The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, March 25, 2008 -9 MICHIGAN 75, VCU 57 Long time coming Rust heals fast with CCHA title on the line Despite fractured fibula, freshman sets up key goal against RedHawks By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK Daily Sports Editor After Michigan's title-clinch- ing win over Miami (Ohio) Satur- day, freshman Matt Rust stood by the team bus with a black and blue CCHA Champions hat on his head. It had been a bruising week- end for the RUST injured fresh- man, and he admitted that if it had been a regular-sea- son series, he might have YEAR: been watching Freshman the games in P street clothes. POSITION: After frac- Center turing - his HOMETOWN: fibula, a non- Bloomfield Hills weight-bear- ing bone in his leg, at prac- tice March 12, Rust missed the Wolverines' CCHA quarterfinal series against Nebras- ka-Omaha. He resumed skating at practice last Wednesday, just seven days after suffering the injury. "There is a lot of pain there," Rust said. "But (Detroit Red Wing) Chris Chelios had the same type of injury and he was able to play after a week, too." The freshman center had just two days to get into game shape before the Wolverines' CCHA semifinal- game against Northern Michigan. Michigan coach Red Berenson said Rust limped through the week and wasn't very good when he got back onto his skates. But after Friday's morningskate, Rust told the coaches he was ready to play. Iterenson had kept Rust in a maroon jersey during practice - the color reserved for scratches. Though Rust told Berenson Wednesday that he felt ready to play Friday, Beren- son cautioned the forward to keep his injury status day-to-day. "'I don'twant you to play because your girlfriend is coming to the game,' " Berenson said, recalling his conversation with Rust. "'You have to play because you think you can help your team win. Otherwise, tell me you're not playing, and I'm okay with that."' In his first game back, Rust was matched up against Northern Mich- igan freshman Mark Olver, a center who has as many goals (21) as Rust has points this season. But against the Wildcats, Rust showed few outward signs of the fracture that led Michigan trainer Rick Bancroft to make a custom brace just so the freshman could skate. Rust won 11 of 20 draws and Berenson praised his comeback after Friday's 6-4 win. Rust said his leg was sore, espe- cially after falling down during his first shift, but the pain lessened as the game continued. On Saturday, he faced Miami freshman standout Carter Camper, whose 38 points this season trail only the point totals of star duo Ryan Jones and Justin Mercier. But before Camper and the RedHawks could make a mark on the score- board, Rust set up the Wolverines' first goal. Midway through the second period, Rust had the puck above the right circle and passed it to freshman Aaron Palushaj, who charged the crease and tapped a one-timer past Miami goalie Jeff Zatkoff. "To be honest with you, I was going to try and beat him wide," Rust said. "But my leg's a little banged up, so the (Miami) guy pulled up and I saw Palushaj driving the net and I just tried to find him." Rust's return to the lineup also boosted the Michigan penalty-kill- ing unit. -Though the Wolverines took fewer penalties than in past week- ends, Rust and the shorthanded Wolverines held off a brutal offen- sive assault from the RedHawks in the second period and allowed just one power-play goal all weekend - Miami's only tally with 39 seconds left in the game. "He could hardly walk this morn- ing, but he came up to me and said, 'I want to play again. I can get the job done,' " Berenson said Saturday. "And that's why we're sitting here, just because of the character of these (guys)." LZ JEREMY CHO/Dai Senior Janelle Cooper brushes past a VCU defender on her way to scoring 22 points in the Wolverines' 75-57 win Monday night. Quick start helps Layoff allows Blue cruise to win team to fix flaws With victory in postseason game, Wolverines regain relevance By ALEX PROSPERI Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's bas- ketball team continues to push the past further and further away. It wasn't enough for the Wol- verines to play in the Women's National Invitational Tourna- ment for the first time since 2002. Last night, they became the first team in the program's 35- year history to reach the third round of a postseason tourna- ment other than the Big Ten Tournament. . Thanks to senior Janelle Cooper's 22 points and a 14-0 run to start the game, Michigan easily took down Virginia Com- monwealth, 75-57, at Crisler Arena last night. "My teammates did a very good job of rotating the ball and getting it to me," Cooper said. "I was just happy that I made some shots today. Hopefully, that continues for the rest of this NIT." The co-captain had a near- perfect performance, shooting 7-for-8 from the field and 5-for- 6 from three-point range. She also knocked down all three of her free throws. Despite not playing a game for three weeks, Michigan (9- 9 Big Ten, 18-13 overall) com- bined to shoot 13-for-22 from behind the arc. "We were still in the gym even though we weren't play- ing games," Cooper said. "I'm not really surprised. We have pretty good shooters on our team." Cooper ignited the first-half run that put the Rams (13-5 Colonial Athletic Association, 26-8) behind by double-dig- its just three minutes into the game. Cooper connected on her first three-pointer and one minute later, junior Carly Ben- son did the same. Benson hit another from behind the arc and Cooper responded with a traditional three-point play just seconds later. After a field goal by junior Jessica Minnfield, the Wolver- ines led 14-0 a little more than four minutes into the game. "I think a lot of us were pumped and geeked and were ready to go," junior Ashley Jones said. "That 14-0 run at the beginning was just us being ready.", Despite the team's best shooting performance of the season, Michigan's usual weak- nesses were still on display. The Wolverines were out- shot, outrebounded on the offensive glass and committed twice as many turnovers as the Rams. Earlier in the season, that would have spelled disas- ter for the team. And even though Michigan started the second half with four straight turnovers, Michi- gan coach Kevin Borseth and the Wolverines proved they wouldn't let their normal flaws get in the way of victory. Michigan took its fewest shots from the field all season (37) but responded by shooting 62 percent from the field, its best shooting performance of the season. Michigan's strong play on the defensive end forced VCU to shoot just 30 percent from the field and created numerous three-on-two fast break oppor- tunities that led to wide-open shots. Cooper led the way with four assists. "We usually don't get that many assists," Borseth said. "That's a pretty big figure for us." After last night's victory, the Wolverines have their sights set on one goal. "We have our eye on the prize," Jones said. "We want to win the championship." By CHRIS MESZAROS Daily Sports Writer After a three-week layoff, some questioned whether the Michigan women's basketball team could play its best offen- sive basket- ball in the NOTEBOOK second round of the Women's National Invi- tational Tournament. Its 75-57 win over Virginia Commonwealth proved that it could. The long layover was a bless- ing after the Wolverines were dominated by Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament. The Hawk- eyes held Michigan to just 37 points - the team's lowest total of the season - and raised some questions about how prepared the team was heading into the postseason. "We needed the time to sit back and re-evaluate and fix some things and get us moving in the right direction," Michi- gan coach Kevin Borseth said. "I thought (the break) really helped us." Borseth used the bulk of the time off to work on the team's shooting, a glaring weakness in the Iowa game. And after shooting a paltry 27.1 percent against the Hawkeyes, Michi- gan was lights-out against Vir- ginia Commonwealth, shooting over 72 percent in the first half and 62 percent for the game. "We had a great week of practice," Borseth said. "With preparation for this game, we were probably a lot better than we were when we ended the year. We had our best practic- es, probably, in the last week. We prepared ourselves better for this than any game that we played." Not only did the break allow theWolverinesto shoreupsome areas of concern, it allowed them to rest up. But the senior class was ready to get the tour- nament started, never having played in a postseason game. "(When you're) practicing every day and not playing a game, you just feel anxious to get out there," senior Janelle Cooper said. "But when you're out there, your adrenaline is flowing and you're excited tobe there." PRAYER ANSWERED: If one miracle shot wasn't enough this season, Michigan made sure it got a second. As the seconds wound down in the first half, senior Krista Clement lost control of the ball while dribbling through half court. The senior regained possession with three seconds remaining on the clock and heaved up an off-balance shot from about 35 feet away. Just like Krista Phillips' buzzer- beating shot against Wisconsin which sent the game to over- time and allowed the Wolver- ines to win, Clement's shot fell "(The shot was) pretty lucky, I guess," Clement said. "Every- one was laughing. (My oppo- nent) was like, 'you traveled and they didn't call it, and you lost the ball and you got it and then you made it.' It was pretty funny." The shot gave Michigan a 41- 25 lead at halftime and ignited the Crisler Arena crowd. "That was drive, that was Krista Clement drive," Borseth said. "She's one of those kids that doesn't quit on the play. She's a complete player. She threw it up there and every- body was like, 'yes!"' STAYING HOME: In a sur- prise turnaround, the Wolver- ines willbe hosting round three of the WNIT against Southern Mississippi on Thursday. Last week, it appeared that Michi- ganwould have to travelto Mis- sissippi to play because of the women's gymnastics Big Ten Championships scheduled for Friday. But the Athletic Depart- ment was able to re-schedule when equipment for the gym- nastics meet would be set up. Playing at home has been a major boost for Michigan this season. The Wolverines are 11- 3 at home and just 5-8 on the road. Earl of Sand.w*jih 307 S. 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