2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday, January 10, 2005

WHAT DID YOU SAY?
"As soon as I ot hit
in the nose, it ind of
brought up the spark."
- Purdue forward Erin Lawless
on her reaction to being elbowed
by Michigan's Ta'Shia Walker

YESTERDAY'S SCORE

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Michigan
Purdue

43
60

Ta'Shia Walker
(Michigan)
With the Wolverines struggling
offensively, Walker stepped up her
game, scoring 20 points on 8-14
shooting.

Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton
(Purdue)
The 6-foot-2 freshman did it all for
the Boilermakers, finishing with 11
points, six rebounds, five assists,
five blocks and two steals.


YESTERDAY'S GAME
Michigan 43
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS
Pool 36 4-18 3-3 1-8 0 3 11
Walker 37 8-14 3-4 3-7 0 3 20
McPhilamy13 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 0
Flippin 13 0-1 4-4 0-4 0 2 4
Cooper 15 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 2 0
Starling 25 0-4 0-0 0-3 1 2 0
Clement 27 2-7 2-2 0-2 4 3 6
Helvey 34 0-5 2-2 0-4 3 3 2
TEAM 4-5
Totals 200 14-5014-168-35 8 19 43
FG%: 28.0 FT%: 87.5 3-point FG: 1-8,
.125 (Walker 1-1, Flippin 0-1, Clement
0-1, Helvey 0-1, Pool 0-2, Starling 0-2).
Blocks: 2 (Pool 2). Steals: 5 (Helvey 2,
Pool 2, Clement 1). Turnovers: 25 (Star-
ling 6, Walker 5, Flippin 4, Pool 4, Helvey
3, McPhilamy 2, Clement 1). Technical
Fouls: None
PURDUE 60

M Hirproving despite losses

By Matt Venegoni
Daily Sports Writer

MIN
Hylton 28
Lawless 36
Heikes 27
Gearlds 37
Webb 18
Bogdanova3
Traore 6
Pollack 19
Jackson 19
Duncan 7
TEAM

FG
M-A
5-10
5-13
3-6
5-9
0-3
0-1
0-2
2-3
3-7
0-1

FT
M-A
1-2
5-6
0-0
2-2
1-3
0-0
0-0
3-3
1-2
0-0

R ER
0-T
2-6
1-5
2-7
0-8'
0-4
0-0
0-0
0-0
0-1
0-0
0-3

A
5
0
0
3
2
0
0
3
0
0

F PTS
4 11
2 16
2 6
0 12
1 1
1 0
1 0
2 7
2 7
2 0

WEST LAFAYETTE - For a young basketball team,
it is important that constant improvement occurs. The
Michigan women's basketball team has lost seven games
in a row and has struggled with turning the ball over
and poor shooting from the field. In yesterday's 60-43
loss to Purdue, the team shot just 28 percent while turn-
ing the ball over 25 times.
But while the team dropped to 0-4 in the Big Ten and
4-11 overall, it has seen development in its play.
In many of its previous games, including losses to
Western Michigan and No. 6 Michigan State, oppos-
ing teams played different zones that affected the Wol-
verines' offensive flow. Against Purdue's man-to-man
defense, Michigan was able to utilize its dribble pen-
etration to create scoring opportunities.
"We really thought we did a great job, especially in
spurts offensively, of dribble penetrating," coach Cheryl
Burnett said. "We created some really nice things for
us that we haven't done a great job up to now: dribble
penetrating and making the next pass."
With the backcourt driving to the hoop, Michigan
(-- produced easy scoring opportunities for freshman for-
ward Ta'Shia Walker. Walker led the Wolverines with
- 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. Many of
her attempts were within a few feet of the hoop - high
percentage shots that she has shown she can convert
on.
Going into the season, the coaching staff knew the
lack of size would hurt the team's rebounding. But the
ALEXANDER DZIADSZDailyWolverines also figured they could improve steadily
Freshman Becky Flippin's tough defense helped contain Purdue's guards. in that department through hard work and effort. And
Turnovers sink Wolverines

despite Purdue starting four players who measured
over six feet, Michigan still out-rebounded the larg-
er Boilermakers 35-34, including nine-to-five off the
offensive glass. Three of Purdue's offensive rebounds
came on one possession in the second half.
"I thought, offensively, we rebounded really hard,
more than we did before," Walker said. "We knew
that they were athletic and quite bigger than us. But
rebounding is not about that. It's about effort. We just
said that everybody had to go after the boards."
With its offense struggling, Michigan had to step
up its play on defense throughout the game. For the
most part, the Wolverines were able to contain Purdue,
which shot 42 percent from the field.
Michigan's smaller guards - freshmen Becky Flip-
pin and Krista Clement - pestered Purdue's guards all
afternoon, trying to keep the ball out of the hands of
sophomore forward Erin Lawless. The Wolverines con-
tained her for most of the first half, limiting her to four
points. But they couldn't contain the 6-foot-2 forward
all game, and she netted 12 points in the second half.
"I thought they did a great job getting Lawless back
in the game, specifically isolating her," Burnett said.
"We allowed her to catch the ball."
The Wolverines need a more consistent defensive
showing, but yesterday's game showed the improvement
they have made over the course of the early conferenc
season.
While Michigan ultimately lost the game, it hopes
that the adjustments it made will carry over into its
future games, including Tuesday's matchup against No.
9 Ohio State.
"I think we are just progressing everyday and getting
better everyday," senior forward Tabitha Pool said.

Totals 200 23-55 13-18 5-34 13 17 60
FG%: 41.8 FM% 72.2 3-point FG: 1-7,
.143 (Lawless 1-2, Gearlds 0-1, Webb 0-1,
Traore 0-1, Jackson 0-2). Blocks: 6 (Hyl-
ton 5, Gearlds). Steals: 18 (Lawless 4,
Heikes 3, Duncan 3, Hylton 2, Gearlds 2,
Pollack 2, Jackson 2). Turnovers: 13 (Law-
less 3, Gearlds 3, Webb 2, Traore 2, Jack-
son 2, Heikes). Technical Fouls: None

Michigan................ 25
Purdue................... 27

18 - 43
33 - 60

At: Mackey Arena
Attendance: 11,783

BIG TEN
Team
Minnesota
Penn State
Purdue
Ohio State
Michigan State
Illinois
Iowa
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Indiana
Michigan

STANDINGS

Big
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
0
0

Ten
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
3
3
3
4

Overall
13 2
8 6
10 4
14 2
10 3
10 3
13 2
6 7
4 13
7 6
4 11

BOILERMAKERS
Continued from page 1B
to give them a lead," Burnett
said. "We tried to battle back,
and then when we're battling
back, and (we get) a defense
stand. And then (we give) the
basketball right back to them."
Turnovers were the theme of
the night for the Wolverines,
who committed 25 - just one
shy of their season-high. Purdue
took advantage of the takeaways
and scored 24 of their points off
Michigan miscues.
"We work a lot on our half-
court defense into a transition
offense and trying to make good
decisions," Purdue coach Kristy
Curry said. "I think today, we
maybe weren't able to score
quickly, but I think we were more

poised and made better decisions
at the (point guard position)."
The Boilermakers started the
game out strong, jumping out
to a 13-4 lead. But thanks to
strong rebounding and defense,
the Wolverines managed to tie
the game at 25 before going
down by just two at halftime.
The rebounding broke down
in the second half, and the 10-
rebound advantage Michigan
took into the half diminished to
one by the end of the game. This
was highlighted by a sequence
where the Boilermakers grabbed
three offensive boards on one
possession.
"I think we settled back,"
Boilermakers forward Erin Law-
less. "T guess'ive sort of had
some complacency to us at the
end of the first half. Just going

into the second half, knowing
it's Big Ten, you never want to go
out and lose. You have to go out
and realize rebounds are making
a difference."
And the Wolverines' strong
defense could only provide so
much of a boost. Stopping the
Boilermakers was not enough
to overcome a poor offensive
showing by Michigan. Other
than Walker - who bucketed
a game-high 20 points on the
night - the Wolverines were
ineffective on the offensive end
of the court. The team shot a
season-low 28 percent from the
field en route to a season-low 43
points.
"Sometimes we struggled to
get into an offense, and, at this
point in the season, we should be
beyond that," Burnett said.

THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS:
Purdue 60, MICHIGAN 43
Minnesota 75, New Mexico 35
-0 Illinois 73, Northwestern 65
Ohio State 66, Liberty 51
Michigan State 68, Iowa 56
P nn State 67, Wisconsin 58

ALEXANDER DZIAC
Freshman Ta'Shla Walker led Michigan with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds.


m