10 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 4, 2001 4 Guevara finds chemistry with Jara, and Ingram By Charles Paradis Daily Sports Writer The backcourt duo of Susana Jara and Alayne Ingram provide a potent one-two punch for the Michigan women's basketball team, orchestrating its fast paced offense. Since starting both Jara and Ingram, the Wolverines are on a three -game winning streak, including Sunday's defeat of defending national champion Notre Dame. At the beginning of the season, coach Sue Guevara made a personnel switch, moving Alayne Ingram - her most prolific backcourt scorer - from shooting guard to the point. The senior captain was thrust into a role she has not played since high school. Ingram enjoyed some success at the point, but produced nothing near what she had last season. Her role at the point suffered a blow when she was benched for the Wolverines' game against New Hampshire because shei violated an unspecified team rule. This allowed Susana Jara, a walk-on for Michigan four years ago, to play as the starting point guard. She recorded four assists and five steals against the Wildcats. When Ingram returned to the starting lineup against Syracuse, Jara again started at the point and Ingram start- ed at shooting guard. Back in her former position, Ingram lit up the Orangewomen with five 3-pointers, and Jara once again ran the offense smoothly with six assists and just one turnover. The Wolverines have found an effective strategy to incorporate Ingram as both shooting guard and point guard. "(The Fighting Irish) were looking for me to shoot the ball because Susana Jara started out at the point and that's how I get most of my shots," Ingram said. "So when I took over the point they were really focused on me shoot- ing." This system worked perfectly against Notre Dame on Sunday as Ingram burned the Fighting Irish with 22 points including three-of-five from behind the arc. Jara had a team-high five assists and committed turnovers against the Irish led an offense that shot 68 percent from the field in the first half. Ingram also ran the point effec- tively in the second half against Notre Dame. "I like the way coach (Guevara) was starting me off at the two, letting me get going so I would be able to hit a couple of shots, and then putting me at the (point) to con- tinue running the offense," Ingram said. Dynamic duo Michigan's backcourt features a pair of players that complement each other. For the first three games, the Jara did not start as Michigan's point guard. Since her addition to the starting lineup both she and Ingram have enjoyed improved success in scoring and in assist to turnover ratio. First three games: Alayne Ingram Susana Jara Last three games: Alayne Ingram Susana Jara Points 22 5 Points 55 10 Assists Turnovers 5 8 5 3 Assists Turnovers 13 9 12 3 YOUTH Continued from Page 9 sweep of Ferris State. Junior Mike Cammalleri was named the CCHA Offensive Player of the Week after picking up three goals and two assists for a five-point weekend. Cammalleri scored twice Friday night at Ferris State, including the game-winning goal of the Wolverines' 5-4 win with just 1:41 remaining in the third period. He then added a goal and assist in Saturday's game. Freshman center Dwight Helminen was honored with the CCHA Rookie of the Week award. Helminen notched a powerplay goal in each of the Wolverines' victories and added an assist in Saturday night's game to cap a three-point weekend. "(Dwight's) been a good two-way player - he's really helped us on penalty killing and he's done a good job on the powerplay," Berenson said. "He's taking advantage of his chances - the one thing Dwight brings is speed to every game and his speed has really helped put him in position for some of the goals that he has scored." It was the third-consecutive week that a Wolverine has received one of the CCHA's weekly awards. Sophomore defenseman Mike Komisarek was given Defensive Player of the Week honors on Nov. 26, and forward Eric Nystrom received the CCHA Rookie of the Week award on Nov. 19. HIGH PRAISE: The NHL Entry Draft's preliminary ranking of college hockey players includes three of Michigan's freshmen. Nystrom leads the way for the Wolverines, as he is ranked No. 4 out of all U.S. collegiate players. Forward Jason Ryznar joins Nystrom in the top ten, with a No. 7 ranking, while Helminen is positioned as the 23rd best prospect. Ingram is a triple threat for the Michigan offense when she does get going. Teams have to honor her outside shot, her ability to create on the dribble and her vision to get other players the ball. To Notre Dame's dismay, Ingram was able to do all three. "We had to stop (Ingram) from the 3-point line," said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw. "She was really the primary person we were going to guard from the 3-point line. She had some nice drives and I thought she played really well." Since Jara and Ingram have been playing together, the two have combined for 24 assists and just 12 turnovers. The backcourt duo led Michigan to double-digit blowouts last weekend. Rose Bowl dream still alive for the Huskers thanks to computer nerds 4 Associated Press Nebraska is on the verge of its great- est comeback ever thanks to the Bowl Championship Series standings. The Cornhuskers, all but out of the national title chase after a 62-36 loss to Colorado on Nov. 23, would play No. 1 Miami in the BCS championship game if Louisiana State beats Tennessee on Saturday. The BCS standings confirmed as much yesterday, ranking Miami first, Tennessee second and Nebraska third - ahead of fourth-place Colorado, the team it lost to by 26 points - and fifth-place Oregon. Expect Huskers fans everywhere to learn the words to "Tiger Rag" and tune in when Louisiana State (8-3) plays Tennessee (10-1) for the South- eastern Conference title on the final night of the regular season. The Volunteers, favored by seven points, can prevent what is certain to create a huge controversy by winning and moving on to play the Hurricanes at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Miami (11-0) has 2.50 points in the BCS rankings, Tennessee (10-1) 4.79 points, Nebraska (11-1) 8.39 points, Colorado (10-2) 9.88 points and Pac- Hurricane warning With its win over Virginia Tech on Sat- urday, Miami (Fla.) clinched a spot in the Rose Bowl. Should Tennessee beat Louisiana State in the SEC Champi- onship this weekend, the Volunteers would join Miami (Fla.). Rank Team Points Loss- es 1. Miami (Fla.) 2.50 0 2. Tennessee 4.79 1 3. Nebraska 8.39 1 4. Colorado 9.88 2 5. Oregon 10.44 1 6. Florida 14.65 2 7. Texas 19.22 2 8. Illinois 20.69 1 9. Stanford 21.64 2 10. Maryland 22.25 1 11. Oklahoma 22.79 2 12. Brigham Young 25.95 0 13. Wash. State 27.04 2 14. Washington 36.73 3 15. S. Carolina 37.15 3 10 champion Oregon (10-1) has 10.44 points. BCS officials must be hoping for a Volunteers' victory to avoid trying to explain how a team can play. for'a '. ~ MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily Alayne Ingram has been joined by Susana Jara to provide a 1-2 punch In the backcourt that drives opponents crazy. I national title even though it couldn't even win its own division of the Big 12 Conference. Jerry Palm, who runs a Web site that closely monitors the BCS standings, says Oregon will have the biggest beef. "The reaction if Nebraska gets in will be bad," Palm said. "It's hard to understand how a team that doesn't qualify for a conference title gets to play for a national title. Oregon has a stronger argument since Colorado has two losses and that's tough to over- come. But that's kind of the way it goes in the BCS." A Louisiana State win also creates the possibility of split national champi- ons. If Oregon wins its BCS game and Nebraska beats Miami in the Rose Bowl, the Ducks could be voted No. 1 in the final Associated Press poll. The Associated Press voters cast their final Top 25 ballots following the Rose Bowl, and all I-A team are eligi- ble to finish No. 1. Not so in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, which auto- matically crowns the Rose Bowl win- ner its national champion. The BCS standings, set up to deter- mine which teams play in a title game, use a formula that incorporates the Associated Press media and coaches' polls, eight computers, strength of schedule, won-lost record and bonus points for big wins. The BCS aligns six major confer- ence champions with four big bowl games, the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange. Two at-large teams are then selected to fill out the field. Nebraska moved into contention fol- lowing a series of upsets on Saturday. Florida and Texas, second and third in last week's BCS standings, fell out of contention with losses. That allowed the Huskers to improve fromi fourth to third and the Vols from sixth to second. Miami's 2.50-point breakdown was: one point for poll average, one point for computer average, .60 for strength of schedule, zero for won-loss record and a . bonus point deduction for a 65-7 win over Washington on Nov. 24. The Hurricanes clinched a Rose Bowl spot with a 26-24 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday. The bonus award - new this season - is based on a sliding scale from 1.5 points for beating a first-place team down to . for a win over the 15th- place team. The bonus is awarded after the other elements are calculated. Tennessee (4.79) had 2 points for poll average, 2.83 points for computer average, .16 for strength of schedule, one for won-loss record and a 1.2 point bonus deduction for beating sixth- place Florida 34-32 on Saturday. The final BCS standings will be released Dec. 9. Rewarding itself The Michigan football team announced its annual awards yesterday. ® Bo Schembecher Award Awarded to the team's Most Valuable Player Marquise Walker Roger Zatkoff Award Awarded to the Wolverines' top line- backer Larry Foote Hugh H. Rader Jr. Memorial Award Awarded to Michigan's top offen- sive lineman Kurt Anderson' Special Teams Player of the Year Award Awarded to ... yeah ... Hayden Epstein Dick Katcher Award Aarded tn the team's ton defen- 4