SportsMonday - January 8, 2001- The Michigan Daily - 5B
Quote of the game
YESTEb AYS :
Player of the game
"Right now, we are just a struggling basketball team
offensively. I have got to get some scorers, that's the
bottom line."
- Michigan coach Sue Guevara, on her
team's poor offensive output
WI Michigan
Iowa
58
79
Iowa guard Cara Consuegra torched the
Michigan defense for 19 points on 9-of-13
shooting. She also dished out eight assists and
nabbed five steals
omen continue losing streak against Iowa
1y Benjamin Singer
Daily Sports Writer
IOWA CITY - In the media room, an exasperat-
ed Sue Guevara picked up the stat sheet revealing the
numbers behind Michigan's 79-58 loss to Iowa at
Carver-Hawkeye Arena. With a smirk, the Michigan
women's basketball coach crumpled the paper in her
hand.
"I'm just a little frustrated," she said.
The Wolverines shot under 40 percent from the
floor for the third-straight game for its third-straight
double-digit loss. Guevara said she fears that the
players have no emotion and even less confidence.
The stat sheet should be thankful she didn't rip it
to shreds.
Shuffling players in and out throughout the game,
Guevara was unable to find any combination that
could produce.
"Right now, we are just a struggling basketball
team offensively," Guevara said. "I have got to get
some scorers, that's the bottom line. I have got to get
some kids that really believe they can drain the ball."
While Michigan was unable to produce on
offense, its defense had to be superb to keep the
Wolverines in the game. But the Hawkeyes found
several hot hands with which to torment Michigan.
Cara Consuegra was Iowa's answer for-everything in
the first half, as she netted 19 points on 9-of-1O
shooting.
She didn't score a single point in the second half,
but she didn't have to. Instead, Consuegra shared the
wealth, dishing out seven of her eight assists after the
break. Leah Magner and Lindsey Meder ended with
18 and 17 points, respectively, after scoring just two
each in the first half.
"Those girls can bomb the ball from anywhere,
and they have the green light to shoot it," Michigan
guard Anne Thorius said. Consuegra "goes to the
person that's hot. She's a smart player, and she knows
who to go to."
Consuegra contributed 11 points to a 13-0 run in
the first half that helped put Michigan in its 36-25
halftime hole. The Wolverines started to climb back
with a 6-0 run after the intermission, trimming the
Iowa lead to five.
But then Iowa began a 12-0 run, this time with
Meder and Magner emerging as the scoring threats.
The run put Iowa up 50-33 and Michigan away for
good.
There was still 13:27 left after Magner's 3-pointer
that capped Iowa's run - enough time for a stirring
comeback. But as the common themes that have
plagued the Wolverines this year continued,
Michigan lacked the energy and emotion to erase the
difference.
The ability to control the tempo Michigan estab-
lished in the second half's opening minutes seemed
like a distant memory. Two more minutes passed
before Jennifer Smith's layup officially ended the
run. While Iowa suffered from its own three-minute
scoring drought at that time, the difference was that
Iowa merely went cold. Michigan stayed cold.
"We couldn't get a basket," a disbelieving
Guevara said. "We just couldn't get a basket."
"We knew that Iowa had some good perimeter
shooters, and we saw that today. God, I wish I had
their perimeter shooters."
Guevar
shakes up
rotation
By David Roth
D aily Sports Writer
YESTERDAY'S GAME
Michigan (58)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A CM A F PTS
Goodlow 30 2-9 -0 1-7 1 1 .4
Bies 29 5-9 1-1 3-9 0 3-1
Jara 18 0-0 0-0 1-2 2 2 .0
Thorius 31 1-5 2-2 14 2 1 4
Ingram 34 5-16 0-0 0-1 3 1 12
Leary 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 00 0
Schumacher 12 2-8 4-4 1-1 1 0 8
Oesterle 7 1-3 0-0 1-2 1 0 2
Robinson 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0.3
Gandy 15 2-5 1-2 2-3 0 2 5
Dykhouse 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0. 0
Smith 12 3-5 3-4 2-2 1 5 9
Totals 200 22-62 11-1315-38 11 15 58
FG%: .355. FT%: .846. 3-pont FG: 3-11 273
(Ingram 2-6, Robinson 1-1, Goodlow 0-1, Leary 0-1,
Schumacher 0-1, Oesterle 0-1). Blocks: 4 (Goodlow,
Bies, Thorius, Ingram). Steals:' 6 (Ingram 2, Goodlow,
Bies, Thorius, Smith). Turnovers: 18 (Goodlow 4, Bies 4,
Thonus 4, Jara 2, Gandy 2, Leary, Smith). Technical
fouls: none.
IOWA (79)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS
Magner 28 7-9 0-0 0-3 4 0 18
Lillis 27 3-5 0-0 3-8 0 2 6
Peterson 27 2-7 1-3 1-8 3 1 5
Meder 30 6-13 2-2 3-5 2 4 17
Consuegra 38 9-13 0-1 1-2 8 1 19
O'Brien 2 2-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 4
Watson 9 0-3 0-0 2-4 0 4 0
Berdo 21 3-9 0-0 04 2 1 6
Chambers 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Schrupp 2 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 2 2
Bullock 10 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
McCann 4 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200 34-66 3-7 13-39 20 16 79
FG%: .515. FT%: .429. 3-point FG: 8-17, .471
(Magner 4-6, Meder 3-7,Consuegra 1-1, Berdo 0-3).
Blocks: 3 (Lillis, Peterson, Watson) Steals: 8 (Consuegra
5, Peterson 2, Meder). Turnovers: 15 (Magner 3,
Meder 3, Lillis 2, Peterson 2, Bullock 2, Consuegra,
Watson, Berdo). Technical fouls: none.
0
GENTLE
GIANT7
Michigan........25
Iowa..........................36
33 -58
43 - 79
At Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City
Attendance: 3,923
BY BENJAMIN SINGER
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
u leash the beast. Sue Guevara can wish it until
she's blue in the face, but there may just be no
beast to unleash.
Talk about post play with the Michigan women's
basketball coach, and Guevara will tell you she wants
an animal in the paint. But her rotation of six-footers
spits out one nice guy after another.
Their style of play is too reserved for Guevara's lik-
ing. While the three low-post players have been pro-
ductive, their undemonstrative approach to the game
may be a better defense than any opposing coach can
draw on a chalk board.
THE TIP-oFF
Quicker than Chamique Holdsclaw can take her
first step, the Wolverines learned they would have to
win from inside the paint this year. The opening week-
end saw Michigan's sharpshooters go a combined 3-
for-24 from beyond the arc. The experienced guards
and emotional leaders, Anne Thorius and Alayne
Ingram, hit just I 1-for-43 from the floor in those two
game against Louisiana Tech and Washington.
Only free throws and the play underneath the basket
earned Michigan a win the first night. Power forward
Raina Goodlow scored 17 points and LeeAnn Bies
contributed 10. The loss to the Huskies two days later
came despite the best efforts of Goodlow and Bies,
who tallied 17 and 16 points respectively.
Although the plan entering the season was to ride
the quick tempo of the guards, success in a halfcourt
offense should not come as a surprise to Michigan.
The 6-foot-2 Goodlow started 23 games last year as a
sophomore and averaged 9.6 points. She came in with
high expectations for the program and herself.
"I think it's about time I score more," she said. Last
year's leading scorer "Stacey Thomas isn't here any-
more. Somebody has to pick up the slack"
{ Bies stepped into a starting role after a successful
freshman campaign from off the bench. The 6-foot-3
center averaged 10 points and six rebounds in 20 min-
utes per game as the sixth player last season.
Then the freshman recruit turned the Twin Towers
t into triplets. Matching Bies' height at 6-foot-3,
Jennifer Smith promised to be more mobile - she
was on the track team at DeWitt High School in the
Lansing area - and held the potential to contribute on
offense. She came in fifth in Michigan Miss
Basketball voting with 17.9 points and 9.2 rebounds a
game as a high school senior.
GRowTH SPURT
Smith didn't make too big an impact right away. In
the first three contests, she played 11 minutes a game.
She stumbled early, shooting just 37.5 percent from the
field as she struggled at times, even with layups. But
after a two-game slide, Guevara felt a change in her
lineup was necessary.
Junior forward Heather Oesterle and Bies sat down.
Freshmen Stephanie Gandy and Smith stood up and
stood out. The switch gave Guevara the quicker lineup
she was looking for. Both Gandy and Smith signifi-
cantly increased their production. In her 10 starts
before Iowa, Smith shot 55.7 percent from the floor
and is currently second on the team in shooting per-
centage.
Bies, back to her familiar role from last year, has
dropped her numbers slightly to 11.2 points and seven
rebounds a game. Goodlow continues to lead the
offensive attack for the Wolverines, shooting 55 per-
cent from the floor for an average of 11.6 points.
Rarely will just one be out on the court with the low-
post duties solely on her shoulders. Never have all three
been on the floor at once. Guevara has a two-at-a-time
policy.
"I like when the Twin Towers play together,"
Guevara said. "I like when Raina is playing with one
of the Twin Towers. Raina doesn't know the 3-spot.
With Heather and Gandy vying for that 3-spot, I'm
comfortable with Raina in the post'
BATTERED AND BRUISED
Guevara has some vindication for her complaint
that her players don't show enough aggression or emo-
tion. But, it came at a drastic cost.
First, No. 8 Purdue beat Michigan 65-54 in a game
televised nationally. Missed opportunities to score
turned directly into a missed opportunity to pull off an
upset over the Boilermakers at home for the second
straiuht season. The normally reliable Smith and
Michigan because we stand straight up, our knees are
locked and we're not sliding our feet.
Goodlow took the brunt of the punishment at the
Marquette game Dec. 10.
If Guevara's gripe is that her players don't
move enough, she saw to it that Goodlow
was motionless - on the bench, rather
than on the court, as she played just ~It
five minutes in the second half.
"At the Marquette game, when we
watched film, we could really tell that
it was lack of intensity," Smith said. 4
"It's just effort. That's where we're
really struggling. One player gets
beat and another player won't pick
up her slack."
WHERE'S THE BEAST?
The trio has at least one
thing that can't be taught -
height.
What they're lacking is
an animal instinct, an aggres-
sive nature that Guevara
believes is vital for dominat-
ing inside.
"Coach G pointed that
out," Smith said. "SheY
wants the post players to
call for the ball more. She
said we play soft some-
times. She said she wants
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BIG TEN STANDINGS
s ;;
LeeAnn Bles (far left)
GP-GS Pts. Rebs.
Season 144 11.1 7.1
Career 44-7 10.3 6.4
an animal post player, so
I'm trying to be that player."
They hear what Guevara has to say, but meeting her
expectations takes more than comprehension.
"The post players, we don't talk about it too much"
Bies said. "We know our strengths. We just try to go
out and do our part for the team. She really gets on us
about finding an animal post player. We still haven't
been showing it to her, I guess."
Aggressive play is a constant lesson plan for
Guevara. Work for position. Fight in the post. Tapping
into that brutality mentality isn't easy. She recognizes
that she's asking for a physical display of passion from
players who don't have an inclination to attack.
"You're not going to see LeeAnn Bies throwing
elbows. That's not going to happen," Guevara said.
"Bies gets rebounds, Bies catches the ball, Bies scores.
But is she going to look at you and show you a lot of
emotion? Nope. And really, neither is Raina. That's not
their nature. We're trying to bring out the beast in them."
Bies gets her boards and points, so aggression should
be irrelevant. Guevara said assistant coach Ron Mott has
raised the question "What else do you want?" - to
which she replies "I want somebody to dominate."
While understanding that aggression has to be
innate, Guevara still instructs her post players to call
for the ball. More than just vocalizing the words, she
wants their body language to say "Give me the ball."
"It's definitely something we can work toward,"
Goodlow said. "You can still be an animal and not look
like an animal. I think everybody has some kind of ani-
Raina Goodlow(left)
GP-GS Pts. Rebs.
Season 14-14 11.1 3.9
Career 70-44 8.8 3.8
Jennifer Smith (above)
GP-GS Pts. Rebs.
Season 14-10 9.1 4.9
mal in them. It's just a matter of bringing it out"
Thorius can't add to Michigan's all-time assist
record when the players in the low post just sit and wait
for the ball. From beyond the arc, she looks inside, but
needs to see someone asking for the ball before she
responds with a pass.
"I think in the beginning of the season, with Jennifer
Smith coming in, she's used to just getting the ball
pounded inside to her probably, in high school,"
Thorius said. "All of a sudden she's got to work for
position. It was obvious in the beginning of the season
that they were just there."
NEVER GIVE UP
Even if Guevara can't find the power switch that
turns her silent leaders into the Shaquille O'Neals of
women's college basketball, she hopes her prayers will
be answered next year. She called one of her current
recruits, Katrina Mason, "flat-out mean"
But Guevara doesn't want to wait that long. She's
not asking only that the posts play better, but that
they play with more intensity. The success will fol-
low.
All the rough rebounding and defensive drills she
runs in practice may not make monsters out of the
Wolverines, but Guevara is not going to quit. She
works on them with the same persistence that she
needs them to show in the paint.
"Coach is going to keep trying," Bies said. "We'll
see if it shows up"
IOWA CITY - With 12 players on
her roster, it seemed as if Michigan
women's basketball coach Sue
Guevara would have an endless num-
ber of possibilities to put on the court.
But in yesterday's 79-58 loss to
Iowa, Guevara looked as if she had
exhausted all of them.
All 12 players saw significant
action in the game. In certain stretch-
es Guevara introduced a new lineup
almost every minute.
After the game was over, Guevara
had more questions than answers after
introducing dozens of new lineups.
"Who wants to be on the floor?"
Guevara said she asked her players.
"Who wants to start? Who wants to
finish? Who wants to score? Who
really believes they can score? Who's
willing to take a shot and miss it
knowing they'll have another one?"
Down by 20 with 7:26 left in the
game, Guevara showed her frustration
with her current lineup by substitut-
ing in five different players. Michigan
guard Anne Thorius, who scored well
below her average with four points
against the Hawkeyes, said her coach
isn't alone in her disappointment.
"If she has to sub in five different
players at a time, then she's just as
frustrated as we are not finding that
lineup that's going to make an impact
and that's going to go and win the
game for us;' Thorius said. "She's
saying that if the regular people can't
get it done, then why not give a shot
to the people that work hard in prac-
tice every day."
Practices have been key in govern-
ing Michigan's lineup in games.
Players who don't often see action
have an incentive to do well in prac-
tice, knowing that trying hard might
equal playing time in games. The
Michigan coaching staff's decision to
put in everyone was likely more than
a desperation move.
"I don't think it was matter of them'
giving up and putting in people who
don't play a lot," junior Alayne
Ingram said. "People have been play-
ing well in practice and that's why
they were in the game"
Junior Susana Jara, a walk-on,
showed how doing well in practice
equals game time. Jara, who played
27 minutes all of last year, tallied 18
minutes yesterday in her first career
start.
"I was excited with my opportuni-
ty," Jara said. "I tried to make the
most of it and help my team"
Jara's start serves as an inspiration
for the rest of the players.
"It's definitely obvious that right
now there are no certain five starters
and no certain first player off the
bench," Thorius said.
Practices have become extremely
competitive in players' quests to earn
floor time.
-"To tell you the truth, our practices
are harder than games,"said freshman
Jennifer Smith, who has seen off-and-
on time in the starting rotation.
"Every practice we all work super
hard."
Despite the lineup changes, the
Wolverines couldn't solve any of their
problems, and have lost their last two
games by a combined 54 points.
Yesterday's results:
Iowa 79, Michigan 58
Wisconsin-Green Bay 82, WIScoNSIN
80 (OT)
Ohio State 66, NORTHWESTERN 61
Michigan State 66, MINNESOTA 65
ILLINOIS 75, No. 9 Penn State 71..
No. 6 Purdue 67, INDIANA 59
Tomorrow's game:
Illinois at Northwestern, 7 p.m.
Thursday's games:
Illinois at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m.
Minnesota at Indiana,;7 p.m.
Penn State at Michigan, 7 p.m.
Wisconsin at Michigan State, 7 p.m.'
'M' SCHEDULE
Thursday
Michigan vs. Penn State
Crisler Arena, 7 p.m.
The schedule doesn't
get any easier for the
Wolverines as they
return home to face
Penn State. Michigan
hopes to bounce back in its first
gameaat home after a 21-point drub-
bing at Iowa.
Sunday
Michigan vs. Ohio State
Crisler Arena, 2 p.m.
The Buckeyes have a 1=3
A Big Ten record, just fie
the Wolverines. But they
cannot be overlooked as
they went undefeated in
non-conference play.
Conference
Team W L
Indiana 3 0
Purdue 3 0
Penn State 3 1
Wisconsin 2 1
Michigan State 2 1
Iowa 2 2
Illinois 1 1
Michigan 1 3
Ohio State 1 3
Minnesota 0 3
Northwestern 0 3
Overall
W L
12 2
13 3
11 4
7 5
8 6
7 7
68
8 6
11 3
7 7
4 9
AP PHTiO
Topranked Connecticut.
WOMEN's AP Top 25
As of Jan. 2
Team
1. Connecticut
2. Tennessee
3. Notre Dame
4. Georgia
5. Duke
6. Purdue
7. Iowa State
8. Louisiana Tech
9. Penn State
10. Rutgers
11. I ouisiana State
Record
9-0
11-1
12-0
11-2
12-1
13-3
9-1
10-3
11-4
8-2
9-3
I
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