88 The Michigan Daily - January 10, 2000 - SportsMonday UPSET Continued from Page 18 perimeter defense was stifling. Purdue's starting guards, Kelly Komara (who fouled out) and Shinika Parks, shot a combined 3-for-12 (0-for-6 from 3- point land), committed nine turnovers and were unable to consistently break down the Michigan guards. "The way I was feeling this morning, I didn't know how much I was going to play," Thorius said. "I wasn't going exactly for a big game or anything. I was just going out there to contribute as much as I could." "My trainer did a great job getting her ready," Guevara added. "Anne came prepared, and she did what she had to do." On a day when Michigan got clutch scoring performances from several unlikely sources (Thorius, Kenisha U - T- SIRT PRINTING * LOWEST PRI CES! HIGHEST QUALITYI FASTESTSERWICE! * 1002 PONTIAC TR. U 994-1367 ' Walker), the Wolverines' biggest star was a player known for her defense. Senior co-captain Stacy Thozaas carved out a place in history when she broke the Big Ten's all-time record for steals. Thomas set the mark with 5:1:5 to play in the first half, and at the next stoppage of play, the record was announced to the Crisler Arena crowd, which gave Thomas a standing ovation. "Whoever I have to guard, I wanmna stop them," Thomas said. "It's kind of fun to frustrate my opponents. "The record just goes to show that; I do take a lot of pride in my defense.. I didn't expect into come so soon, bit I guess all of the hard work paid off." One ray of sunshine in Purdue's droa- ry day was the performance of forwaird Katie Douglas. With the Boilermakars constantly behind in the second half, the hyper-intense all-American put the Purdue offense on her back and carried it. Douglas poured in 30 points, 21 Of them in the second half, before fouling out. She hit big shot after big shot and brought the Boilermakers within ore point, at 53-52, with 7:18 left. Despite Douglas' best efforts, it wats not meant to be for Purdue. Turnovers and an inability to find a third scorer to take the pressure off of Douglas and Cooper doomed the Boilermakers and gave Michigan a huge victory. "We just beat the No. 12 team in the country," Miller said. "This gives us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the Big Ten schedule. "We came off a disappointing loss on. Thursday, so we were looking for some- thing to pick us back up. This was a great win." Purdue doesn't feel at home on CBS 0 By Arun Gopal and Dena Beth Krischer Daily Sports Writers Although CBS is widely known as the Columbia Broadcasting System, residents of West Lafayette refer to it as the Choking Boilermakers' Show. The first-ever televised women's col- lege basketball regular-season game was on Jan. 5, 1991 when CBS broad- cast live Purdue's 75-65 loss to No. 7 Auburn. Since falling to Michigan on Saturday, the defending national champs are now 0-6 when being broad- cast on CBS. The Boilermakers can't blame stage fright for Saturday's loss, since they post a 41-17 record while playing live on any other national or regional televi- sion station. They can't blame the 2,106 in atten- dance at Crisler since they average about 9,700 per game at their own Mackey Arena. They can't blame being being away from home since they're 5-2 on the road, losing only to No. 2 Tennessee and No. 4 Louisiana Tech. They can't blame their post game since 10 out of the 14 times center Camille Cooper took a shot, she scored from directly under the basket. They can't blame their forward Katie Douglas, who scored 30 of the Boilermakers' 67 points against Michigan. Purdue can, however, blame its bench - or lack there of. In Saturday's match-up, three of the Boilermakers' starters and their bench scored a combined 11 points. As in five field goals and one free throw. Purdue's bench has only scored a combined 139 of its 804 points this season. The Boilermakers are relying on two players - Cooper and Douglas, who have scored 224 and 158 points respec- tively - nearly 48 percent of Purdue's total points so far this season. The conference-season has only just begun, but already Purdue is showing signs that its depth is meak. So unless their bench provides more for the Boilermakers, their "Still the One" motto is, by no means, a reality. NEW SCRIPT: In winning 10 of its first 14 games, the Michigan women's basketball team displayed a glaring weakness: post play. Michigan's perimeter trio of Stacy Thomas, Alayne Ingram, and Anne Thorius more than held their own against some of the nation's top teams. Unfortunately, the Wolverines' com- mittee of low-post players struggled to make a name for themselves while being dominated night in and night out. Minnesota 1 2 7 6 Tectnatfouts.:none Indiana 1 3 6 9 PURDUE (67) Iowa 1 .3 5 5 f M N Wisconsin 0 3 6 6 0Ias Duhart. 38 1. This weekend's results: 2o4a i No. 15 ILINOIS86, Iowa 68. Pas 38 2 Wisconsin 85, LOYOLA OLD 71 curies 10 1 crawford 1t5 0 MICHIGAN 74, No. 12 Purdue 67 Totas 200 25 No. SPENN STATE 91, Florida 67 FG%:.481.Fr%46o093 3-, Prk -4 Krara1 No. 15 ILUNOIS 91, Indiana 61 6 (Douglas 3, Parks 2, C NORTHWESTERN 53, Iowa 52 Technca Fouso. MICHIGAN STATE 75, Wisconsin 61 Michi.... At C Atten 0 Vanderbilt's Chantelle Anderson (20 points) and Indiana's Jill Chapman (29 points) are just two of the players to put up huge numbers against Michigan's post defense. However, on Saturday against Purdue the script started to change a little. While Boilermaker center Camille Cooper stepped nicely into a starring role with her 26-point outing, Michigan's forwards finally decided to grab some of the spotlight for them- selves. Alison Miller (12 points, seven rebounds) and Raina Goodlow (10 points) gave the Wolverines a much- needed presence down low to comple- ment the perimeter exploits of Anne Thorius, Alayne Ingram, and Stacy Thomas. Add in the solid efforts of reserves LeeAnn Bies and Ruth Kipping and Michigan had a 74-67 win over the defending national champion Boilermakers. "We had a pretty good inside-outside attack," Guevara said. "We had contri- butions from kids off the bench in the post." Thonus is glorious, gives Thomas rest By Raphael Goodstein Daily Sports Writer With nine minutes left in the Michigan women's basketball team's 74-67 win over Purdue, senior forward Stacey Thomas went to the bench. At the time, Michigan held a four-point lead. It seemed likely that after Michigan's all-America candi- date caught her breath, she would be back in the game. But five min- utes later, she was still on the bench and Michigan's lead was still four.; Why did Michigan coach Sue Guevara feel so ThorIus confident Saturday without Thomas? Because junior point guard Anne Thorius was playing the way she did last year, when she aver- aged 11 points per game and had the third highest assist total in school histo- ry. This season, Thorius averages only 6.4 points per game. Guevara benched her for a game three weeks ago. She then bruised her quadricep in practice, causing her to miss Michigan's 77-72 loss at Indiana Thursday night. But Saturday, Thorius finally per- formed to expectations. "I know I haven't been playing my best basketball this year," Thorius said. "But I'm going to contribute in every way that I can." Thorius's contributions came when it mattered most - at the end, with Thomas, the team's go-to player, on the bench. "She's a very good ball handler, she's smart and she can hit her free throws;' Guevara said of her late-game strategy.4 "We wanted the ball in her hands or in Stacey's hands." When Thorius had the ball, she did not disappoint Guevara. Consider: Purdue had boiled Michigan's lead to one, when Thorius calmly hit an open 3-pointer. With Michigan's lead at four and Thomas still on the bench, Thorius drib- bled right, did a spin move to lose Purdue's Kelly Komara, and kissed a left-handed layup off the backboard. After Purdue trimmed the Wolverines' lead to four, again, Thorius drove to the hoop where she spotted an open Alison Miller for a layup. From there, Thorius nailed all four of her remaining free throws to ensure the win. "I had to beat my man to the basket and then either take it all the way or pass it off to one of the shooters," Thorius said. She did both, to the tune of 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. On defense, Thorius helped hold her defensive assignments, Kelly Komara and Shinika Parks, to 3-for-12 shooting. Komara and Parks also totaled nine turnovers, and only six assists. "I just want to distribute the ball and play tough defense" Thorius said. "I take pride in my defense. I don't want my man to score." Earn your Master's degree in one year... and see the woVld! Let L Salle Unlve ity + Sh ae r y u t e w . W l ~ e f SMU m inG lob l o I. r on-o U I c4E i 0 Uunlow amnd obroi o tmlghflehwtmfmlumpa 0om" rmsrspslnrsom r" U lumi ! ,J a 11 l s m mm& Ji#aa* Jmmimma