b men's basketball stats C online for the updated season cs for all of the Michigan *ormon: basketball players. ?Wchigandaily.com/sports UbLd giaI FRIDAY JANUARY 12, 2001 10 Good Bies! 20-point half gives Blue upset On the road again: 'M' faces No. 7 Illinois By Jeff Phillips Daily Sports Writer After three consecutive Big Ten loss- es, the Michigan women's basketball team (2-3 Big Ten, 9-6 overall) got the monkey off its back with a 71-62 vic- tory over No. 13 Penn State (3-2, 11- 5). The Wolverines scored the first bas- ket of the game and never looked back. "We played with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of energy," Michigan coach S u e Guevara r& PENN STATE 62 said. "You really saw M:rCIGAN 71 that on the defensive end and really saw it rebounding." Penn State's two leading scorers, k freshman Kelly Mazzante and senior Lisa Shepherd kept up their averages by scoring 17 and 20 points, respec- tively. But no one else followed their lead. The Wolverines held Penn State's explosive offense - averaging 82.9 points per game - to just 33 percent shooting from the field. Michigan had struggled in its previ- ous three games, losing by double dig- its and failing to break 60 points, but finally came to life, shooting 50 per- cent. The Wolverines were led by LeeAnn Bies who had her best game of the sea- son with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the first half. -4 was getting a lot of easy looks," Bies said. "I was catching and convert- ing (my shots)" Defensively in the second half, the BIG TEN STANDINGS Conference Overall Team W L WL Purdue 4 0 14 3 Indiana 4 1 13 3 Wisconsin 3 1 8 5 Illinois 3 1 8 8 Penn State 3 2 11 5 Michigan State 2 2 8 7 Iowa 2 2 7 7 Michigan 2 3 9 6 Ohio State 1 4 11 4 Minnesota 0 4 7 8 Northwestern 0 5 4 10 Yesterday's results: MICHIGAN 71, Penn State 62 Wisconsin 72, MICHIGAN STATE 56 Illinois 75, OHIo STATE 73 INDIANA 92, Minnesota 64 Nittany Lions keyed in on Bies, but failed to stop her supporting cast. Bies was helped by a strong performance from junior guard Alayne Ingram. Ingram came into the game in a bit of shooting slump, but gave Michigan 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting. "Alayne had a really good second half and I was just a decoy," Bies said. Penn State attempted to step up its defensive intensity by implementing a full-court press, but the Wolverines took it in stride. "We knew they were going to come out and press us, that's the Penn State style," point guard Anne Thorius said. "I thought we did a great job keeping our composure." The Nittany Lions got to within five points after two quick steals five min- BRAD QUINN/Daily Michigan's Anne Thorius, Raina Goodlow and LeeAnn Bies celebrate their upset of No. 13 Penn State. Bies led the Wolverines with 21 points and 11 rebounds. By Dan Williams Daily Sports Writer Michigan's 70-64 victory last Tuesday against Indiana shattered a shackle that has seemingly imprisoned the team all season. Prior to the win over the Hoosiers, Michigan hadn't beaten a team within the top 150 of the Ratings Percentage Index. If the Wolverines (1-1 Big Ten, 7-6 overall) are truly about to bust out of the confinements of mediocrity, they will have to break the road chains that have weighed so heavily. With an 0-5 record away from Crisler - with the scores of all five losses separated by double digits - the team travels to Champaign Saturday to play No. 7 Illinois (2-1, 12-4). Michigan does benefit from facing another opponent with little time to prepare - Indiana and now Illinois both had two days off prior to their games with the Wolverines. But against Indiana, Michigan faced a team exhausted from an emotional win over Michigan State. Illinois is likely to be angry after falling to Iowa, 78-62, for its first Big Ten loss of the season. The road is decidedly uphill, but Michigan, the TOM team that previously ASSEM looked unsure of how to win, hopes the Indiana Ten, 7 6 ov victory will bear new Iiiinois (2-1 conviction. When: 8 p. The Indiana win "is a Radio: WJR definite sigh of relief, and Detroit, an hopefully we'll go into WTKA 105 Champaign with some Television:) confidence," sophomore WADI.-Tv Gavin Groninger said. Above all else, Michigan demon- strated a proficiency in the paint against the Hoosiers that had been absent for much of the season. The Wolverines' triad in the post - Josh Moore, Josh Asselin and Chris Young - combined for 32 points on 14-of-24 shooting. In earlier contests, Michigan's interior game seemed to vanish BIG TEN STANDINGS Conference Overall Team W L W L Purdue 3 0 11 3 Iowa 2 0 13 2 Michigan State 2 1 13 1 Illinois 2 1 12 4 Minnesota 1 1 13 2 Michigan 1 1 7 6 Penn State 1 2 10 3 Wisconsin 1 2 10 3 Ohio State 0 2 10 5 Indiana 1 2 10 7 Northwestern 0 3 7 8 Yesterday's result: Iowa 78, Illinois 62 Saturday's games: Iowa at Purdue, 2:30 p.m. Wisconsin at Michigan State, 4:30 p.m. Northwestern at Penn State, 8 p.m. Michigan at Illinois, 8 p.m. against top competition. "We just play a lot better when our big guys touch the basketball," Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe sai* "Every night it's important for us. Its no secret, we have to pound it In 0 utes into the second half, but that was as close as they would come. Michigan traded baskets with Penn State and slowly built upon its lead after missed Penn State free throws. A three-point play by Raina Goodlow with six minutes left gave Michigan a 13-point lead and put away the Nittany Lions. After Penn State's Maren Walseth again missed a second free throw, Ingram hit back-to-back fade-away jumpers to give Michigan its biggest lead of 70-54. The first half of the game was owned by Bies. She got the first basket of the half and a buzzer-beater to end it. The sophomore dominated the Penn State defense with 9-of-12 shooting, including a rare 3-pointer - just her second of the season. "I can't say enough about LeeAnn Bies," Thorius said. "She was out- standing." there." Illinois ORROW ABLY HALL igan (1-1 Big' erall) vs. ,12-4) m 760 AM id locally on 0 AM ESPN- Plus on >ssesses as strong a pres- ence on the inside as any team Michigan has played. 6-foot I l-inch Robert Archibald, 6- foot 10-inch Brian Cook and 6-foot 9-inc Marcus Griffin, avera ing a combined 33 points for the Fighting ilini, will not be intimi- dated by Michigan's size. Intensity shows up against ranked opponent By Benjamin Singer Daldy Sports Writer Before the Michigan women's basketball team's first practice of the week, coach Sue Guevara showed her team a packaged tape of its season's highlights. Michigan saw itself playing tough defense, making good shots and getting excited. If the Wolverines want to see another highlight reel. they just need to pop in a tape of last night's 71-62 win over Penn State. From the opening tipoff to the final minutes, Michigan had newfound intensity and enthusiasm. Michigan had energy to the end. Ahead 70-54 with 1:20 left, Raina Goodlow chased down a long rebound as she crashed into press row. She tapped it over to Alayne Ingram before she went out of bounds. Stephanie Gandy continued Michigan's string of hus- tle when she aggressively grabbed her fourth offensive rebound after her own miss later in that possession. "I don't think we gave up one time out there," LeeAnn Bies said. "It was good to see us be aggressive and to go after it," Guevara said. "It gets to the point where I'm tired of talking about this stuff. Somebody just show me. Just do it. That's what SUN we got tonight." CRISLER A lack of hustle and effort have Who: Michigan been season-long concerns for Ten, 9-6, overa Michigan - especially during its State (1-4, 11 three-game losing streak. But last when: 2 p.m. night, Michigan didn't play tired, it Latest: Michig played tired of losing. broken its thre Penn State coach Rene Portland was Ten losing stre well aware of Guevara publicly try to start as chastising her team for not playing against the Bu with heart. "When you challenge a team, they respond," she said. Despite Michigan's recent poor shooting perfor- mance, Guevara prepared for Penn State by concen- trating on defense. "We really wanted to make a statement with our defense today," Bies said. The defensive effort helped out the offense that was Illinois' trio should make it more difficult for Michigan'to get such strong low positioning in the post. Defending the paint without suc- cumbing to foul trouble will be a diffi- cult task for the Wolverines. Illinois has beaten Michigan 45 oW 68 times in Champaign. In the last meeting between the two teams, Michigan bested the Fighting Illini in Ann Arbor, 95-91 in overtime. DAY SARENA n (2-3 Big ll) vs. Ohio -4) an has finally ee game Big ak. They will streak of W's ckeyes. neglected in practice. Rebounds and steals led to transition points and easy layups that had been missing in recent Michigan games. In the past three losses, Michigan shot just over 30 percent while its opponents shot over 50 percent. Last night, that was reversed. In the past, Guevara criticized her team for playing soft and not attacking. But the Nittany Lions faced Wolverines like mili- tarv missiles - they were locked in on the basketball: seek-and-destroy. "You're in war," Guevara said of the Blood boils as icers battle Buckeyes 0 . ,. mentality for a basketball game. Michigan forced four held balls. Ingram See LIONS, Page 11 - 1, 1 WANT TO WRITE FOR DAILY SPORTS? NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! COME TO A MASS MEETING! JAN. 16, 18 AND 22 AT 7 P.M. By Joe Smith Dly Sports Writer Michigan captain Geoff Koch said that every hockey game between the Wolverines and Ohio State is a war. In this weekend's matchup, the Buckeyes will dress 10 freshmen as they take on No. 8 Michigan for a two- game series in the Schottenstein Center. But the youngest team in the CCHA will be going into battle without its gen- eral. Ohio State senior captain Andre Signoretti is still academically ineligible and will not suit up this weekend. Signoretti has already missed the past four games, all Ohio State losses, after finding out his fall semester grades were not up to par. "It's upsetting that he's put himself in THIS WEEKEND SCHOTTENSTEIN CENTER Who: Michigan (9-3-1 CCHA, 15-5-3 overall) vs. Ohio State (7-6-1,10-9-1) When: 7:35 p.m. tonight, 7:35 p.m. tomorrow TV: FOX Sports Net (tomorrow only) CCHA Standings: CCHA Team W L T PTS Michigan State 9 1 3 21 Western Michigan 9 2 2 20 Michigan 9 3 1 19 Overal W LT 16 1 4 16 3 2 15 5 that situation,' Ohio State coach John Markell said. "The, responsibility now falls on his shoulders, as he's well aware of. He's t k- ing the proper steps to get back - but-he has to live with that. It was definitely sur- prising for it to happen to a senior. "Disappointing. That's what it is." Signoretti met with his professors to discuss the situation this week and a hearing for an appeal was held on Tuesday, but it appears that his reinstate- ment was declined and the 24-year old criminology major may not play the rest of this season. "It's very tough, Ohio State defense- A man Jason Crain said. "He's our captain and a great leader. It'll hurt on defense a lot but other guys just have to step up2" Not only does Signoretti log a ton0 minutes and rank as one of their top five scorers, but he's also the CCHA leader for defenseman in plus-minus with a plus-13. His leadership has been priceless for the fifth-place Buckeyes as they've proved the critics wrong and become one of the surprise teams of the CCHA. They were picked to finish 10th by the coaches~ and media before the season. But Signoretti's absence couldn't h come at a worse time for an Ohio StaTe team that is reeling from a five-game los- ing streak. Four of the defeats have been by one goal, including three games against fifth-ranked Western Michigan. "A lot of the freshmen have pro- gressed," Markell said. "But we have to L A _1 .... - I,..