Friday February 20, 2004 sports.michigandaiLy.com sports@michigandaily.com Ptr TSt-gan Baild 8 Hoosier mommy? Indiana wins easy, stops losing streak Pool's foul trouble 1 limits her availability By Megan Kolodgy Daily Sports Writer BLOOMINGTON - Losing on the road has become a pastime for the Michigan women's basketball team, and last night's 65-52 loss at Indi- ana's Assembly Hall served to drive that point home. The WolverinesMcIG 5 arrived in Bloom- ington reeling from two tough losses to Michigan State and Penn State with the hope of, perhaps, turning things around. Michigan edged out the Hoosiers at home back in January, and Indiana's 3-10 Big Ten mark coming into the game was one of the few conference records that was worse than Michi- gan's (4-10 Big Ten, 11-16 overall). At first, it looked as if the Wolver- ines might have been able to pull it off. Despite losing Pool to the bench due to early foul trouble, Michigan managed to take a 17-7 lead, which proved to be its largest of the game. Only minutes later, things began to unravel for the Wolverines. Powered by junior standout Jenny DeMuth, Indiana (4-10, 11-14) inched its way back into contention. With about four and a half minutes remaining in the half, Indiana guard Leah Enterline sank a clutch shot from outside the arc, which allowed Indiana to take the lead for the first time since the opening moments of the game. Once Indiana was ahead, it stayed there for the remainder of the contest. "The thing that was the most frus- trating was that we had a game plan coming in to stop the drive," Michi- gan coach Cheryl Burnett said. "And they did the same thing every time in about every single possession, espe- cially with DeMuth. We're saying stop the drive ... and it's frustrating when we allow them to do the same thing every possession." Indiana intensely pressured Michigan's most consistent scoring threat, senior Jennifer Smith, under the basket by thrusting two or three players on her each time she received the ball. Although she was hampered in the paint, Smith kept Michigan in the game with her free-throw shooting. Smith went 11-of-12 from the charity stripe in the first half, and finished the game 14-of-17. "It's unbelievable how hard it is for Jen (Smith) to score," Burnett said. "And yet she ended up with 29 points." Burnett dipped into the bench to make up for Pool's absence and to try to find a combination that could effectively shut down DeMuth. Unfortunately for Michigan, Indi- ana's hustle and desire to emerge from a deep eight-game losing streak helped put them on top, 31-24, at the end of the half. "Even when things weren't going well, we still believed, we still knew we were going to get the win," DeMuth said. "The thought of losing never really crossed our minds." The second frame brought more of the same, as the gap between the Wolverines and the Hoosiers widened. The streaky Pool re-entered the game after sitting out for 17 min- utes of the first half, but she turned in just three points in the second half. Senior captain Stephanie Gandy provided a bit of a spark when she cut Indiana's lead to single digits within the first 10 minutes of the half, and turned in 13 points by the end of the game. Michigan came within four, but lukewarm shooting plagued the Wolverines, and Indiana constantly outworked them. "Add giving up easy layups, not By Ellen McOarrity Daily Sports Writer BLOOMINGTON - Two min- utes and two personal fouls into the Michigan women's basketball game against Indiana, junior Tabitha Pool was already warming the bench. Any fan who has watched this for- ward in action at Crisler Arena m might be surprised to see Pool in such a position early in the game. Pool has been the source of about one-third of the Wolverines' scoring this sea- son. But anyone who has witnessed Michigan play on the road would tell you that Pool's early-game exit was very predictable. Just three weeks ago in Cham- paign, Pool was pulled off the court for the exact same reason - com- mitting two fouls in the first two minutes of play. She finished out the first half of that game with zero points and just four minutes of play- ing time. Her 15-point total for the game was still impressive, but could have been more had she not sat the first half out. Last Sunday at Penn State, Pool had similar problems - out again for the entire first half after getting into foul trouble. By the second half, she had lost her touch from beyond the arc, and ended the game with a point total of zero. Yesterday's game was no differ- ent, as Pool logged just three points in four minutes of play in the first half, and finished the game with just six points. Michigan coach Cheryl, Burnett says it's difficult to keep Pool on the bench, but feels that it's something she has to do. "It's pretty tough when you get two fouls," Burnett said. "And as a coach, by now I have a pretty good understanding of who can play with two and who can't. You take a chance and put her back in and chance getting a third and really have limited minutes. And at that point we had a lead. Niki (Reams) was playing extremely well off the bench." Pool agreed with her coach, and added that "I was a little cold in the second half." HOME COURT DISADVANTAGE?: Last Sunday, Michigan played in front of a packed house at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center. The sold-out arena housed an astounding 15,389 fans - the largest crowd ever to watch a basketball game in State College. But when the Wolverines set foot in Indiana's Assembly Hall yester- day, they entered an extremely dif- ferent venue than the one they had experienced in State College. Just 706 bodies occupied the arena - including the cheerleaders, pep band members, press, ticket sellers and even the teams and coaching staffs. The thirty-something crowd that showed up on Michigan's behalf appeared to be almost as large as Indiana's small showing. Until yesterday, the Hoosiers had not won a single conference game at home. YESTERDAY' S GAME Michigan (52) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Gandy 39 5-10 3-3 3-7 1 3 13 Smith 40 7-24 14-17 2-8 0 2 29 Pooi 23 3-9 0-0 3-7 1 3 6 Hauser-Price27 03 0.2 00 2 0 0 Helvey 22 1-4 1-1 0-5 0 4 3 Andrews 6 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Carney 13 0-3 1-2 2-4 0 1 1 Reams 25 0-4 0-0 2-5 1 2 0 Burlin 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 McPhilamy 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 TEAM 2-3 Totals 200 16-5719.2514405 17 52 FG%: .281. FT%: .760. 3-point FG: 1-13, .077 (Smith 1-4, Gandy 0-2, Carney 0-2, Reams 0-2, Pool 0-3). Blocks: 2 (Smith, Helvey). Steals: 7 (Smith 2, Pool 2, Helvey 2, Hauser-Price). Turnovers: 14 (Hauser- Price 4, Gandy 3, Reams 2, Smith, Pool, Helvey, Carney, TEAM). Technical fouls: none. INDIANA (65) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS DeMuth 40 7-14 9-14 4-12 1 3 23 Hawkins 20 3-6 0-0 3-8 2 4 6 McKay 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Valentin 36 7-16 2-2 0-3 1 2 21 Stephenson 17 0-2 0-0 1-3 2 2 0 Boyd 4 0-2 0-0 0-1 00 0 Enterline 23 2-4 4-4 0-2 2 1 9 Branson 34 2-5 0-0 2-7 2 1 4 Chapman 22 1-6 0-2 1.4 0 3 2 TEAM 1-2 Totals 200 22-5515-2212421017 65 FG%:.400. FT%: .682. 3-point FG: 6-15, .400 (Valentin 5-8, Enterline 1-2, DeMuth 0- 1, Stephenson 0-1, Boyd 0-1, Branson 0-1, Chapman 0-1). Blocks: 4 (Chapman 2, DeMuth, Hawkins). Steals: 7 (Valentin 3, DeMuth 2, Hawkins, Stephenson). Turnovers: 17 (DeMuth 3, Valentin 3, Bran- son 3, Hawkins 2, McKay 2, Enterline 2, Stephenson, TEAM). Technical fouls: none. Michigan.....................24 28 - 52 Indiana...........31 34 - 65 At: Assembly Hall, Bloomington Attendance: 706 KATIE KAUSS/Indiana Daily Student Jamey Chapman shoots over Michigan's Jennifer Smith. Smith scored 29 points in a losing effort, as Indiana prevailed 65-52. being able to score and getting out- hustled, and we're probably lucky to be this close," Burnett said. This particular road loss was cer- tainly not influenced by a packed arena, as may have been the case at Penn State. Burnett asserted that it was not the size of the crowd that is causing her team to flounder when they are not on the familiar floor of Crisler Arena. N I "We haven't played well on the road at all, except maybe Wisconsin," said Burnett, commenting on whether it was worse to play in front of a large or small crowd. "So flip a coin." Q7& NOTE Football game T-shirt contest resumes Like last year, the Michigan Ath- letic Department will create foot- ball season T-shirts next season, and again will allow students to design it. The deadline for student submis- sions is Monday, March 1 at 5 p.m. The winner will be selected by a panel of students, athletic depart- ment representatives and University officials, and the designer will win 2004 season tickets. Last year, over A As an engineer in the U.S. there's Air Force, no telling what 38,000 "Welcome to the House" T-shirts were sold to dents and fans. Big stu- U '4. UPCOMING EVENTS you'll work on. (Seriously, we can't tell you.) C mmmmml;- - Hockey #44 vs. Bowling Green Friday & Saturday 7:35 p.m. Men's Tennis ms. vs. |Women's Tennis VS. T Tennessee Saturday 1 p.m. Men's & Women's Track & Field Harold Silverston Invitational Saturday Starting @ 9 a.m. UM Indoor Track Facility Free Admission Men's Basketball -iJ vs. Wisconsin Brown United States Air Force applied technology is years ahead of what you'll touch in the private sector, and as a new engineer you'll likely be involved at the ground level of new and sometimes classified developments. You'll begin leading and managing within this highly respected group from day one. Find out what's waiting behind the scenes for you in Sunday Noon Sunday @ 2 p.m. Crisler Arena 2 Free Admission UM Tennis Center Free Admission UM Tennis Center Yost Ice Arena ............... i . the Air Force today. To request more information, call 1-800-423-USAF or log on to airforce.com. do