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 UN I ]B t1 .. 1, DN> 4' F~ 3 c a i : t'.? . ,:,s a ,' >"i n; " e1 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 I I i i