flopes for tou
By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Editor
WEST LAFAYETTE - In what was pretty much a must-win
game for both teams, Purdue showed that it must have needed
this game more than
Michigan.
Purdue 67 Behind 25 points
from Chad Austin,
Michigan 8 the Boilermakers
5 moved closer to
gaining a spot in the
NCAA tournament with a 67-58 victory over No. 18 Michigan
yesterday at Mackey Arena.
+ Y-
ey bid looking dimmer after loss
The loss, Michigan's third in a row and fourth in its last five,
drops the Wolverines to 7-7 in the Big Ten and 17-9 overall.
What's more, after starting the season with eight consecutive
victories and reaching as high as No. 4 in the national polls, the
Wolverines have since gone 9-9. ,
With a mediocre conference mark so far and two more diffi-
cult games remaining, the Wolverines are starting to worry about
their chances of even receiving an NCAA tournament bid.
"I don't think (Michigan's tournament hopes) are looking so
good right now,"sophomore center Robert Traylor said. "But our
season's not over with. We still have four games to play in the Big
Ten. We just have to finish up as strong as we can."
As has been the case throughout this recent slump, Michigan
didn't come up with the plays when it most needed to. Purdue
(10-5 Big Ten, 15-10 overall), on the other hand, did.
"They, unlike us, are finding ways to win and making plays to
win games,' Michigan coach Steve Fisher said.
The play that Michigan most needed to make came with about
2 1/2 minutes left in the game. Sophomore guard Louis Bullock
and junior forward Maurice Taylor came downcourt on a 2-on-I
fast break. Bullock dished the ball to Taylor, who blew an easy
layup.
Purdue marched right back down the floor and capitalized on
the Wdlverines' gaffe. Forward Brian Cardinal fed center Brad
Miller in the low post, who beat Robert Traylor for a layup and
See BOILERMAKERS, Page 5B
Michigan guard
Travis Conlan dri-
ves by Purdue's
Jaraan Comell dur-
ing yesterday's
67-58 Michigan
loss. Conlan - a
guard - led the
team with nine
rebounds, includ-
ing six offensive
boards.
SARA STILLMAN/Daily
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CC) N CAE MPONsHPsN
Womten's switnnting
Tankers win 11th title
By Josh Kleinbaum the bottom line. This is just the icing
Daily Sports Writer on the cake."
INDIANAPOLIS - The Big Ten Shakespeare - as well as seven
women's swimming championship other Wolverines - is still training
asn't the 446.5-point blowout of for the NCAA championships to be
last year. But in the end, the held next month and was not tapered
Wolverines pulled away, winning for this meet.
their 1 Ith consecutive Big Ten title "I just wanted to do what's best for
by 99.5 points. the team," Shakespeare said. "If that
Freshman Shannon Shakespeare meant winning and setting records,
won all three of the individual events then that's what I was going to do."
in which she swam. Shakespeare, The Wolverines took advantage of
named co-Big Ten Swimmer of the a strong third day to pull away from
Year, set Big Ten championship runner-up Minnesota.
cords in the 200-yard individual Minnesota "had a chance to step it
edley (2:00.87) and the 200 up and give us some real problems
freestyle (1:47.34) and missed (Saturday) morning, and they did-
breaking fellow Wolverine Talor n't," Michigan assistant coach Mark
Bendel's 100 free record by one-hun- Lambert said.
dredth of a second (49.95). The last After the 1,650 free, the first event
Wolverine to win three individual of the final day, the 10th-ranked
Big Ten titles was Mindy Gehrs in Golden Gophers trailed by only 13.5.
1992. Kimberly Wilson, Olga Splichalova
"I'm just so happy for our team," and Alicia Hicken finished first,
Shakespeare said. "We've won 11 third and ninth respectively for
championships in a row. We've Minnesota, while the only
ced some rough times this year, Wolverines to finish in the top 16
ut we overcame them, and that was See CHAMPS, Page 863
xARA ST LLMAN/Da y
I J Me - 1V ssa :. d V
r a F 7 , ' F b"Faz
Longe leads M' to 2nd
By Fred Link Michigan coach James Henry said."'All
Daily Sports Writer of her performances were collegiate
CH AMPAIGN - ln the end, bests."
Michigan's Tania Longe couldnt beat "She's only 75 to 80 percent, but
them all by herself. she's probably the toughest kid I've ever
Longe set the pace for the Michigan had. Her back was so bad that we spent
women's track team at this weekend's a couple of hours just trying to get her
Big Ten chamipionships, accounting for to get mobility out of her back."
32 points, more than either Indiana's or In the pentathlon, Longe trailed after
Iowa's entire teas. two events but came back to defeat
The Wolverines finished in second Purdue's Elizabeth Ann Reid, 4118-
place with 82 points. Wisconsin took 4074. After Reid took the lead by jump-
first place with a total of 119 points. ing an even six feet in the high jump,
Ohio State (79), Illinois (66) and Penn Longe came back to win the shot-put
State (63) rounded out the top five, and the long jump. ..
Despite a painful back injury, Longe Longe's fourth place finish in the
ok first place in the pentathlon, see- last pentathlon event, the 800, was
deninr teis ulongm and the tovries enughei t mahrth Big Ten te
jump and thirdin the 55-meter hurdles. chapion. k e heBgT
"Tania was the one individual that "I was up there (in the standings), but
really stood out and performed well," See LONGE, Page 36
omn's traCk
M' settles fr fifth p
Chad Kujala McLaughlin crossed the line ahead of
aily Sports Writer everyone else, marking the fifth con-
The Big Ten men's indoor track and secutive year a Wolverine has won the
field -championships were supposed to mile at the indoor Big Ten champi-
bei a otea race, forinist pl6)ace. Te Lonhips. cktwnth ho-u
be a two-team race for first place. The onships.
remaining eight teams were to duke it McLaughlin's time of 4:18.59 was
out for third. slower than past winners, but no com-
A.- aL, . L, . .,- .... f. «.+ ,. t- _ h A m h m
The Wolverines became the first team in history to be a part of four consecutive CCHA regular-season championships.
0
0l
I
S
Women's
hoops
sweeps
weekend
Gophers, Buckeyes
fall to resurgent'M
By Kevin Kasiborski
Daily Sports Writer
The Empire struck back this weekend,
and so did the Michigan women's bas-
ketball team.
Michigan beat Ohio State, 74-65, yes-
terday in its regular season finale,
avenging a 78-55 loss to the Buckeyes
on Dec. 28. Played in front of a record
crowd of 3,803, the game was only
Michigan's third win in 33 all-time
meetings between the schools.
It was the second straight victory for
the Wolverines. Friday, they set a new
school record for points scored in a Big
Ten game with a 107-75 victory over
Minnesota.
Michigan was in control of Sunday's
contest from start to finish. It opened the
game with a 10-0 run, holding Ohio
State scoreless over the first five min-
utes. The Wolverines maintained a 12-
to 14-point cushion for most of the
game's duration.
In the first half, Michigan (7-9 Big
Ten, 15-10 overall) gave Ohio State (3-
13, 11-15) fits with a full-court press,
causing multiple turnovers. When the
Buckeyes were able get the ball over
midcourt, they often fired up quick
shots, with no one in position for an
offensive rebound.
Michigan was able to turn the Ohio
State misses into fast-break opportuni-
ties.
"We wanted to make sure we kept
them off the offensive glass, and I
thought we did that in the first half,"
Michigan coach Sue Guevara said.
"They were getting one shot at the bas-
ket, we were getting the rebound, going
down to the other end and scoring in
transition.
"It's no secret that transition is our
game. Its our bread and butter."
Most of the Wolverines fast breaks
were started by junior center Pollyanna
Johns. She had as many rebounds at the
half (10) as the entire Ohio State team.
For the game, the Buckeyes had 29
boards, while Johns finished with 15 of
the Wolverines 39 rebounds.
"The key is to keep moving your feet
and go to the ball instead of letting it
come to you" Johns said. "If you don't
box me out, I'm going to go after it'
Ohio State point guard Marcie
Alberts sparked a mini run for the
Buckeyes five minutes into the second
half by hitting a 3-pointer from WNBA
range to cut the Michigan lead to nine.
The Buckeyes got to within six a few
minutes later on a putback by Marrita
Porter. But Michigan reeled off eight
unanswered points - four by sopho-
more guard Ann Lemire - and the out-
come was never in doubt again.
Alberts kept the score respectable for
Ohio State by bombing away. She fin-
ished with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting
from beyond the 3-point arc.
Michigan's balanced offensive attack
was led by Johns and freshman guard
Stacey Thomas, who each had 13 points.
Thomas was given credit for four steals,
but her quickness resulted in other Ohio
State turnovers, especially in the first
half.
Michigan's 15 wins are the most since
the 1989-90 team finished 20-10 and
WARREN ZINN/Daily
Senior Mike Legg hugs his father, Chuck, during a ceremony celebrating Michigan's senior class after
Saturday's game. Legg and his mates are the winningest class in school history.
Wolverines win CCHA,
settle for tie with Lakers
By Andy Knudsen
Daily Sports Writer
Sealed with a kiss.
Michigan's nine seniors ended their
regular season careers at Yost Ice Arena
by planting their lips on the 'M'at center
ice Saturday, just 24 hours after hoisting
their fourth straight CCHA trophy
toward Yost's rafters.
Michigan (20-2-3 CCHA, 29-2-4
nvpnl m in-ntarl 1.nkPra .nrinr on
forth, penalty-marred, 4-4 draw with the
Lakers (15-8-4, 19-12-5) on senior
night.
"(Saturday) was a game of momen-
tum, and it kept shifting back and forth,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"But I think that's typical of what we
have to expect in the playoffs."
Fittingly, John Madden closed his reg-
ular-season career at Yost in typical fash-
inn -s cnring ahorthanded oal 1lte in
off circle with 4:09 left to tie the game at
four.
"That's the type of effort we need," left
wing Jason jBotterill said. "When we're
down and out we need to try to find a
way to win it, or at least, tie the game."
Terry Marchant gave the Lakers their
first lead of the game 1:40 earlier from
the right circle during 4-on-4 play.
The teams entered the third period
tied at two; and right wine Sean Ritchlin
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