The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, December 7, 2006 - 5A Undone by RedHawk shooting, Blue falls to 6-4 on the year By CHRIS HERRING Daily Sports Writer OXFORD - Coming off arguably its biggest win of the season, the Michigan women's basketball team returned to the courtbetter than ever. Well, in some ways it did. Despite season highs in MICHIGAN 74 shooting percentage and assists, MIAMI (OH) 84 and a season low in turnovers, the Wolverines couldn't escape Oxford with the most important statistic. Miami (Ohio) outplayed Michi- gan in nearly every category last night and took an 84-74 win in the process. The RedHawks (5-4), who shot a blistering 64 percent from the field in the first half, always had an answer for the Wolverines (6-4). And most of the time, those answers came from the 3-point stripe. Miami used 11-of-25 shooting from behind the arc to halt Michigan's momentum on numerous occa- sions. "It's deflating," Michigan coach Cheryl Burnett said of Miami's hot shooting. "We were really trying to muster some enthusiasm and some excitement, and I didn't feel like we were generating that." The Wolverines struggled to produce when they needed to most. The Red Hawks held Michigan score- less for the game's final 2:14 and went on a 9-0 run to finish the contest. "I didn't think we executed well (in the final two minutes)," Burnett said. "I didn't think our shot selec- tion was very good at that point." Looking just at the statistics, Michigan played one of its better games of the year. The Wolverines shot 51 percent from the field and tallied 16 assists, while turning it over just 17 times. But that wasn't good enough. Miami outplayed the team in each area. The RedHawks shot 52 per- cent, tallied 19 assists and had one less turnover (16). Miami also held the rebounding edge by one, 32-31. Center Krista Phillips did her best to-keep Michi- gan in the game. The freshman tallied a career-high 21 points and grabbed eight boards. But just as Miami (barely) outperformed Michigan as a team, the RedHawks' top scorer bested Phillips as well. Miami's Jaclyn Leininger's had 22 points and 11 boards to top the stats of the Michigan center. Leading 40-35 at halftime, Miami didn't let up in the second period. The RedHawks scored on their first three possessions to jump out to an 8-2 run to open the half. Phillips, who finished 8-of-11 from the field, was a constant inside force. She scored six consecutive points during one stretch to bring the team within two, 50-48. Butthat didn't matter to Phillips. "With my game tonight, none (of the statistics) make a difference when we lose," Phillips said. Without her, Michigan would have been in even more trouble. The RedHawks shot well from the out- side, but Miami coach Maria Fantanarosa said Phil- lips's height is what forced her team to shoot from the perimeter. "(Phillips) could just hang out in (the paint), and we weren't sure what we were going to do," Fanta- narosa said. But in the end, Miami seemed to know exactly what to do. The Wolverines actually took a 68-67 lead at one point. But the RedHawks went back to their bread and butter, connecting on a 3-pointer to take a 70-68 advantage that Miami would never give up. Michigan shot well, but it didn't look as good on defense. When asked if there is anything a team can do to cool off a hot-shooting squad-like Miami, junior co-captain Janelle Cooper replied quickly. "Play better defense," said Cooper, who scored 17 points. "We have to pressure the ball and try to get (the opposition) out of the things they like to do." Burnett said she wasn't surprised by her team's performance after a good weekend. The Wolverines barely lost to Notre Dame on Friday and beat Miami (Fla.) on Sunday. "I kind of saw this coming," Burnett said. "We did take a day off, and we -did only have one day to pre- pare. But there's no excuses. You still have to go out and play the game." RODRIGO GAYA/Daily Freshman Krista Phillips led the Wolverines with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting and eight boards, but it wasn't enough as Michigan fell to Miami (Ohio) last night. co-m--es close, u can't finish the job Hockey team gets its kicks in pregame ritual By DAN FELDMAN Daily Sports Writer OXFORD - The Michigan women's basketball team held a lead for all of 95 seconds against Miami (Ohio) last night. But that doesn't mean it was a one-sided affair. Michigan cut the RedHawks' lead to one on five separate occa- sions. But that just seemed to anger Miami. The RedHawks responded to the first three one- point Wolverine deficits with runs of 7-1, 10-4 and 12-2. The final two chances Michi- gan saw were squashed with 3-0 and 5-2 stretches from the Red- Hawks. Miami coach Maria Fantan- arosa credited her team's leaders with not allowing the RedHawks to get down when the Wolverines made a run to cut the lead. "It was like they never knew that Michigan even had the momentum," Fantanarosa said. GROWING PAINS: Sophomore point guard Jessica Minnfield picked up her second foul on a charge as she tried to pass the ball to sophomore forward Ash- ley Jones with 2.7 seconds left in the first half. J Michigan coach Cheryl Bur- nett brought freshman point guard Sireece Bass in to ensure Minnfield didn't pick up another foul in the final seconds of the quarter. On the ensuing RedHawk pos- session, Bass let the player she was supposed to be defending, Jenna Schone, get behind her. Schone took the inbounds pass and raced up past half court and threw up a desperation shot. Even though Schone missed her shot, Burnett was not happy. She screamed, "Sireece, come here!" and called her point guard over to her. Burnett appeared to chew out Bass while the rest of the team went to the locker room. Bass did not return to the game until there were just 18 seconds remaining in the contest. In Michigan's last game (a win over Miami (Fla.) on Sunday), Bass did not play. That contest followed a loss to Notre Dame, in which Bass missed critical free throws down the stretch. MOVE OVER ACC, MIAMI WANTS A CHALLENGE: The Red- Hawks beat Michigan in the first of three games during what Miami has dubbed "Beat ,Big Ten Week." The Michigan men's basketball team will play at Mil- lett Hall tomorrow, and the Red- Hawks match up with Ohio State in hockey on Saturday. In addition to a chance to beat two Big Ten squads, Miami stu- dents also had the opportunity to smash Ohio State - and Michi- gan - themed cars. As ambitious as "Beat Big Ten Week" sounded for a Mid-Ameri- can Conference school, last night's win proved it's not a total farce. "We believe that we could beat teams from bigger conferences, even though they might be more athletic and they might be taller," Schone said. By IAN ROBINSON DailySports Writer Before the season, the NCAA modified its rules to allow players to direct, but not kick, the puck into the net with their skates. Maybe the Michigan hockey team's new pregame ritual is to prepare for this exact situation. Prior to each contest, a group of about six players stands in warm- ups and forms a circle next to the rink. They proceed to kick a soccer ball, a la pepper in baseball. But adjusting to the rule change might be a secondary benefit of the new routine. The Wolverines' pri- mary motivation is to stay loose before games. "It's just fun to get the warm-up in and get the blood going," fresh- man Chris Summers said. The Ann Arbor native did the same drill as a member of the Unit- ed States National Team Develop- ment Program under-18 squad in front of the Ann Arbor Ice Cube last year. Summers brought a soc- cer ball to the rink and introduced the ritual to the Wolverines at the beginning of the season. At first, just Summers and senior captain Matt Hunwick partook in the routine. But, as the season has progressed, it's grown to a compa- nyof five or six players. "We like to think we are soc- cer superstars, but we're not even close," Summers said. Defenseman Mark Mitera had never played soccer before Sum- mers started the circle. He claims to have developed some skills just from kicking the ball before games. Of course, soccer's not for every- body. Defenseman Steve Kampfer is realistic about his chances of succeeding on the pitch - or even in the pregame circle. "I'm pretty bad at soccer - I can't even keep the ball up twice," Kampfer said. "If I go in, I just headbutt the ball once and every- body tells me to leave." Junior ChadKolarik,sophomore Travis Turnbull and alternate cap- tain Jason Dest are some of the other players who join the circle. Even though Summers has some ball-handling skills, he might want to hold off on his soccer dreams for now. Right now, Michigan coach Red Berenson badly needs Summers on his blue line, a corps that is missing Dest (out a month with a dislocated shoulder) and might be without sophomore Jack Johnson for this weekend's games. In Saturday's win over Western Michigan, Summers displayed the need for healthy bodies on defense, returning to the ice even after a hit numbed his arm. "We got lucky," Berenson said. "It could've been three (defense- man out) and that might have been too much." Summers is one of two fresh- men, along with forward Brian Lebler, who have appeared in all 17 games so far this year. The injuries to the rest of the defense could prove to be an oppor- tunity forthe younger defensemen. Summersviews this as a chance for him and Kampfer to step up. "It's not like I have to fill any- body's shoes, just keep playing the way I've been playing," Summers said. His game features plenty of speed, whether it's on or off the ice. On the ice, he uses his speed to prevent opponents from taking clean shots on goal. Off the ice, he pedals around campus on his bike. Considering the health status of the defense, Michigan fans should certainly hope that he wears a helmet. 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