4B-- January 11, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com o
4B - January 11, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Wolverines lack aggressive
defense in loss to Badgers
Freshmen lead 'M' in Virginia
Michigan suffered its
fourth conference loss
despite keeping game
close for first half
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
Wisconsin almost always gives
the Michigan women's basketball
team trouble. Every veteran on the
Michigan team knows that. And it
was again apparent in the Wolver-
ines 68-48 loss at the Kohl Center in
Madison on Sunday.
The Wolverines (2-4 Big Ten,
10-6 overall) tied it up three times
in the first half but never took the
lead, finishing the first 20 minutes
downby four. Michigan knew it had
to come out more aggressive in the
second half to prevent Wisconsin
from pulling further ahead.
But the Wolverines gave the
Badgers just what they wanted -
their second consecutive confer-
encewn.
The Wolverines shot below 40
percent in the first half but Wiscon-
sin struggled as well, shooting only
a little above 40 percent. But when
the Badgers (3-2, 13-4) picked up
the tempo and shot 60 percent in
the second half, Michigan couldn't
keep up.
"We never play a game when we
are going to give up," senior center
Krista Phillips said. "I think that
was part of the problem is that we
took ourselves out of the game. We
came back at the beginning of the
second half and then a couple went
to them and we just couldn't get on
top of it. We are always trying to get
on top of it but we got to do our job
to not get ourselves in that position
in the first place."
It's hard to say what the cause of
the offensive woes were, but poor
shooting coupled with inadequate
defense prevented the Wolverines
from ever finding a rhythm.
"We just didn't get any good
shots," Michigan coach Kevin Bors-
eth said. "We had no rhythm offen-
sively at all. We got mentallybeatup
at the other end of the court."
The Wolverines successfully kept
the Badgers out of the paint in the
first half, holding the Badgers to
26 points. But Wisconsin changed
its scheme in the second half and
By AMY PARLAPIANO
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan wrestling team
showed resilience this weekend as
it staged a comeback and fought its
way to eight place at Virginia Duals.
The Wolverines' finish at the
Hampton Coliseum in Hampton,
Virginia, was highlighted by an
impressive come-from-behind vic-
tory against Bucknell on Friday.
After Michigan dug itself into a
nine-point deficit, redshirt sopho-
more Justin Zeerip did just what
his coach has been preaching all
season -- he stayed aggressive.
Zeerip wrestled through three
overtimes for 13 minutes and came
out victorious, setting the tone for
the rest of the match.
"That was a big win for us,"
Michigan coach Joe McFarland
said. "It was great the way Zeerip
hung in there. I'm sure that was a
confidence booster for him."
It was also a confidence booster
for the team, which beat the Bison
21-15.
On Saturday, the Wolverines
beat Clarion 29-15, before falling
to No. 13 Kent State and No. 23 Vir-
ginia.
Despite the losses, McFarland
saw many positives that came from
the weekend's matches, particu-
larly when it came to the success
of the freshmen. Sean Boyle (125
pounds), went 4-1 this weekend,
and has become a consistent force
on the team.
"He's a real mat rat," McFar-
land said. "When he steps onto the
mat, he gives it 110 percent. I see
him getting better and better. We
haven't had a consistent winning
guy lately, so with him and (soph-
omore captain) Zac Stevens as a
package, it's a great way to get our
day started."
This year, more than half of the
Wolverines are underclassmen,
and a great deal of emphasis has
been put on how young the team is.
Back at thebeginning ofthe season,
many worried the inexperience of
the team would be a hindrance.
But with Boyle wrestling the
way he is now, it's been more like a
blessing.
"The thought of being a fresh-
man is over now," Boyle said. "I've
had somebig wins and I don't think
about it anymore.
"I just go out there and do my
thing. There are a lot less distrac-
tions now."
The Wolverines will have a two
week break before they begin the
second half of their season with
tough matches against Big Ten
opponents Iowa and Minnesota.
"There are some things we can 4
take from this weekend," McFar-
land said. The Big Ten is going to be
a struggle for us.
"We're going to focus on our
individuals to make sure these
guys are making the adjustments
they need. We're just going to
make sure they're getting better."
Blue's young guns run wild in victory
AARON AUGSBURGER/Dail
Sophomore forward Carmen Reynolds scored 10 points in Michigan's 68-48 loss
to Wisconsin on Sunday, as the Wolverines struggled from the field.
weaved its way through Michigan's
man defense to finish the game with
26 points in the paint compared to
Michigan's eight.
But the Wolverines didn't let
the game get away until a couple
minutes into the second half. They
opened the half with two quick
shots from Phillips and sophomore
forward Carmen Reynolds to tie the
score at 26 for the fourth and final
time. Wisconsin then went on a12-0
run to achieve its biggest lead before
poor offense and defense by Michi-
gan allowed the Badgers to gain a
24-point lead with four minutes
remaining.
If they could have found their
rhythm and gone on a run in the
last ten minutes of the game like
they did in last years 58-54 loss to
Wisconsin, things might have been
different.
"There's going to be ups and
downs in games," Borseth said
after Michigan's victory over
Iowa at Crisler Thursday. "There's
momentum switches and that's
kind of how it goes. It's hard to play
40 minutes of basketball and make
every shot, play 40 minutes of bas-
ketball and have them miss every
shot, that just doesn't happen. So
they are going to make runs. The
key to games is that you get more
runs than they get."
By CASANDRA PAGNI
For the Daily
Lacking the stars from last sea-
son, the Michigan women's track
and field team wasted no time in
showcasing its young and deter-
mined squad with a convincing
season-opening win on Friday.
The team kicked off the season at
the Akron Opener in Ohio, com-
peting against Akron and Buffalo.
The Wolverines defeated runner-
up Akron by a 20-point margin.
Michigan finished first in six
events. To seal the victory, the
4x400-meter relay team took first
in the last event of the night, with
a time of 3:54.80.
Michigan coach James Henry
said he was impressed with his
team's showing, in what he called
a "non-pressure meet."
"We have a very solid team," he
said. "We don't have any, as we're
calling it, 'queen bees.' We have
a lot of experience mixed in with
a lot of young kids, and that mix
should make ita good and exciting
year for us."
Noteworthy performances for
the Wolverines included redshirt
senior Shana Vinson, who took
first in her main event, the 400-
meter dash with a time of 55.98.
Long jump and high jump run-
ners-up - sophomore Tofunmi
Akeredolu and redshirt senior
Christina Solomon - also turned
in solid performances.
Despite the strong individual
performances, several Wolverines
passed the spotlight to others and
praised their teammates for such a
solid opening meet.
Vinson, one of the team veter-
ans, said the season opener is a
good measuring stick for the rest
of the season.
"Considering we lost a bunch
of people last year, we had a lot of
freshmen come out and really put
a stamp on the track," Vinson said.
"I was really pleased with how
they competed because we had
team goals to go out there and just
run our best."
One of the impressive fresh-
men, Jillian Smith, won the 800-
meter event, posting a time of
2:10.89. Smith said that the fresh-
men will be impressive this year,
since they're aware of the oppor-
tunities for younger teammates to
step up.
"It's exciting to see 'the little
guys' doing well in some of the
beginning meets," Smith said.
"There is a lot of promise in this
team."
Friday's shot put runner-up,
redshirt sophomore Allison Liske,
also addressed the unique makeup
of the 2010 team.
"We're going to have some new
all-stars on our team that are real-
ly going to shine in the Big Ten as
well as in nationals," Liske said. "I
think that across all of the events,
were going to have girls step up
and some runners and distance
girls come out that I don't think
Michigan has ever seen before."
With the first meet ofthe season
under their belts, the Wolverines
get back to practice on Monday in
preparation for their next event,
the PSU Northeast Challenge on
Jan. 16. With the talent pool at
the Challenge deeper than that at
Akron, the team faces the first true
hurdle of its season on Saturday.
However, the rookies and vet-
erans on this team won't shy away
from competition.
"We have a couple races under
our belt right now, just from this
weekend, so we need to improve
for next week," Smith said.
"They're going to come ready to
compete, so we just have to put our
game faces on."
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