4B - February 8, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
4B - February 8, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
' tallies huge blowout
victory a inst Gophers
Cameron earns
third invitation
to national team
Wolverines come
alive in second half
to run away with
conference win
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
After the Michigan women's
basketball team's 74-40 trampling
of Min-
nesota on MINNESOTA 40
Sunday, MICHIGAN 74
the team
was brimming with relief and sat-
isfaction in the postgame press
conference.
It was a huge change in
demeanor after Thursday's four-
point loss to Northwestern.
Smiles and laughter were in
abundance even before the game
clock ran out Sunday.
After a first half that saw five
lead changes and 25 combined
turnovers, a 6-2 run by Michigan
with two minutes remaining in
the half proved to be the momen-
tum change the Wolverines
needed. They never looked back,
earning their first 30-plus point
victory of the conference season.
Senior Krista Phillips fist-
pumped after making her third
3-pointer in three tries and soph-
omore center Carmen Reynolds
broke into a smile when she hit
one from downtown.
Sophomore guard Courtney
Boylan was the first off the bench
and went on to play 17 minutes,
providing the spark the Wolver-
ines needed to play above the
ordinary.
"It seemed like a little bit that
we were lacking of energy to start
the game," Boylan said. "It's Sun-
day, it's one o'clock. Sometimes
you don't have as much energy as
you usually do. So I kind of want-
ed to just come out there and give
us a little spark, give us a little
energy and I think that it really
helped us.
"We didn't come out in the sec-
ond half necessarily winning by
20, but we were up and we had
good momentum going into the
second half."
Michigan (6-7 Big Ten, 14-9
overall) was up by double digits
just two minutes into the second
half when a 29-9 run ensued,
kicking dirt over any chance the
Gophers had to come back.
"You could feel it that it was
going to go," freshman guard
Jenny Ryan said. "We knew that
we could find the seams (in the
defense). It was there, and I was
just telling (the team) stick with
it, keep hitting shots and it'll all
start to roll in. And in the end, it
did."
The Wolverines scored 45
points in the second half, more
than Minnesota scored the entire
game, and got nearly everyone in
on the party.
Sophomore forward Carmen
Reynolds made a jump shot as
she twisted and threw the ball
toward the basket as the shot
clock expired. Ryan threw herself
into the sideline in an attempt to
rescue a ball going out of bounds.
"When we came out after half-
time, I knew we were going to
come out with a lot of energy,"
Ryan said. "I could just sense it.
There was just one thing after
another. Open layups, we were
hitting shots, we made the adjust-
ments that were key. I wasn't
expecting us to win by 30, which
we did, but we'll take it."
After Northwestern stole what
would have been the Wolver-
ines' fourth-straight conference
win in Evanston on Thursday,
Michigan's domination over the
Gophers (5-7, 11-12) yesterday put
the team back on track.
And there is no better time for
a confidence-boosting blowout
than the game before rival Michi-
gan State comes to Crisler Arena
this Thursday.
"Any time we win games in this
By CAITLIN SMITH
Daily Sports Writer
Las Vegas dealt a solid pair of
threes to junior Chris Cameron this
past weekend - but not at the poker
table.
Cameron took third place all-
around at the Winter Cup Invi-
tational with an overall score of
87.600 to earn his third consecu-
tive spot on the U.S. Senior Nation-
al Team. Cameron's performance
is the highest finish ever for any
Michigan gymnast.
The Winter Cup Challenge is a
premier invitational which sets the
stage for 136 gymnasts to compete
for the U.S. National Team invi-
tation. The event consists of four
sessions, three of which took place
last Thursday. The top 42 gymnasts
then move on to day two, when only
15 men make the national selection.
"Usually you have a little fatigue
left over from the first day of com-
petition," Michigan coach Kurt
Golder said. "But Cameron was
really strong, which is just a great
characteristic to develop. He is
good at putting on the blinders and
blocking out distractions during
the competition."
Cameron set a season high on the
parallel bars and took second place
in both the pommel horse and floor
events. He has scored a 15.000 or
better in all five of his floor routines
this season, making him one of the
top floor competitors in the coun-
try.
Six other Wolverines joined
Cameron in representing the No.
1 Michigan squad at the Las Vegas
Sports Center. Senior Mel Anton
Santander and junior Thomas
Kelley both competed in the all-
around, receiving scores of 85.050
and 83.000, respectively.
Several Michigan gymnasts
excelled in their single events,
including fifth-year senior Kent
Caldwell.
Caldwell set a season best on the
floor with a 15.250 in his first-ever
chance to compete for a spot on the
national team.
"This has been one of my goals
for a long time, probably since I was
five years old," Caldwell said. "So
even just competing in a meet like
this was a huge goal of mine."
Junior Ian Makowske also made
his first appearance at the national
level.
Although Makowske struggled
on the floor and pommel horse, he
was able to put together a strong
high bar routine in the big arena.
Makowske broke his career best on
the high bar for the third time this
season with a mark of 14.350.
"Overall, the team had a really
great showing." Makowske said.
"It was an honor to be able to rep-
resent Michigan at something like
this and step on the national stage
wearing the block 'M.'"
01
Sophomore Courntey Boylan was the spark the Wolverines needed to go on a 2'
run and blow out Minnesota by more than thirty points, its biggest margin of vic-
tory this season.
conference is huge on our behalf
because we know how difficult it
is to win games," Michigan Coach
Kevin Borseth said. "But Michi-
gan State is an entirely different
game. Obviously we have to be
ready to play them. They are very
good."
Michigan State is headed to
Ann Arbor after winning four of
its last five conference games and
Michigan.will need all of the con-
fidence it can muster to even the
score against the Spartans this
season after State won in Lansing
in December.
"I think (we gained) con-
fidence," Ryan said after the
blowout. "We know that we are
capable of putting up big num-
bers, especially on our home
court. That's what is going to lead
us. We are going to keep working
hard and we will be ready. We
have to take care of the Spar-
tans."
Wolverines dominate tri-meet,
register highest scores this year
Redshirt senior Brittany May kept the ball outof Michigan's net in its convincing
t2-6 win over No.27 San Jose Slate ater the Wolverines gakendp their first two games
la the No.1 and No. 2 teams this weekend.
@9
Botterman continues
her stellar year with
all-around victory
By STEPHEN NESBITT
Daily Sports Writer
Facing harsh snowy weather
in Morgantown, W. Va., the No.
15 Michigan women's gymnas-
tics team posted its most impres-
sive scores of the year to finish its
three-week road trip.
The Wolverines showcased
an excellent and balanced per-
formance from all 10 athletes in
the meet, earning a season-high
196.400 overall score in a tri-meet
victory against West Virginia and
William and Mary on Friday.
After starting the year with
inconsistent results, the squad
seems to have hit its stride at the
right point in the season.
"It all comes down to confi-
dence and believing in what we're
doing," Michi-
gan coach Bev
Plocki said.
"You have to "Ourtb
know you're
goingto be suc- really Ch
cessful in order
to be success- dow n th
ful, and I think
this team is
finally starting
to believe that all the way."
Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 7-1
overall) received stellar routines
from every gymnast, finishing the
meet with seven of the 10 Wolver-
ines either setting or tying career
or season bests.
Matching its domination in
performance from last week in
Iowa, the team took all four event
titles as well as the all-around
crown.
"I was very happy with every-
thing we did tonight," Plocki said.
"I think this shows that our train
is chugging down the track and
we're really progressing. This was
definitely a good meet for us all
around as a team."
Freshman Natalie Beilstein,
who is three-for-three thus far on
winning the Big Ten Freshman of
the Week honors, set two career
highs.
She took the vault title with a
9.900, and finished as the runner-
up on the balance beam with a
9.850.
The Wolverines were again
boosted by junior Kylee Botter-
man's routines, as she posted sev-
eral career-highs. She won three
individual events - the uneven
bars, floor routine and the beam
- and won her third straight all-
around title with a career high
39.550 overall score.
While the team has counted on
her to tally a bulk of the points
this year, Botterman has accu-
mulated more awards this season
than anyone could have expected.
Still, this weekend's victory was
no big surprise.
"Kylee has had a terrific year,
and she just had a fantastic meet
tonight all the way around,"
Plocki said. "She was a superstar
tonight."
Although the individual efforts
have clearly helped carry Michi-
gan, especially as of late, the
gymnasts point to their team
confidence and
motivation as the
primary factor in
rain iS their recent solid
numbers.
iugging "I think every-
body looked
e track" great," Botter-
man said. "We
had a lot of ener-
gy tonight. There
weren't a lot of people in the
stands because there was a huge
snowstorm, so we had to make the
arena loud with our own voices,
and that really boosted our confi-
dence."
According to Botterman, the
Wolverines have pin-pointed
their landings as a major fault in
their game. Fed up with consis-
tently losing'tenths of points off
their scores, the team decided to
make a change.
"Our coaches made a board
for us, and for every meet we're
counting how many sticks we
get," Botterman said. "We have a
certain amount that we want to
get by the end of the year."
Has it worked?
"Well, when I went to vault
I was thinking, 'stick this, stick
this,' " Botterman said with a
laugh. "I almost think that I can't
do that because it wasn't my best
Blue knocks
off two ranked*
foes out West,
By JAMES BLUM them," junior Alison Mantel said.
For the Daily "In the second quarter, we were
like, okay, okay we can play with
The Michigan water polo team them."
competed against the best this The Wolverines fought to keep
weekend - four of the nation's top the game within four goals and
10 teams to be exact - at the Stan- headed into the fourth period down
ford Invitational. After two gru- 9-5. Sophomore backup Morgan
eling days the team surpassed all Turner replaced redshirt senior
expectations and proved itself wor- Brittany May in net,, making 11
thy of its No. 6 ranking. Finishing saves throughout the final three
with a record of 2-2 and snatching quarters and overtime to keep them
fifth place in the eight-team tour- in the game.
nament showed the Wolverines "I was really excited to play this
they could compete with more- game," Turner said. "I just.really
established Western talent. wanted to win. I believed in our
"Playing number one, two, three team, and I thought we could do it
and seven over 48 hrs and com- from the beginning. I just went on
ing out 2-2," Michigan coach Matt in and winged it."
Anderson said. "I think we proved Turner's inspired play coupled
we can play a little bit of water polo." with a relentless offense led by
After a 12-5 blowout loss to unde- freshman Lauren Colton and Man-
feated No. 1 Stanford (7-0), Michi- tel were able to outscore the Rain-
gan bounced back with a decisive bowWahines 4-0 inthefinalstanza.
12-6 win over No. 7 San Jose State Trailing by one with five seconds
(5-4). To start the second day of the left in the second period of over-
tournament, the Wolverines were time, Mantel netted her fourth goal
thrashed 14-6 by No. 2 Southern of the game and sudden death dou-
California (4-1). ble overtime ensued. Junior Lauren
But, the battle for fifth place Orth made a brilliant pass inside to
against No. 3 Hawaii provided all senior captain Leah Robertson to
the suspense the tournament need- give what appeared to be a Michi-
ed. gan victory.
The squad's first close battle After Robertson's game-winning
came against the Rainbow Wahines goal, the Rainbow Wahine's assis-
in one of Michigan's more thrilling tant coach, Maureen Cole, filed
comebacks. Hawaii coach Michel a protest regarding confusion on
Roy was ejected for throwing a Hawaii's timeouts. The scorer's
chair and it took two overtimes and table reviewed their records to
an official review to determine that determine the validity of Cole's
the Wolverines were victorious. claim while the players remained in
Michigan's 1-2 record qualified the pool.
the Wolverines for a fourth game "We were all just sitting there
against the Rainbow Wahines. extremely exhausted but ecstatic."
Early on, the game looked reminis- Mantel said. "Then it was finally
cent of the Wolverines' two tourna- called that we had won, and we
ment losses. Trailing 5-0 after the were all ecstatic. My freshman
first period, the Wolverines never year, we lost to them by one, and the
lost hope. year before that, they lost to them
"We know that we're a good (Hawaii) by one twice. Finally we
team, and we were out-swimming all played well."
0
SAMANTHA TRAUBEN/Daily
Junior Kaylee Botterman won three individual events en route to her third-straight
all-around title. In an vncharacteristically empty gym doe to a huge snowstorm, the
gymnasts had to make their own energy by cheering for their teammates.
vault and it was the lowest score
of the night. I think the rest of the
events made up for it, though."
Michigan will employ this tac-
tic once again in the next week of
practice before Minnesota comes
to Ann Arbor next Saturday.
As the regular season passes
its midpoint, Michigan will try
to build off its momentum, and
its balance of late, to carry the
squad through in its remaining
six meets.
"I just want to keep trying to
improve," Plocki said. "We defi-
nitely still have areas that we still
can improve, and the pieces of the
puzzle all have to keep coming
together for us to be successful
the rest of the season."