-10 1-1 5-9 0 4 11 Longworth 12 3-6 0-0 2-3 1 0 7 Macciocco 12 0.4 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Hall 10 1-5 1-2 M- 0 2 3 Brewer 8 0.1 0-0 0-2 01 0 Jarosz 7 0-0 1-2 12 0 4 1 Portland 6 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 1 2 Totals 200 31-76 14-22 2248 1622 79 FG%: .408. FT%:.636. Three-point goals: 3.-14, .214 (Nicholson 2-5, Longworth 1-4, Macciocco 0-2, Parsons 0-2, Portland 0.1). Blocks: 6 (Calhoun 4, Parsons. Jarosz). Turnovers: 14 (Potthoff 4, Nicholson 2. Calhoun 2, Macciocco 2, Parsons. Mack, Longworth, Brewer). Steals: 12 (Nicholson 7, Potthoff 2. Macciocco. Longworth. Portland). Technical Fouls: none. MICHIGAN (64) F MIN WA MA 0-T A F PTS Franklin 29 1.8 4-4 0.2 5 1 6 Kiefer 32 1-6 0-0 2-4 0 0 3 Johnson 40 5-15 0-0 1-6 4 3 11 Johns 28 4-15 12-18 515 1 5 20 Brzezinski 16 2-2 1-2 2-2 1 3 5 DiGiacinto 34 8-12 0-2 6-13 1 2 16 Shellman 12 1-1 1-3 11 1 2 3 Murray 7 0-1 0-0 0-1 0.-0 0 PO tits 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 00 0 Willard 1 0-1 0.0 0-0 00 0 Totals 200 22.60 18-29 21-49 1316 64 FO%:.367. FT%:.621. Three-point goals: 2-10- 200 (Johnson 1-6, iefer 13, Franklin 0-1). Blocks: 0 urnovers: 23 (ifer 6, Franklin 4, Johnson 3. Johns 3, Brzezinski 2, DiGiacinto 2, Murray 2, Shellman. Steals: 9 (Kiefer 3, Franklin 2. Johnson, Brzezinski, DiGiacinto. Shellman). Technical Fouls; none. Penn State...... ...38 41 - 68 Michigan----------25 39 - 83 At: Crisler Arena; A: 2,853 TONYA BROAD/D into and the Wolverines put up a strong able to hold off No. 5 Penn State. fCAMP TAIKAJ0l Notebook called against the Nittany Lions in the contest. A ma- jority were block- ing fouls under the basket. Michigan sophomore center Pollyanna Johns drew eight of those fouls resulting in 12 points from the free-throw line. ". for Boys Long Lake, Naples, Main SOME COMPANIES WILL SAYANYTHING.. Over 100 positions available for heads and assistants in: Thirteen of Michigan's 25 first-half points came from the charity stripe. "I'd love to see the description of straight-up," Portland said. "That will be the clip tape that we send to the Big Ten office to ask for an explanation because the official just refused to give it to us - and they were doing the same thing on (the Michigan) side. The Michi- gan kids were like, how much straighter up can I go? So who knows what that interpretation of the rule was today, because I felt (the referees) were con- sistent on both sides." OUTFORTHESEASON: Freshman guard Ann Lemire suffered a season-ending injury when she tore her anterior cruci- ate ligament in practice on Dec. 15. She underwent surgery earlier this month. Despite her freshman status, Lemire was well on her way to playing a major role on the squad. Through the first seven games of the season, Lemire averaged 10 points per game and shot 50 percent from three-point land. "(Lemire's injury) really hurt us a lot because her speed and quickness gave us what we needed on the perim- eter," Michigan coach Trish Roberts said. "We were able to do a lot more defensively with Ann. I really didn't realize what an impact she had on our team until the last few ball games (before her injury)." IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Junior for- ward/guard Amy Johnson became Michigan's all-time leading 3-point scorer when she drained her 86th ca- reer trey against Northwestern last Sunday. Johnson now ranks among the top 20 in nine categories in the Michigan record books. MAscOTs GALORE: Team and coporate mascots from across the re- gion took to the Crisler Arena floor at halftime of Sunday's contest for the Tennis Baseball Basketball So0Cer Lacrosse 0olf Flag Football Street Hookey Roller Hockey Swimming Sailing Canoeing Waterskilng SCUBA Archery Riflery Weight Training Journalism Photography Videography Woodworking Ceramics Crafts Fine Arts Nature Study Radio & Electronics Dramatics Piano Accompanist Music Instrumentalist Backpacking Rockclimbing Whitewater Canoeing Ropes Course Instructor General (with youngest boys) Secretarial Kitchen June 17th Through August 18th For Further Information - CALL MIKE SHERBUN AT 1-800-250-8252 I FAX RESUME TO 616-954-9534 r WOOF, F' 14 RECORDS EVERYZODYCLAIMS TO RE ON THE CUT/NG-EDGE. CET THE REAL DEAL wwWAlM P O. C 4ctdapted phone: 663.5800 ;;77 ersity (above goodtime chadeys), AA urs.:9:00a-10:OOQ sundays at.: 9:008-11:OOP t 1:o0a-8:00P view "frr autos ta+n ;,n Jot .2'S .i scheduled for. ' ORo'PAq ---"JAN . IOP *new eleasess, si C - -- The Office of cademic Multicultural 9nitiatives is now taking applications for Student Leader positions for the King/hdhvez/Parks College Day Spring Visitation program so *14 oorln TL I..Ll Z.9" C!, 1 Student leaders accompany visiting middle school students throughout the day serving as guides and role models while providing information about the college experience. Student leaders usually work in teams of three. They should be fairly ' r' &oT t wt(-SAaO&ON -C _c get t f( it kcr- "fie + JOUE3 iIS IIFIEIIUl1