The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 7, 2003 - 7B

Benedict wins first
title since fall 2001

It's a shame that Arnold is more
entertaining than the Final Four

By Bdan Schick
Daily Sports Writer

Senior Kim Benedict was riding high
yesterday after a seven-birdie perform-
ance on Saturday. Her momentum was
enough to squeeze out a one-stroke win
in the Indiana Invitational. This was her
first tournament win since the fall of
2001 and the third of her career.
On Saturday, Benedict knew her
round was not going as planned, and
she made a mental note to make a seri-
ous attempt to turn it around.
"I was four-over through the first
seven holes, and I was just thinking, 'I
have to at least get a few birdies,'
Benedict said.
On the next two holes, she got what
she wanted - two birdies. But after a
bogey on her 10th hole, Benedict
birdied the next five holes. She finished
the day with a two-under 72 -the low-
est round of the tournament - good
enough for a three-stroke lead after the
first round.
"It was a pretty random round, but I
am not going to complain about it," she
said.
Bolstered by her performance on Sat-
urday, Benedict came out yesterday and

made five more birdies and finished the
final round with a 74. Her three-round
score of 222 on 54 holes edged Wiscon-
sin's Katie Connelley for the win.
Michigan coach Kathy Teichert was
impressed with Benedict's ability to
focus on the details of her game, which
resulted in birdies for her.
"She has been striking the ball really
well, giving her birdie chance after
birdie chance," Teichert said. "She is a
good putter, so she is just taking advan-
tage of each opportunity she has. Her
fundamentals right now are the best I
have ever seen them."
The Wolverines finished sixth as a
team with a score of 948, 32 strokes
behind first-place Purdue. Sophomore
Laura Olin struggled in the first round,
opening with a 10-over par 84 but man-
aged to find her game and finish the
remaining rounds with a 76 and a 77,
good enough for a tie at 18th overall.
Freshman Amy Schmucker tied for
33rd with two rounds of 84, but fin-
ished the final round with a 77 for a
total of 245.
"I think our top three did a great job,'
Teichert said. "We just have to have the
bottom three get some score on the
board; they are going to be the key for

Advertisers for this year's NCAA
Tournament decided to delight fans
with highlights of famous game-end-
ing shots to inspire viewers to buy
their products. The idea that cars or
insurance are somehow associated
with Christian Laettner's buzzer-beater

19 points, 10 less than he had in a win
against Kentucky a week earlier.
"What everyone should focus on is
how successful this team was this sea-
son," said Marquette assistant coach
Jeff Strohm in an effort to boast about
a performance that he should be

against Kentucky is s ashamed of. "This
ludicrous. But the adver- S hmr wasreal."

DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Senior Kim Benedict won her third
career invitational and first since 2001.
us to have success."
The weather might have hindered any
chance for success this past weekend.
With temperatures dropping to below
25 degrees at some points along with
fierce winds, it was difficult to get the
shots players wanted.
"It was another typical Indiana Invi-
tational," Teichert said. "The weather
has never been great. When you are
playing 30 to 35 degrees, it is basically
the survival of the fittest and the sur-
vival of the minds."

tisements did make for
nice conversation pieces
during breaks in the gamen
and for that, we thank
them.
Perhaps if the commer-
cial makers had a better .
sense of humor, they
would have provided Danc
advertisements with
highlights of some of the most famous
blowouts of all time. At least shots of
UNLV's 103-72 mafia-style execution
of Duke in the 1990 championship
game would have offered an ironic
backdrop to what turned out to be one
of the most unexciting games of the
tournament.
On Saturday, Kansas stoned Mar-
quette 94-61 and almost had the
Eagles doubled up going into halftime
in a game in which the winning coach,
Roy Williams, will be offered North
Carolina head coaching position. Mar-
quette seemed to be running for cover
instead of trying to get back in transi-
tion against a blazingly quick Kansas
team. Down 15 points 10 minutes into
the game, the Eagles lied down and
died, leading to a humiliating-surren-
der surpassed only by the French in
1940.
Speaking of Germans, guard Kirk
Hinrich continues to look like the all-
American he was supposed to be
while leading the Kansas fast break
and dropping in 18 points. Meanwhile,
Dwyane Wade, who many believe to
be the best college player to enter next
year's NBA Draft, could muster just

60

But fans watching
the first Final Four
game did have a few
things to get excited
about. Movie trailers for
"The Matrix Reloaded"
and "Terminator 3: Rise
of the Machines"
Fl 00r were shown multiple
times. So even if fans
couldn't get exited about the idea of
Marquette coming back, they could
eagerly await the return of Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Keanu Reeves to
blockbuster roles. Unfortunately, that
could not outdo the pain of having to
repeatedly watch promos for CBS's
sitcom, "My Big Fat Greek Life," or
trailers for "Malibu's Most Wanted,"
which appears to somehow outdo the
n II

Marquette game in level of suckiness.
If you weren't too blown away from
Hash Bash to make it to the second
game of the evening, you would have
seen Syracuse and Kansas go at it
until freshmen Carmelo Anthony and
Gerry McNamara declared that they
have next, en route to 52 combined
points.
This Final Four weekend marks the
10th anniversary of the Fab Five's last
win together - an 81-79 overtime
win over Kentucky to put them into
the championship game in which they
would run out of timeouts.
Ten years later, we may know the
truth about the secret going-ons of
the Michigan basketball program,
and regardless of what Mary Sue
Coleman has to say, the day still
resides as a proud day in Michigan
athletic history. And who knows,
maybe 10 years from now, we will
find out how Jim Boeheim landed a
recruit that carried him to the NCAA
championship game also. But by
then, Anthony will be an NBA star,
and we will have sat through another
Terminator movie or two.

Detroit, what
(happened)?

Sparks gives up e' t
as Tigers 0allto
CHICAGO (AP) - Rookie manag-
er Alan Trammell is doing his best to!
stay positive during another disastrous
start for the Detroit Tigers.
He can only hope that translates into
some wins - soon.
The Tigers became the first team in
40 years to open 0-6 in consecutive
seasons, giving up nine runs in the
eighth inning of a 10-2 loss to the
Chicago White Sox yesterday.
"We are six games into the season,
but there is a still long way to go,"
Trammell said. "It's disappointing, no
question. We'll have to regroup."
The New York Mets were the last
team to lose their first six games in
back-to-back seasons. They did it in
1962 and 1963 - their first two sea-
sons'- according to the Elias Sports
Bureau, baseball's statistician.

Overtime loss drops
Wings behind Daflas
CHICAGO (AP) - Although they
failed to make the postseason for the
fifth time in six years, the Chicago
Blackhawks still managed to impact
the playoffs and disappoint the Stanley
Cup champions.
Tyler Arnason scored 2:10 into over-
time, lifting the Blackhawks to a 4-3
victory against Detroit and denying the
Red Wings first place in the Western
Conference yesterday.
Detroit finished with 110 points, one
fewer than Pacific Division-champion
Dallas. The Red Wings closed the reg-
ular season 21-4-1-1 in its last 27
games. They lost once in their final six
games (5-1-2).
Arnason picked up a drop pass from
Kyle Calder at the blue line and fired a
shot Fon the far circle that beat goalie
Curtis Joseph.

WaLlace, Pistons go
down to San Antonio
AUBURN HILLS (AP) - San
Antonio won its ninth straight; Detroit
lost Ben Wallace.
Tim Duncan had 25 points and 21
rebounds as San Antonio extended the
league's longest current winning
streak, defeating the shorthanded Pis-
tons 89-83 yesterday.
Wallace went down with a sprained
medial collateral ligament in his left
knee late in the first half when team-
mate Tayshaun Prince fell into him.
The All-Star, who leads the league in
rebounds and blocks, will undergo an
MRI exam Monday to help determine
if he'll play again this season.
If the news is not good, it will be a
crushing blow to a Pistons team that
lost its third in a row and dropped a
half-game behind New Jersey for the
best record in the Eastern-Conference-

Syracuse forward Hakim Warrick threw down for two of his 18 points in the
Orangemen's 95.84 win over the Texas on Saturday, in between the ads for T3.

S9

NOTES


Shaya leads tennis to
upset of Hoosiers
The Michigan men's tennis team
snapped a six-match losing streak
yesterday, upsetting No. 28 Indiana
4-3 at the Varsity Tennis Center on
Saturday.
The Wolverine were led by senior
co-captain Chris Shaya, who won
both of his matches on the day,

including the deciding match at No. 3
singles. After dropping the first set in
a tiebreaker to Zach Held, Shaya ral-'
lied to win the second set 6-4 and the
third set 6-3 to take the match.
Shaya also teamed with co-captain
Chris Rolf to take an 8-4 victory at
No. 2 doubles, Michigan's only victo-
ry at doubles all day.
Sophomore Josef Fischer earned
the first point of the day for Michigan
with hiseasy 6-2,-.6-1 win over Tom

Bagnato. Junior Anthony Jackson and
sophomore David Anving both won
their singles matches, although not as
easily as Fischer. Jackson defeated
Viktor Libal 7-6, 7-5 and Anving took
three sets to dispose of Petr Novotny
5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Michigan will be back at the Varsi-
ty Tennis Center tomorrow against
Indiana Stgte at 3 p.m.

- Daniel Bremmer


w