The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 21, 1999 - 13A

Women finally find way against rivals
Five players score in double figures as 'M' gets OT victory

By Joshua Isaac Borkin
Daily Sports Writer
How do you win a basketball
game? Try balanced scoring, solid
defense and contribution from the
freshman class.--------.-..
That's exactly Basketball
why the
M i c h i g a n 0///t/' ta?/
women's basket-------------
ball team won its contest last night
against Michigan State.
"This was a monster win for us,"
Guevara said. "Everyone contributed
tonight, and we hustled on defense
all night."
Everything seemed to be clicking
last night, and against arch rival
Michigan State, no less.
Michigan had five players in dou-
ble figures. Freshman guard Alayne
Ingram led all Michigan scorers with
17 points.
"It's been a long time since we

had five people in double figures,"
Guevara said. "So we had a lot of
people contributing."
Ingram has come alive the last
two games. Against Penn State she
scored 16 points. After Michigan
started slumping, Ingram's minutes
had decreased.
Her scoring opportunities had
become less frequent and it looked
as though her early season confi-
dence had dwindled.
Last night however, Ingram "had
an attitude," Michigan coach Sue
Guevara said.
Ingram came out firing, and did
not stop until the final buzzer sound-
ed. Ingram shot an average 6-for-I5
from the floor and a below-average
2-for-7 from the 3-point arc, but her
shots dropped when it counted.
But Ingram was not the only
Wolverine to contribute, and not the
only freshman, either.

Freshman Ruth Kipping, who
with the injury to Heather Oesterle
has stepped up her performance, and
played many more minutes.
Kipping scored 14 points and
pulled down 9 rebounds, but had a
hard time defending Michigan State
forward Kristen Rasmussen.
Rasmussen abused a younger
Kipping by scoring 29 points and
recording 10 rebounds.
"Ruth has really started to per-
form," Guevara said. "She got
schooled tonight by Rasmussen at
times. But in time she will be a much
better defensive player."
But as everyone knows, defense
wins championships, and tonight
,Michigan played solid defense that
looked capable of beating a lot more
opponents.
"We hustled tonight and that
showed all over the court," Guevara
said.

Michigan played with emotion
tonight, and played with pride.
Guevara even said the team's heart
was challenged.
One might argue that the
Wolverines ended their losing streak
against a middle-of-the-road Spartan
team, but a win against anybody at
this point is a "monster win."
Does Michigan have a long road
ahead of it? Certainly.
Is this the turning point for the
Wolverines? Only time can tell.
But one thing was proven last
night, this Michigan team is no
longer a team of zombies. The little
freshmen have attitude and the
upperclassmen are fired up.
"I thought they responded really
well tonight," Guevara said. "I
thought yesterday in practice we
talked about it and we talked a lot
about practicing like you want to
play."

DIANI JONES/Os W
An e Thorius marshalled her Michigan teammates to their first win since
December, breaking a fivegame losing streak last night against Michigan State
in overtime.

"M' relies on lessons learned from losing

By Geoff Gagnon
Daily Sports Writer
With last night's dramatic overtime win over arch
rival Michigan State, the Michigan women's basket-
ball squad not only snapped the five-game losing
streak it was stumbling through, it boldly asserted
itself as a team that has turned a page in its season.
With their play last night in upending Michigan
Ale, coach Sue Guevara and her team forcefully
reminded doubters of the type of team that opened the
season with the best start in school history while dis-
proved detractors that questioned the heart of the
squad.
In staving off the Big Ten's fifth-ranked Spartans,
now 3-4 in the conference, Guevara saw in her team a
spark of emotion and more than a flicker of determi-
nation. She saw what may have been lacking as the
Wolverines tripped their way through a tough five-
M slide that deflated the spirits of a Michigan team
toT d as one of the conference's finest after reeling
off nine straight wins to start the year.
"I think their heart was challenged and their pride,"
Guevara said of the effects losing had on her team.
"But they responded very well today. I think when
you're losing you can get an attitude like, 'Well I'm
working my butt off and what's coming of it?' You
have to keep working and you have to keep working
on those little things.
And that persistence and work ethic have finally

paid off for the Wolverines, after a trying January. Yet
through all the challenge and adversity- the team has
faced recently, Guevara contends there are lessons to
be learned from losing - lessons that she hopes her
team is finished learning.
We've been doing some good things, and I've told
them to just stay with it," Guevara said. "There are
some good things that came out of losing, things we
needed to make sure we take into the next game."
Whatever Michigan was able to take from the trials
of their tumultuous January, what is evident in their
play, at least after last night's game, is a reemphasized
focus on leadership.
With team captain Stacey Thomas struggling from
the floor in recent games, several new faces have more
forcefully asserted themselves into positions of lead-
ership. Not the least of Michigan's more vocal leaders
has been Alayne Ingram, who, according to Guevara,
has spoken volumes both with her play as well as to
her teammates.
"She has an attitude" Guevara said of the point
guard. "She has an attitude that I want to permeate
throughout my whole team because she wants to take
the shot, she wants to be the go-to player. She plays
with a lot of fire."
And Ingram has been letting her play speak just as
loudly. In scoring 16 points on Sunday against Penn
State and tallying 17 last night, the new starter has
defined herself as one of Michigan's most potent

offensive threats and certainly its hottest scorer lately.
Not to be outdone, Anne Thorius has similarly
stepped up her role and proven she can lead in several
different ways.
"I told Anne she had a great show tonight. She's the
floor general out there and gets people involved,"
Guevara said.
Yet Michigan's backcourt was not alone yesterday
in providing the offense that lifted the Michigan spir-
it, and ended a demoralizing skid. Last night's bal-
anced offensive attack kept the Spartans guessing and
the Wolverines rolling.
"Our defense has kept us in games, but we just
haven't had the scoring. We finally found the scoring
box"Guevara said. "Its been a long time since we had
five kids in double figures so we had a lot of people
contributing."
Finally with momentum in their corner, and the
pressure of the longest drought of her tenure at
Michigan behind her, Guevara is content to enjoy her
team's win. But she's about to let her team rest. And as
they gear up for the bulk of their conference schedule,
Guevara is hoping last night's mentality, as well as
performance, will be repeated.
"What's the law of positive thinking?" Guevara
said. "Whatever you think about will come into your
life."
And for the first time since December Guevara's
team will be thinking about a win.

II
DHANI JONES/Daly
Freshman guard Alayne Ingram led the Michigan offensive attack with 17 points
last night. Ingram was among five Wolverines to score in double figures.
Blue doesn't give up in
victory over Spartans

Thomas, team pull out of slump

By Uma Subramanian
Daily Sports Writer
Junior captain Stacey Thomas is
unquestionably the leader of the
Michigan women's basketball team.
W n Thomas struggles offensively,
tiam struggles. During Michigan's
five-game losing streak - which
came to a screeching halt in last night's
overtime thriler - Thomas had been
averaging 12.6----------..--...
points per game. Basketball
Though that may
have been a good Noteod
statistic for any--------........
other player, for Thomas it just wasn't
her game.
In the previous nine games - all
I4higan victories played in 1998-
Thomas averaged nearly 18 points per
outing. If any other proof is necessary
regarding Thomas' offensive vitality,
one only has to look at Michigan's loss
to Vanderbilt in which Thomas only
scored seven points.
But even during her offense slump,
Thomas had been extremely effective
on the other side of the court, domi-
ng Michigan's defensive transition
g e. So far this year there have been
only three games in which Thomas
notched fewer than three steals.
"Michigan is a good transition
team," Michigan State coach Karen
Langeland said. "They do a nice job of
getting (their) hands on the ball, espe-
cially Stacey Thomas which creates
steals that turn into easy baskets on the
other end"
However after last night's 15-point,
n -rebound, six steal performance,
t 1998 Thomas seems to have
returned. The Spartans tried all they

could to stop Thomas last night, but
fell short.
Thomas "is a hustler," Michigan
State guard Maxann Reese said. "I
credit her defensively and offensively.
She's just a hustler, you have to be
ready to go with her all the time. She
did great things out there and got a lot
of our players rattled.
"A lot of us weren't meeting passes
and that's what killed us ... They just
outhustled us and a lot of times it was
just her. She's a great basketball play-
er."
In helping the Wolverines break out
of the deep hole that they had dug for
themselves in conference play,
Thomas admitted that she had gotten
her game back on track.
"This game was a stepping stone"
Thomas said. "It's a confidence
builder. This game was a real motiva-
tor."
NEARLY UNSTOPPABLE: Michigan
state forward Kristen Rasmussen had
the most complete game of her career
last night. She cashed in on 11-for-17
shooting from the field and also
grabbed 11 rebounds.
In the first half, Rasmussen wasn't
much of a factor, notching only five
points. But after halftime it was a dif-
ferent story altogether as Rasmussen
turned on the jets and kept her team in
the hunt until there were six seconds
left in overtime.
With 4:48 left in regulation, the
Wolverines had a 62-55 lead.
Rasmussen then proceeded to score
eight points in the next three minutes,
singlehandedly bringing the Spartans
to a 64-64 tie with 1:47 left.
In overtime, Rasmussen scored

five of the Spartans nine points.
SHE DID GO ALL THE WAY:
Sophomore guard Anne Thorius went
the distance for the Wolverines in last
night's, victory over Michigan State.
Thorius played all 45 minutes for
Michigan, recording 11 points and
three assists.
"Anne ran a good show today,"
Michigan coach Sue Guevara said.
"She's the floor general out there and
she made sure she gets people
involved. They're fortunate to play
with a point guard who likes to pass
the basketball. Anne's a very intense
competitor and she kept her head in
the game"
MISSING LINKS: As if with only 10
players, the Wolverines didn't already
have concerns about depth, they were
dealt another blow last weekend as
both senior guard Ann Lemire and
freshman forward Heather Oesterle
were inelligable for the last two games.
In last night's outing against the
Spartans, Lemire was unable to play
due to health problems. Her status for
the weekend road trip is questionable.
Lemire had also missed last weekend's
game due to her second suspension of
the year for what Guevara would only
call a team violation.
Oesterle did not play due to a stress
fracture in her foot. She cannot com-
pete for a minimum of ten days.
Without Oesterle, who had been aver-
aging nine minutes per game, six
Wolverines played upward of 22 min-
utes.
The absences were especially
noticeable against the Spartans as both
Thomas and Thorius were forced to
play over forty minutes each yesterday.

Michigan State (75)
HIM N U*A MA T A F M
Dalgaard 36 1-5 2-4 1-2 5 0 4
Rasmussen 31 11-17 6-6 1-11 1 3 29
Reese 41 7-22 2-2 1-5 0 1 18
Cummings 37 4-9 2-5 312 0 5 10
Johnson 44 3-9 0-0 16 5 2 6
Pung 14 0.2 0-001 22 0
Skelly 18 2-3 2-2 1-4 0 1 6
Winberg 4 1-1 0-0 1-2 1 1 2
Totals 225 29.68 14491547 14 15 75
FG°/: ,426. FT%:.737. 3-point FG: 3-11.-273
(Reese 2-7, Rasmussen 1-2, Dalgaard 01, Pung 0-
1). Blocks: 5 (Rasmussen 2, Skely 2, Reese)
Steals: 11 (Rasmussen 4, Dalgaard 2, Reese 2,
Pung 2, Skelly). Turnovers: 23 (Johnson 7,
Dalgaard 3, Rasmussen 3. Pung 3, Skelly 3, Reese
2, Cummings, Winberg). Technical Fouls: none.
MICHIGAN (76)
F6 FTRNEB
MIN M-A M-A O-T A F PTS
Thomas 42 6-15 3.6 2-9 2 1 15
Kipping 34 7-13 0-0 2-9 1 4 14
Miller 31 3-5 5-7 0.6 0 3 11
Thoinus 45 4-10 34 0 k4 3 2 11
Ingram 39 6-15 34 0-2 5 1 17
Walker 22 4-8 0-0 13 0 3 8
Goodlow 12 0-2 0-0 0 ~1 0 2 0
Totals 225 30.68 14-21 7-37 1.116 76
FG%:.441. FT%: .667. 3-point FG: 2-9, 222.
(Ingram 2-7, Thomas 0-1, Kipping 04). Blocks., 5
(Kipping 3, Thomas, Miller). Steals: 15 (Thomas 6,
Walker 3. Ingram 3, Thorius 2, Miller). Turnovs:
19 (Thorius 5, Ingram 4, Miller 3. Thomas 3,
Kipping 2. Walker 2). Technical Fouls- none.
Michigan State....,35 31 9 - 75
Michigan ............31 35 10 -76
At: Criser Arena
Attendance: 761

STATE
Continued from Page 1WA
would lead the two teams into overtime.
Down the stretch, the Wolverines just
wouldn't give up
"We kept the intensity up," junior
Stacey Thomas said. "We didn't want to
let down. We had the energy and to go
out there and play five more minutes."
Michigan State had possession to
begin the overtime, but a shot-clock
violation would give the Wolverines the
ball and the 67-66 lead on an Ingram
free throw.
There would be four overtime lead
changes until the Spartans tied up the
score at 75 with 14 seconds left.
Then, with six seconds left, Alison
Miller was fouled on a lay-up and was
sent to the line, making only one of two
free throws.
The Spartans called a time-out to set
their plan, which was to inbound the

pass to guard Maxann Reese who
would take the shot. But thei plan did
not work the way they expected.
"It was going to go to Max and they
did a nice job of double teaming her"
Michigan State coach Karen Langeland
said. "So Donita (Johnson) got the
inbound pass and she did what she was
supposed to do. There is not a whole lot
you can do with six seconds left. We got
a shot off, it just wasn't a great one."
The Michigan defense was able to
create too much pressure for the
Spartans, forcing Johnson to toss up a
last second desperation shot which did-
n't have much chance of going in.
Thus giving the Wolverines an end
to their losing streak, with a huge win
over a huge rival - exactly what the
team needed to get its pride back.
"Trust me, we wanted this game
very much,' Guevara said. "I'm proud
of the way my team responded.

I q

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