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December 01, 1997 - Image 11

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1997-12-01

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

U E firtIC4 19 an tit,,

Sports Desk: 647-3336

I

Michigan's
reasons to
give thanks
a Senior goal-
tender Marty
Turco was stellar,
stopping 54 of
0shots.
Senior Bill
Muckalt saved
the series for the
Wolverines, scor-
ing two game-
tying goals in
Friday's game
and netting one
goal yesterday.
innesota
coach Doug
Woog, who, for
some reason, just
can not find a
way to beat
Michigan.

Icers earn Showcase sweep
Muckalt's 4-point weekend leads Blue over WCHA rivals

By Chris Farah
Daily Sports Writer
Edges are fundamental to hockey. Without an
edge, skates wouldn't go very far or very fast on
the ice. Without an edge, sticks wouldn't be able
to make a clean swipe at the puck.
Without an edge, the Michigan hockey team
... well, the Wolverines probably don't know
what they'd do without an edge, because they've
been living on it all season long.
And this weekend's College Hockey
Showcase was no different. Michigan (11-3-1)
played Minnesota (4-10-0) on Friday and
Wisconsin (7-3-0) yesterday at Yost Ice Arena.
The Wolverines won both games by air-tight
margins, beating the Golden Gophers, 4-3, and
the sixth-ranked Badgers, 2-1.
"Heart-attack hockey - we're playing it

every week,' Michigan coach Red Berenson
said. "We're not playing teams where there's
much of a difference between the two teams.
That's what you're going to get, you're going to
get close games."
There may not have been much of a differ-
ence between Michigan and the other teams,
but there were two differences - Michigan
goaltender Marty Turco and forward Bill
Muckalt.
Turco - as usual - was phenomenal in both
games. The senior made 29 saves against
Minnesota and 25 against Wisconsin, including
a crucial stop late in the contest, after the
Badgers had pulled goalie Mike Valley.
While Turco kept the pucks out of Michigan's
net, Muckalt was busy putting them into the
opponents' nets. Muckalt accounted for half the

Wolverines' offensive output in each game,
scoring two goals against the Gophers and one
against Wisconsin.
Muckalt scored Michigan's first goal of the
afternoon, yesterday against the Badgers. At
5:43 in the first period, while the Wolverines
were on the power play, Muckalt skated down
the right wing, toed the goal line and beat Valley
five-hole with a backhand shot.
The Badgers answered back 10 minutes later
during a power play of their own, when Craig
Anderson blasted a slapshot past Turco from the
point, tying the score, 1-1.
But at 3:55 in the second period, Michigan's
freshmen - who had gone the entire weekend
without scoring a goal - finally took charge by
scoring the game-winner.
See SHOWCASE, Page 5B

""' -

EMILY NATHAN/Daily
Michigan forward Bill Muckalt squeezed by the Badgers yesterday to score the
Wolverines' first goal in a 24 win over Wisconsin in the College Hockey Showcase.

aston dunk
sneaks Blue
past Ttas
Jim Rose
y Sports Editor
DETROIT - A wild, mistake-filled game ended with a
wild, mistake-filled finish yesterday as Michigan pulled out
a stunning 54-53 victory over Detroit, leaving 5,612 at
Cobo Arena surprised and, for the most part, disappointed.
In the game's final 3:25, this
i Michigan 54 happened for Michigan: Louis
Bullock took a charge, Travis
Detroit 53 Conlan turned the ball over,
Robert Traylor took a charge and
Bullock turned the ball over (note the lack of scoring, or
:n shooting). But it wasn't until there were about 15 sec-
onds left that Detroit's Brian Anderson converted a lay-up
to give the Titans a 53-52 lead, sending the home crowd into
a frenzy.
But after Michigan called timeout with 13.3 seconds left
- then somehow came back onto the court with 15.4 sec-
onds left, thanks to a malfunctioning game clock, a con-
fused clock operator and the decision of the three officials
- Traylor flicked a pass under the hoop to Maceo Baston,
who spun in a lay-up while getting fouled to give Michigan
a 54-53 lead with just one-tenth of a second left in the
One.
Baston missed the ensuing free throw without hitting the
rim - a violation that allows the defending team to take the
ball out of bounds with no clock runoff. But Detroit's des-
peration court-length pass was knocked away, and the game
See TITANS, Page 4B6

1997-98 WOMEN'S
BASKETBALL PREVIEW
The Michigan Daily previews the upcoming
women's basketball season, including a feature on
second-year coach Sue Guevara and a break-down
of the Wolverines' Big Ten and non-conference
opponents.
See Pages 6-7.

LenteM
ftteFntion
Six-foot-three center Pollyannna
Johns is more than just a big body,
she's the Wolverine's best chance at
a Big Ten championship

I.
fV

gICIOL
'41

1\

xI
I.
s
z

By Josh Kleinbaum
Daily Sports Writer
ewind to 1993. Pollyanna
Johns - a tall, lanky fresh-
man on the Michigan
women's basketball team -
was sitting in an office in
Schembechler Hall. Across the desk was
Greg Harding, officially a special advis-
er to the athletic director and unofficially
an adviser to athletes.
Johns had just told Harding that she
wanted to leave school. She couldn't han-
dle it - the classes, the homework, the
basketball. Especially the basketball. She
didn't get along with Trish Roberts, her
coach. To Roberts, basketball wasn't a
game, but a way of life. Johns wanted to
have some fun. Not to mention that
Michigan was the worst in the Big Ten.
Fast-forward to Tuesday, Nov. 25, 1997.
Johns, a tall, strong senior on the
Michigan women's basketball team, is
again sitting behind a desk, this time in
the Crisler Arena media lounge. But now,
there is no adviser sitting across from her,
but rather a room full of reporters
This time, instead of looking troubled
and overwhelmed, she was confident, clad
in her maize-and-blue uniform. This time,
instead of being at odds with her old
coach, she sat beside her new coach -
not Roberts, but Sue Guevara.
Oh, and her team is one of the con-
ference's up-and-coming squads, ready
to contend for its first conference
title.
Could two pictures of the same
person be so different?
Freshman year, I was over-
whelmed with basketball and bud-

geting my time," said Johns, a Jamaican
native. "I wanted to leave. It was horrible for
me."
Into the picture steps Harding and his bag
of tricks. Out of that bag, he pulls a prayer.
"It's a serenity prayer," Johns said. "It's
asking God for strength and the wisdom to
know the things that I can't change. That one
prayer was one of the reasons I stayed."
So Johns stayed, and blossomed into one
of Michigan's best players. By her sopho-
more year, she was a regular starter averag-
ing 14.5 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
But she was still at odds with Roberts.
"I enjoyed the coaching staff and my team-
mates when I first met them," Johns said.
"But when I got here, it was a total different
story. It was totally different then what I
expected."
Roberts didn't look out for her players,
according to Johns. She didn't care about
their welfare, their happiness, but just about
the bottom line - winning. And she didn't
even do much of that, winning only five con-
ference games in her four seasons as
Michigan's coach.
This time, it was Guevara's turn to step in.
"Guevara's coaching staff made the game
fun, instead of being all about work and
sweat," Johns said. "When they make it fun,
you really want to play for them and practice
for them."
Guevara took over the team and immedi-
ately began to reshape it. And at its center-
piece - Pollyanna Johns.
"I knew she could be a pivotal person in
the program," Guevara said. "It was just a
matter of getting her to play consistently and
developing a strong work ethic."
Her junior year, the first under Guevara,
See JOHNS, Page 6B

MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Michigan forward Maceo Baston, whose dunk with 0.1 sec-
onds left won the game, fights to pull down one of his team-
h seven rebounds.
Seniors wrap up
season with fist
ever"CAA bid
By T.J. Berka
Daily Sports Writer
Every year at this time, the Michigan volleyball team says
good-bye to its senior class. While the outgoing Wolverines
leave behind many good memories of their careers, there is
always something missing.
Until now.
13 :- [E. .rrr a rolr. lract:- ern n -av thi a

Senior center Pollyannna Johns dropped out of
school during her freshman year because she felt
she couldn't handle classes and basketball. Lucky
for Michigan coach Sue Guevara, Johns decided to
stay. Guevara said Johns "is a driven women."
MARGARET MYERS/Daily

Panthers ruin Wolverines' weekend in the sun

By Andy Latack
Daily Sports Writer
The good side: The Michigan women's basketball team got
to spend its Thanksgiving break in Miami, playing at the
Florida International Thanksgiving tournament.
The bad side: The team's holiday meal included a rather
healthy side of disappointment.
Despite pounding Furman on Saturday to win the consola-
tion bracket of the tournament, the Wolverines (4-1) suffered
a heart-breaking defeat at the hands of host Florida
International the day before.
Michigan routinely squandered double-digit leads during
the contest, and, after forward Molly Murray hit a jumper to
knot the score at 67 with 13 seconds left, found themselves
nn iinhnn ,inti of th e nldenantheikrs' ltei-fme hebrn..

right elbow. As time wound down, the Wolverines watched as
Branzova's jumper connected to give the Panthers the win,
69-67.
"They executed perfectly," Michigan forward Mandy
Stowe said of Florida International's last play. "We were play-
ing good defense, and the help and recovery was there, but it
was just a really tough shot."
The Wolverines dominated the Panthers in the first half,
jumping out to a 9-0 lead before Florida International was
able to get on the scoreboard. But Michigan staggered
through a four-minute scoring drought in the second half, and
the game was tied at 50 with 11:06 to go.
The Wolverines would never recover, shooting an icy 38
percent from the field in the second half, and getting
nutcnrei A.2R h the Panthers.

Unfortunately for Furman, which had fallen to Purdue in
the first round of the tournament, they were next on the
schedule for the Michigan, which was now stinging from its
first defeat of the season.
Refocused and determined, the Wolverines made quick
work of Furman, taking a 24-point lead at the half on their
way to a 104-72 rout of the Lady Palladins.
Recording the third-highest point total in school history,
the Wolverines were led by Pollyanna Johns, who scored 24
points and grabbed eight rebounds.
The performance, coupled with Johns' 17 point, 10
rebound effort in the Wolverines' first-round game, earned
the 6-3 center a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
As for the team, there was a sense of satisfaction with the
way they bounced back from their early disanointment.

I

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