The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday, February 18, 2002 - 3B
P84
Michigan 73
THE DOWN-LOW
GUEVA-RANT:
"Sooner or later I'm going to get
K someone to listen to (the coaches)
and (learn) how to play some
defense."
KEY STAT:
Michigan recorded 13 turnovers in
the second half, after turning the
ball over just seven times before
halftime.
TURNING POINT:
Purdue's Kelly Komara stripped
Alayne Ingram of the ball at half-
court and walked in for an easy
layup. The score was part of a 20-6
Boilermaker run that the Wolverines
never recovered from.
YOU KNEW IT WAS OVER WHEN:
Shereka Wright hit a 3-pointer to
put Purdue up by eight points with a
little more than three minutes
remaining. Michigan never got any
closer.
THE DAILY'S MVP:
Wright dropped a career-high 40
points on Sunday and also set a
school record for points in a game.
She missed just six of 21 shots and
scored 35 of her points in the paint.
Box SCORE
Wright exploits Blue's defense
Purdue forward posts career-high while Bies injures hand in loss
RAPHAEL
GOODSTEIN
By Charles Paradis
Daily Sports Writer
Defense has been a concern for the Michigan women's
basketball team all season, and it was
never exposed more than in yesterday's BASKETBALL
game against Purdue. The Boilermak-
ers put up 84 points on host Michigan, oteoo
including 46 in the second half alone.
The highlight of Purdue's offense was sophomore sensa-
tion Shereka Wright. The Boilermakers' small forward deci-
mated Michigan's defense to the tune of a career-high 40
points, almost quadruple her nearest teammate, Kelly
Komara, who added 11 points of her own. Wright was a
one-woman wrecking crew, as she foiled all of Michigan's
attempts to guard her.
"We tried three different people on Shereka Wright,"
Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "Sooner or later I'm
going to get somebody to listen to (the coaches) and (learn)
how to play some defense, because I think that's where the
breakdown was."
Guevara knew what needed to be done to guard Wright
- play off of her. Guevara wanted to force Wright to take
jump shots. Out of Wright's 15 baskets on the night, 13 were
in the paint. Despite her small size, the 5-foot-10 sophomore
managed to dominate in amongst Michigan's taller post
players. A lot of Wright's ability to get down on the block
resulted from a switch the Boilermakers made when Michi-
gan tried to play off of Wright.
"(Guevara) told us to play off and it was simple, but (Pur-
due) started setting screens and getting her open," Stephanie
Gandy said.
One of the reasons Wright was able to get to the basket so
easily was the lack of help-side defense from the Wolver-
ines. Michigan has stressed that all year, but against Purdue's
multiple screens, the help-side defense was all but non-exis-
tent.
"I don't think it was the best defense we could have
played," Gandy said. "The first 20 minutes was good, and
the second 20 minutes was not very good at all. We had no
help-side, and we work on that day in and day out. I don't
know where the help-side was."
Ultimately, Michigan's own defense defeated itself. The
Wolverines could not come up with the stop they needed
when the Boilermakers went on a run late in the game.
Despite three Michigan players scoring in double digits,
there was no chance of beating Purdue when the Wolverines
could not make a key stop.
"At some point we just have to get that defensive stop,"
Alayne Ingram said. "If you can't stop anybody, then there is
no way you can win."
BIEs BANGED up: With 7:56 left in the second half, junior
center LeeAnn Bies deflected a Purdue pass along the base-
line out of bounds. Bies reached out enough to break up the
pass, but in doing so, Bies dislocated her left pinky and had
to leave the game. She went to the lockerroom and never
returned. Guevara is not sure if Bies will be able to play
Thursday against Northwestern.
Bies had been playing well until her injury. She recorded
14 points and five rebounds before she left the game. Bies'
6-foot-3 presence was sorely missed by the Wolverines, who
were unable to come up with a substitute for the injured cen-
ter.
"We needed somebody to step up for her inside on both
ends of the floor, and we didn't get that tonight," Guevara
said.
BEYOND THE BUBBLE: With its win over Michigan, Purdue
was able to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title and will
probably earn an NCAA Tournament berth. But the Wolver-
ines are unsure where they will end their year. With an RPI
ranking of 36 and a winning record, Michigan has a good
chance of making the Women's National Invitational Tour-
nament. But as far as making the NCAA Tournament, the
Wolverines would have to win out or to win the Big Ten
Tournament at the end of the month.
"We're an air pocket in the pool, we're not even on the
bubble," Guevara said. "We're going to have to do some
major, major work to get into either of the two tournaments."
No 'miracles onice 'should be
expected with professionals
Purdue (84)
Meadows
Wright
Noon
Komara
Valek
Heikes
Hicks
Totats
MIN
25
38
20
36
38
23
8
12
200
FG FT
M-A M-A
3-7 0-1
15-21 9-11
4-8 0-0
3-10 4-4
0-4 2-2
5-9 0-0
0-2 0-0
2-3 0-0
REB
0-T
1-4
3-6
1-4
0-3
1-4
5-8
0-0
1-1
A
4
0
0
4
4
0
0
1
F PTS
4 7
1 40
4 8
2 11
1 2
2 10
0 0
0 6
32-6417-2112-34 13 14 84
FG%: .500 FT%: .810 3-point FG: 3-11, .273 (Mead-
ows 1-2, Wright 1-2, Komara 1-5, Valek 0-1, Jones 0-
1). Blocks: 1(Wright) Steals: 11 (Meadows, Wright,
Komara 6, Valek 2, Jones). Turnovers: 14 (Meadows
3, Noon, Komara 3, Valek 4, Jones, Hicks 2). Techni-
cal Fouls: none.
MICHIGAN (73)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS
Gandy 38 5-10 3-4 1-5 3 3 15
Smith 28 3-8 2-4 4-9 3 3 8
Bies 29 5-11 4-4 3-5 2 1 14
Jara 18 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 5 0
Ingram 40 10-151-3 0-2 3 3 24
Pool 26 4-10 0-0 1-6 2 2 9
Oesterle 21 1-3 1-1 0-4 1 1 3
Totals 200 28-5711-1610-34 16 18 73
FG%: .491 FT%: .688 3-point FG: 6-13, .462 (Gandy
2-4, Ingram 3-5, Pool 1-2, Oesterle 0-2). Blocks: 3
(Bies 2, Ingram) Steals: 8 (Smith, Bies, Ingram 4,
Pool, Oesterle). Turnovers: 20 (Smith 4, Bies 2,
Jara, Ingram 4, Pool 5, Oesterle 2). Technical Fouls:
none.
BOILERS
Continued from Page 1B
After Purdue jumped out to an early
four-point lead, Ingram hit a 3-pointer
from well beyond the arc to put Michi-
gan ahead, 17-15, with 12 minutes left
in the half. Michigan did not relinquish
the lead the rest of the half and led Pur-
due by as many as eight points.
"I thought we did pretty good for
(the first) 25 minutes," Michigan coach
Sue Guevara said.
"We came out of the lockerroom (in
the second half) and scored, got an'
(eight-point) lead, and then Purdue
picked up their defense."
A speech by coach Kristy Curry
helped spark Purdue's intensity.
"I'm usually their number No. 1, but.
I told them I was embarrassed and I
think that got to their hearts a little bit,"
Curry said.
She gave the players credit for the
comeback, calling it "self-imposed"
pressure. a1
Michigan finished the game with 20
turnovers, a week after turning the ball
over 25 timesagainst similar defensive
pressure from Ohio State. Iow does
Guevara plan to change that?
"(I will) probably run their tails
off."
e last few days of the Olympics have
Tbeen pretty entertaining. First, the
Canadian pair skaters won the silver
medal only to find out that there were
crooked judges who weren't good at keep-
ing secrets, so now the pair will get to trade
up to a gold medal.
Then there was the unbelievable 1,000-
meter short track competition, in which
Seattle's Apolo Anton Ohno was leading
and about to win the race when China's Li
JiaJun slipped and collided with South
Korea's Ahn Hyu-Soo, who brought Ohno
with him. With the rest of the competition
out of the way, Australia's Steven Bradbury
-who must have been thinking, "This was
unexpected"- made his move, gliding to a
gold medal, though Ohno almost crawled to
the finish line first. '
Then, finally, there was the United States-
Russia hockey game. Sure it was cool. The
United States versus Russia in anything is
cool. But Saturday night/Sunday morning's
(we'll say that the game was played yester-
day) game will never be immortalized the
way the Miracle on Ice is.
While watching the game at a local
watering hole, I noticed that the there was a
general feeling of "It'd be nice to see Ameri-
ca win - and (Detroit Red Wing) Sergei
Federov score a goal." Needless to say, there
was never a time when Americans were say-
ing, "It'd be nice to see America win the
Cold War - but it'd also be nice to see
communism spread to a few countries."
There are a number of reasons why yes-
terday's-game wasn't as cool as the game 22
years ago was: Sequels are never as good as
the original - with the possible exception
ofYoung Guns II. The fact is that the Cold
War's over, so Americans have a "Go Amer-
ica" feeling mixed with a "Go (insert
favorite player from another country)" feel-
ing. We tied the Commies, so nobody both-
ered to drape himself in an American flag.
But most importantly, this game wasn't as
cool because the game lacked what Ameri-
ca's hockey team had 22 years ago - ama-
teurs. You know, the athletes who once
represented the Red, White and Blue in the
Olympics. Unfortunately, it's now impossi-
ble for another Miracle on Ice to ever hap-
pen in America because the game has
become America's NHL All Stars versus
another country's NHL All Stars. I saw this
game two weeks ago in the All Star game.
Now, it's true that until 1992, America
was the only country that did not send it's
professional players to the Olympics. And
it's also true that it's nice to think that win-
ning a gold medal won't require a miracle.
But, it's unfortunate that the purity of the
Olympics has been diminished. Many of the
same Americans that tied Russia yesterday,
played in the Nagano Winter Olympics four
years ago, and complained that they wish
they hadn't done so.
One of the reasons they were there is
because America decided, if Canada's send-
ing its best players, then we are too. Since
when has America followed Canada's lead?
After finishing in sixth place in Nagano,
the team made it a point to get some ink
with the press - so it destroyed the hotel
that it was staying at as if it was The Who.
This group of millionaires didn't bring the
pride and joy that the 1980 team did, to say
the least.
The trend of us sending our best players
for hockey stems from the 1988 summer
Olympics when David Robinson and 11
mediocre college basketball players finished
with a bronze medal and the American bas-
ketball community was a tad embarrassed.
After all, it looks bad for everyone, the
NBA included, when America finishes in
third place of an international basketball
tournament. Because of this, the Dream
Team was formed. The best 11 basketball
players in the world, along with Christian
Laettner, went to the 1992 Barcelona games
to show everyone who's boss.
And from the opening tipoff to the final
buzzer, everyone knew.You almost got the
impression that opponents didn't mind los-
ing to the Dream Team, they were just
happy to say, "I got dunked on by Michael
Jordan;' or "I got elbowed in the mouth by
Charles Barkley." For those of you who are
too young to remember these games, imag-
ine Duke playing Michigan in basketball.
Unfortunately, America continued to send
its best players to the Olympics after the '92
summer games. But don't feel bad for for-
eign countries, they were happy to see
America send its best. It provided these
countries with the opportunity to have their'
own Miracle on Ice. And two years ago,
Lithuania almost had such a miracle, when
it played American to within two points, and
actually had a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win.
The sense of pride in American basket-
ball and hockey dissipated during these
games because it's nice to win a gold medal,
but it's not a big deal. Not with our profes-
sionals. It'd be a big deal if we didn't win the
gold medal.
And now that there is so much more to
lose than to win, it's hard to find reason to
believe that another miracle is possible..
Raphael Goodstein can be reached at
raphaelg@umich.edu.
Purdue...............................38 46
Michigan........................42 31
At: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor
Attendance: 2,031
84
73
DAVID ROCHKIND/C
Jennifer Smith and the Wolverines were overpowered by Purdue yesterday.
Player
Bies
Ingram
Smith
Gandy
Pool
Oesterle
Mason
Jara
Hauser-Pric
McPhilamy
Goodlow
'M' STATS
Through Feb. 17
G Min A
25 31.6 1.9E
24 37.9 4.4<
25 29.8 1.6
24 30.5 1.8
24 24.0 1.7
22 21.0 1.2
22 8.5 0.2
22 15.2 1.5
ce 15 10.3 0.5{
y 9 3.1 0.0t
5 26.0 2.4
Reb
8.4
3.2
7.8
4.6
4.3
4.1
2.5
1.5
0.8
0.8
5.6
Pts.
16.4
15.1
13.3
12.0
7.6
4.0
3.0
1.7
1.1
0.0
8.8
Shereka!
The 40 points Shereka Wright scored were the most points scored against
Michigan this season. Here is a look at the other players who have put up big
numbers against the Wolverines during the 2001-02 campaign.
M--U
Name
Ayana Walker
Lindsay Whalen
Tamara Moore
Sarah Kawanski
Iveta Marcausaite
Jennie Lillis
Loree Paine
Kelly Mazzante
Didi Reynolds
Tameka Brown
Courtney Coleman
School
Louisiana Tech
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Illinois
Iowa
Washington
Penn State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Date
Nov. 16, 2001
Jan. 17, 2002
Jan. 6, 2002
Feb. 3, 2002
Dec. 28, 2001
Feb. 14, 2002
Dec. 9, 2001
Jan. 13, 2002
Jan. 10, 2002
Feb. 10, 2002
Feb. 10, 2002
Points
32
27
26
24
24
23
23
22
22
21
21
D J
0
II
ji
Field-goal percentage leader
Bies 139-263 .529
Free-throw percentage leader
Gandy 73-89 .820
3-point percentage leader
Ingram 48-116 .414
BIG TEN STANDINGS
Team
Purdue
Minnesota
Penn State
Wisconsin
Iowa
Illinois
Ohio State
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Conference Overall
W L W L
12 3 21 4
10 4 20 5
10 4 18 9
8 6 17 8
8 6 15 9
7 7 14 10
7 8 12 14
6 8 12 13
5 9 15 10
5 9 15 10
0 14 4 21
_
-' --.
--
"-
Please call
734.763.7302
for your
Michigan
Classics
Information
Packet
\
i
i
41
.4
.
11
'14
Yesterday's Results:
Purdue 84, MICHIGAN 73
INDIANA 73, Minnesota 63
Ohio State 87, NORTHWESTERN 69
PENN STATE 83, Illinois 78
TEXAS TECH 78, Wisconsin 62
Wenesday's Game:
Iowa at Michigan State 7 p.m.
Thursday's Games:
Indiana at Illinois 8 p.m.
Wisconsin at Minnesota 8 p.m.
Michigan at Northwestern 8 p.m.
Penn State at Purdue 7 p.m.
UP NEXT:
Time: 7 p.m. Thursday
NORTHln"WESTERNm An
LARGEST SELECTION
AO
-
All teams welcome:
Men, Women and two levels of Co-Rec
$525 - 10 games plus playoffs
$1050 - doubleheader - 20 games plus playoffs
NO PLAYER FEES!
All games are played at Mitchell Fields
located on Fuller Road.
C -..