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." a U --, ML M EmkhL ~*;7~i. s ' i f -,, Johns stron 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." 9 no 1 a 1 a 1 3 1AAeeAAAeS y \ f 'Rum.. 6, KJ\ v (' Jul A% f 4 w Us Fr . . I *Free ovies- fee" $ *J M " -_ " low ree games at the 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- s to learn just who 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. ENU dAI MEUUiE:A ggR I IL ri c ' t _,. t .i' t_:.r ,.a:.._ . _, i , r 40MIft a.- am, i