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."