8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 25, 2003
al
Tide rol v
Blue mishaps
movertime
By Josh Holman
Daily Sports Writer
As Alabama junior forward Tawana Free-
man's putback rebound fell through the hoop
just before the buzzer sounded in overtime, it
was hard to tell if Free- A
man's only field goal of G 4
the game had beaten the
Wolverines, or if they'd beaten themselves.
The Crimson Tide toppled the Michigan
women's basketball team in overtime, 76-74,
last night at Crisler Arena.
The deciding bucket came in the final sec-
onds. Freshman Navonda Moore - who
carved up Michigan for 28 points off the
bench and sent the game into overtime by
scoring with four seconds left in regulation
- drove the lane and threw up a shot that
was rebounded by Freeman, who banked the
winning bucket off the glass just as time
expired.
Michigan (3-2) couldn't make the final
defensive stop, but the Wolverines already
had plenty of chances to shut the door.
"We feel like we had it, but we gave it
away," Michigan coach Cheryl Burnett said.
"Turning the ball over at critical times ...
executing our press-breaker, getting the ball
to the right people in the right situations. It
was ours."
Michigan was up by two in overtime with
43 seconds left when junior guard Sierra
Hauser-Price was called for a travel along the
Alabama bench.
That mistake could have been negated after
the Wolverines came up with a defensive
stop, forcing a held-ball situation, but sopho-
more Niki Reams was whistled for a travel on
the ensuing inbounds pass.
The Crimson Tide (1-0) converted on the
mistakes when junior Natasha Gamble hit on
a field goal that tied the game at 74.
"We looked fearful when things didn't go
our way," Hauser-Price said.
"We need to have that air about us that
when things aren't going our way, we can
rally back because we have good shooters, we
WOMEN
Continued from Page 7
Wolverines to their proud finish by placing
17th and 25th, respectively.
"I was pretty happy with the results," Wal-
ter said. "I really liked the course, so it
made it a better race."
This was Allen-Young's first season with
the Wolverines after running for four years
at Dartmouth.
She finished up her last year of eligibility
at Michigan, where she is attending graduate
school. Yesterday marked her first appear-
ance at the NCAA Championships.
"I was really pleased with how I ran in the
race," Allen-Young said. "I was equally
excited with how well the team ended up. A
top-five finish is awesome, and I am so
proud of everyone."
Junior Sarah Pizzo, senior Lindsey Gallo
and sophomore Katie Erdman were third,
fourth and fifth, respectively, amongst
Michigan scoring runners, all placing within
the top 100 in a field of 225 runners.
"We trained to peak for this meet, and
that's what we did," Gallo said.
The race was run on the Irv Warren Golf
MEN
Continued from Page 7
with high hopes of a top-30 finish, and he
had reason to have them. He was a model of
consistency the entire season for his team,
dropping times and places as he went along.
He earned All-Big Ten and All-Region honors
coming into the race, but unfortunately one
bad race can damper an amazing season.
Greenless stood next to his mother and team-
mates after the race quieter than he has been
all season.
Stanko and L'Heureux also finished off
their careers on the national stage. Stanko
capped off his third year as the Wolverines'
captain in 137th place. L'Heureux's first and
last season as a Wolverine finished well, as
he finished in 152nd place. After running for
Lehigh University for three years, L'Heureux
transferred to Michigan to become a better
course, where the Wolverines ran Pre-
Nationals earlier in the season and finished
in fourth place.
"Knowing the course definitely helped
us," Walter said. "The hills weren't too bad,
and due to the cold weather, the ground was
much harder."
The bright sunny sky was very mislead-
ing, as the temperature hit a frigid 11
degrees with the wind chill, forcing Michi-
gan to wear warmer clothes.
"I don't think the weather made for any
worse of a race," Walter said. "We've run in
all kinds of weather during the season."
The runners left Ann Arbor late Friday
evening so they could have enough time to
be relaxed and focused for the race three
days later. And on Sunday evening, the team
held a meeting with McGuire to talk about
race strategies and team goals.
"There were mixed emotions the night
before the race," Walter said. "In the meet-
ing, there were definitely elements of being
nervous and excited.
"But, ultimately, we knew that we had all
trained really hard for this meet since the
beginning of the season. It's nice to see it
pay off."
runner under coach Ron Warhurst. Exhausted
after his last race, he was able to smile and
simply explain his last race collegiate race.
"It was fun," L'Heureux said.
The frigid weather couldn't stop Stanford,
as it successfully defended its national title.
Ranked No. 1 throughout the entire year, the
Cardinal placed four men in the top six and
five in the top 10. Stanford's 24 points is the
second-lowest score ever, and its 150-point
margin of victory over Wisconsin smashed
the old record of 122 points, held by
Arkansas in 1993. Dathan Ritzenhein of Col-
orado won the men's individual crown, edg-
ing out Stanford's Ryan Hall by 1.7 seconds.
Ritzenhein, a two-time High School National
Champion from Rockford and the fourth-
place finisher in 2001, finished the season
undefeated. He fought back from stress frac-
tures in both tibias that forced him to redshirt
last season.
I
SHUBRA OHRI/Daily
Michigan junior guard Sierra Hauser-Price played more than 40 minuted last night before she was
called for traveling with 44 seconds left in the Wolverines' overtime loss to Alabama.
have good rebounders and we can stop people
on the defensive end."
The Wolverines still had a chance to run
out the clock and come through on the free-
throw line, but Alabama was able to force
junior center BreAnne McPhilamy into a
held-ball situation and gained possession, set-
ting up the final play.
McPhilamy was in the game for senior cen-
ter Jennifer Smith - Michigan's most reli-
able free-throw shooter - who fouled out
with 44 seconds left in overtime. Smith left
with 27 points and seven rebounds. She
scored 11 of the team's first 13 points while
logging 44 minutes,; but her presence dimin-
ished the further the game went on.
"I was running post players in and out try-
ing to find somebody that could slow her
down," Alabama coach Rick Moody said.
"We were trying to make her really run up
and down the floor.
"It's hard for anybody to do that for 40
minutes."
Hauser-Price and senior Stephanie Gandy
also played more than 40 minutes. An over-
time game was not the ideal situation for the
Wolverines, who have now played five games
in 10 days.
"I don't want to use anything as an excuse,
because we really came out of the gate quick,
but let them get back in it," Burnett said.
"When they started heating things up a little
bit, we start not executing. To me, that's when
we should execute the best."
0
Stupid for
ESPNto
pullshow
O'NEILL
Continued from Page 7
the coach, Taylor, has received nothing
but but hatred for his supposedly kind
action.
A column praising Haasis and
cheap-shotting Taylor was written by
Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated, and
Taylor's name is being put into con-
tention for ESPN.com's "Turkey of the
Year" (other nominees include Dave
Bliss, who convinced Baylor players to
lie about a teammate after his murder;
and Mike Price and Larry Eustachy,
forever linked together by their differ-
ent drunken escapades). Hmmm ...
lying, murder, drunken behavior and
trying to reward a senior for four years
of hard work? Yup, all look alike to me.
Neal Taylor is someone I don't
know, but if I had to guess, he's very
much underpaid and now receiving
criticisms as if he were getting paid
like Jon Gruden.
Commend Haasis for realizing the
difference between fair and unfair, but
don't lambaste Taylor for trying to per-
form a nice gesture that backfired in
his face.
3. The Detroit Tigers will get
Miguel Tejada.
What? They will. (Insert blind-faith
comment here).
4. ESPN is being told by the NFL
to shut down "Playmakers", or
else.
That's right, ESPN's hit show is in
the process of having its plug pulled.
Apparently, the NFL isn't fond of the
portrayal that the show gives, and now
it is threatening the network to not
resign its football deal with the Leader
of Worldwide Sports in 2005 when its
current contract runs out.
Most likely ESPN will either tone
the show down (leading to one of
the most disappointing moments in
television since the cancellation of
Family Guy), or just axe it all
together so that ABC won't feel the
after-effects of what would occur
with the cancellation.
To this I say, go cry me a river.
You're telling me Bill Romanowski
sets a good example for the kids?
That William Green's current ordeal
isn't a reflection of the league?
That the perception of drugs, illegiti-
mate children, homosexuals, dreams
crushed, abuse and off-field problems
isn't there in the NFL?
"Playmakers" is a bad show. So bad
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