68 -The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - December 9, 1996
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
'M' women's basketball survives
Pleasant suprise from Central
By Sharat Raju
Laily Sports Writer
MT. PLEASANT - There are many
things deceiving about Mt. Pleasant.
First of all, there certainly is no mountain
nearby.
Second, other than the casino, there really
isn't anything "pleasant" there.
And third, the Central Michigan women's
basketball team doesn't play like it was 5-21
last year and 0-3 this year.
The Michigan women's basketball team
managed to finally put away the Chippewas,
68-56, despite a sub-par performance yes-
terday. Michigan's first victory at Central
Michigan since 1984 didn't come easy.
. "You have to give a lot of the credit to
Central Michigan," Michigan coach Sue
Guevara said. "They came out and played
with a lot of intensity and a lot of heart. I
thought they played very hard."
The Wolverines (6-1) couldn't help but be
surprised by the score at halftime, leading
only 33-27. Compared to the level of talent
that Michigan has been playing against
recently, the Chippewas should have been a
cake walk.
But Central Michigan wouldn't go down
easily.
"I don't think there's any question that it
was the (best half of basketball we've
played all season)," Central Michigan coach
Fran Voll said about the first half.
Sloppiness and turnovers were the story
for most of the game, with Michigan giving
away the ball 23 times and Central
Michigan returning the favor with 22.
"I was disappointed in the effort of my
team tonight," Guevara said. "I don't think
we were mentally prepared to play."
While the first half was a dogfight for
lI just didn't see
the same team that 1
saw in Hawaii for
- Sue Guevara
Michigan women's basketball coach
both teams - with neither moving out to a
big lead - the second half was mostly
Michigan. Ann Lemire's 3-pointer with 1:27
left in the game was the final nail in the cof-
fin, giving the Wolverines a 10-point lead,
64-54.
But the story of the contest was Michigan
center Pollyanna Johns.
"After our little halftime talk I just want-
ed to pick my team up," Johns said. "I did-
n't see anyone stepping up so I just took it
upon myself, hoping my teammates would
follow."
Johns constantly gave the Chippewas fits,
scoring at key moments. She scored an
important early basket in the first half to
break a 27-27 tie. When the Wolverines
went on a 16-4 run, Johns scored nine of the
points, en route to a season-high 27 points.
For good measure she grabbed 13 rebounds,
as well.
"She's a very good athlete and very diffi-
cult to get around," Central Michigan for-
ward Ebony Rainge said. "And she's got
experience in the post."
Rainge, who had the unfortunate task of
guarding Johns, was the second-leading
scorer for the Chippewas with II points.
Forward Tracy Renken led the Central
Michigan with 15 points, most of them on
outside jumpers coming off of screens.
But in the end, the Wolverines proved to
be too much, with guard Stacey Thomas
contributing 13 points and two steals.
Despite the strong performances from
Johns and Thomas, Guevara still was not too
pleased with her team's showing.
"I tell my team every game, 'It's not the
winning and it's not the losing - it's the
performance,"' Guevara said. "We didn't
have a very good performance tonight. "
The match was Michigan's first since
returning from the Wahine Classic tourna-
ment in Hawaii, in which the Wolverines
lost by three points to No. I Stanford in the
championship game.
"I just didn't see the same team that I saw
in Hawaii for three games," Guevara said.
"That concerns me. I don't care who we're
playing, we're more concerned with the per-
formance of Michigan women's basketball
team than the other team. We will change
the effort of our game for Wednesday."
Michigan's next opponent is another in-
state foe, Eastern Michigan. The Wolverines
make the short trip to Ypsilanti on
Wednesday.
Over the break
Upcoming Michigan women's basketball
schedule:
at Eastern Michigan Dec. 11
at Houston Dec. 22
at Ohio State Dec. 28
at Minnesota Dec, 30
Northwestern Jan. 3
Michigan guard Stacey Thomas drove to the basket against Central Michigan on Sunday, despite Ebony
Rainge's attempt to stop her with the hokey-pokey. Thomas was the Wolverines second-leading scorer,
tossing in 13 points. Rainge finished with 11 points for the Chippewas.
Blue cagers unable to bring the hammer down on the Chippewas
By Kevin Kasiborski
Daily Sports Writer
MT. PLEASANT - Thus far this
Season, whenever the Michigan
women's basketball team has had an
opponent on the ropes, the Wolverines
have immediately been able to deliver a
knockout blow.
Yesterday, it looked as if the
Wolverines might do the same to
Central Michigan, opening up a 16-
point lead in the second half. But
Michigan couldn't put the Chippewas
away, and the outcome was in doubt far
longer than it should have been.
Central's Denise Didley cut
Michigan's lead down to 10 with just
under five minutes remaining, and
Michigan couldn't breathe easy until
Ann Lemire iced the game with a 3-
point hoop, pushing the lead back to ten
with 1:27 remaining.
"We were up by about 15, and I'm
thinking, 'OK, let's go,"' Michigan
coach Sue Guevara said. "My team will
get on a roll and boom, all of a sudden
it will go from 15 to 25.
"But they came down and hit a three,
or we fouled and they went to the line.
We just couldn't put them away. And
you have to give Central Michigan cred-
it for that."
The final margin of 68-56 appears
comfortable, but that's not how the
Michigan players looked on the court,
especially in the first half.
The Wolverines shot 50 percent from
the field in the first half, but they were
only four of nine from the free-throw
line, committed nine of their 23
turnovers, and were out-rebounded and
generally out-hustled by the Chippewas.
"I didn't think we were very aggres-
sive at all on the perimeter," Guevara
said. "That is one thing that we have
been working on every day in practice,
and I did not see any of that today, as
emphasized by Molly Murray not scor-
ing any points, (Jennifer) Kiefer two
and (Akisha) Franklin four."
Fortunately for the Wolverines, when
their outside game isn't working, they
can turn to Pollyanna Johns on the
inside.
Johns scored a season-high 27 points
on I1-of-17 shooting.
"When PJ. gets down on the blocks,
there aren't very many people that can
stop her one-on-one," Guevara said.
Johns accounted for nine points dur-
ing a 15-2 Michigan run that gave the
Wolverines a 53-37 lead with ten min-
utes remaining.
"You don't know whether you should
double her, or get weak-side help,"
Central Michigan coach Fran Voll said.
"I know they've got 3-point shooters.
"It's easy to say, 'Let's put two people
on somebody.' But I personally think,
when you are playing a good team like
that, you can't leave too many folks
uncovered"
With Johns carrying the load,
Michigan played well enough in spurts
to win, even though it may have been
the Wolverines' poorest effort of the
season.
In fairness though, Michigan was due
for an off-night. It started the year with
five straight wins, by an average margin
of 17.6 points.
And the Wolverines only defeat was a
77-74 loss to No. I Stanford last
Sunday.
Yesterday was Michigan's first incon-
sistent effort of the season.
"Our practices the last two days were
much more intense than the game w
just played," Guevara said. "The kids
were more competitive."
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Johns
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By Pranay Reddy
Daily Sports Writer
MT. PLEASANT
Michigan center Po
dominating her oppon
The 6-foot-3 jun
Wolverines to their sti
ing Michigan in b
rebounding.
Johns was averagi
10.2 rebounds headin
game against CentralT
And against the Ch
tinued her overpower
season-high 27 point
boards. Johns' perfo
follows one of the
weeks in Michigan v
history.
Johns became only
the third player in
school history to be
named the Big Ten
Player of the Week.
Johns shared the
honor with
Wisconsin's Keisha
Anderson.
In Michigan's thn
Wahine Classic, John
competition in the po
points, snatching 1
swatting away 1.7 sho
Johns is the first
conference player of
since Carol Szczecho
FANTASTIC FREsHm
surprise that John
Wolverines in both sc
ing, it may shock fan
is right behind her int
Stacey Thomas.
Michigan's freshm
lighting up her oppo
her teammates in theI
The flashy Thoma
14.2 points and 7.2 re
She also averages tw
Not bad for a fres
centerpiece of
g Michigan start.
- Simply put,
llyanna Johns is
nents.
nior has led the
tong 6-1 start, pac-
both scoring and
ng 16.0 points and
ng into yesterday's
Michigan.
'hippewas, she con-
ing play, scoring a
s and grabbing 13
irmance yesterday
most productive
women's basketball
season home opener against Rice, the
Wolverines hit the road to Hawaii. But
after that dream vacation, Michigan is
going to wait an entire month before it.
heads home again.
The wandering Wolverines don't get
back to Ann Arbor until Jan. 3, when
they face Northwestern. By then
Michigan will have traveled to Houston,
Ohio State and Minnesota.
CHARITY STRIPE: Free throws de*
nitely have not been any sort of aid to
Michigan's cause so far this season.
The Wolverines had made only 60
percent of their foul shots heading into
the Central Michigan contest, and didn't
improve much there either.
Michigan connected on 13 of 21 from
the line - a 62 percent clip.
However, Michigan coach Sue
Guevara tries to downplay the situation-
It seems that in this case, repetitivenetr
solves nothing.
"I'm trying not to keep saying it's a
problem," Guevara said. "Sometimes the
more you say it, the more it becomes a
bigger problem."
And indeed, there is some more free-
throw shooting in the Wolverines' future,
Guevara said.
"We work on it every day in practice."
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ns ripped apart her
Dst, putting up 16.3
1.7 rebounds and
ts per game.
Wolverine to earn
f the week honors
owski in 1990.
qAN: Though it's no
s is leading the
oring and rebound-
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both categories..
an guard has been
nents, and igniting
process.
s trails Johns with
ebounds per game.
o steals per contest.
hman - especial-
MICHIGAN (68)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A - A F PTS
Murray 16 0-3 0-2 1-2 1 3 0
Willard 21 2-5 1-4 4-7 3 5 6'
Johns 32 11-17 5-6 2-13 1 19 27.
Thomas 31 5-10 3-4 3-6 2 0X13'
Kiefer 25 1-5 0-0 0-1 3 0 2:
Franklin 13 2-6 0-0 0-0 0 3 4
Walker 9 0-0 0-0 0-1 03 0
Lemire 25 3-8 2-3 1-7 4 1-9
Johnson 11 1-3 0-0 0-2 1 1 2
Shellman 10 1-2 0-0 1-1 1 3
DiGiacinto 7 0-0 2-2 0-3 0 2
Totals 200 26-5913-21121622 68
FG%: .441. FT%: .619. 3-point FG: 3-13,
.231 (Murray 0-3, Willard 1-2, Kiefer 0-1,
Franklin 0-1, Lemire 1-3, Johnson 0-1,
Shellman 1-2). Blocks: 1 (Johns 1). Steals:
7 (Johns 2, Thomas 2, Lemire 2, Shellman).
Technical Fouls: none.
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