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 I