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8A - Thursday, April 1, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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WNIT RUN ENDS IN SEMIS
After historicIWNT Youth was a problem,
wins, Blue falls short but it's also the answer
Despite demolishing
other WNIT teams,
'M' fails to stop
dynamic 'Cane duo
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
Junior guard Veronica Hicks
left the_
press con- MIAMI 76
ference MICHIGAN 59
in tears
after last night's 76-59 Women's
National Invitational Tournament
Final Four loss to Miami.
Hicks' face was telling of the
disappointing finish after Michi-
gan dominated its first four oppo-
nents of the tournament, winning
by an average of 24 points per
game.
"We had so much confidence
that we could finish out in this
tournament and I think that that's
something that speaks about this
team," Hicks said. "We are a spe-
cial team. We don't care what any-
body else says about how we're
going to finish.
"We decide how we're going
to finish and that's what we came
into this season with and that's
what propelled us to the height
that we got to."
Two Miami players, sopho-
mores Shenise Johnson and
Riquna Williams scored 43 of the
Hurricanes' points, playing espe-
cially well off of each other in the
second half.
When the two combined for
three 3-pointers in two minutes
to add to the team's 9-3 run, they
sealed the victory.
"Boom, boom, boom. That was
just the game," Borseth said. "That
took the wind right out of our sails
but I thought our kids played hard
and I was very proud of them."
Michigan jumped out to a quick
13-3 lead three minutes in and
held it for most of the first half
thanks largely to the momentum
freshman guard Dayeesha Hollins
brought to the court.
She scored eight points and hit
a layup with her back to the basket
before goingto the bench with two
fouls seven minutes into the half.
Michigan was able to hold onto the
lead though, shooting 45 percent
for the half. But with five minutes
left Miami took the lead for the
first time and went into halftime
up 37-33.
The Wolverines - typically a
second-half team - never regained
the momentum. They were out-
played and outshot 45 percent to
40 percent.
Senior Krista Phillips - who led
the team with 17 points against
Northwestern last week - fouled
out with nearly four minutes
remaining in last night's game.
Phillips picked up her third and
fourth fouls within the first two
minutes of the second half and
didn't see the court again until
seven minutes remained on the
clock.
She led the team with seven
rebounds in the first half and was
a huge presence in the paint both
defensively and offensively.
"I didn't think we had a chance
unless we did that," Miami coach
Katie Meier said. "That was defi-
nitely part of the game plan. You
saw us using her off of ball screens
as much as possible, trying to get
her away from the basket, trying
to get her some fouls. It was defi-
nitely something we planned on
doing, compliments to her."
Sophomore forward Carmen
Reynolds, Michigan's best sharp-
shooter and usually a top scorer,
improved from 0-for-2 and two
points in the first to 2-for-6 from
downtown to score eight points in
the second, but it wasn't enough.
Though Michigan shot nearly
40 percent in the second half,
Williams's and Johnson's back-
to-back-to-back 3-pointers with
seven minutes left in the game
solidified a sinking feeling in
Crisler Arena: that Michigan's
offense wasn't going to get out of
its 13-point deficit.
"Their whole style of play is just
push the ball, push the ball," Hicks
said. "When you are just throwing
up three's and they're going in it's
pretty hard to stop that.
Borseth's winningest season
with the Wolverines and the pro-
gram's furthest run in a national
tournament ended last night, but
not without a fight.
And Michigan came one step
closer to being a national competi-
tor.
"I think our program's going in
the right direction," Borseth said.
"We feel good about our kids. A
year like this hopefully makes
some people stand up and take a
look at our program and say, hey
you know whatthey're for real. We
want them to look at us and think
we're a viable option to come here,
to be a competitor on the national
level.
"We are a national university
obviously and we should be able
to compete on that so years like
this I think we can use to build
that."
For many, the Women's
National Invitation Tourna-
ment is little more than a
consolation
prize. ALEX
But HERMANN
throughout its
unlikely post- On Women's
season run, Basketball
the Michigan women's basketball
team played like it was so much
more than that.
And during that run, the
Wolverines showed me so much
about themselves.
Through the first four games
of the Wolverines' postseason,
they demonstrated the ability to
play with teams outside the Big
Ten. They flexed their muscle,
beating teams to the tune of 24
points per game on average.
By making it to the WNIT
Final Four in such fashion,
Michigan even showed that it
belonged - maybe even in the
field of 64. And for a program
with six freshmen that was
picked to finish last in the Big
Ten and is arguably the worst
program historically at the uni-
versity, what more could you
really ask for?
But in Wednesday's 76-59 loss
to Miami, the Wolverines showed
- lastly and, maybe, most impor-
tantly - that youth is a problem.
The result of this youth pres-
ently and its implications for the
future are obvious converses of
each other.
But based on what happened
Wednesday, youth is obviously
what did the team in.
Nobody would say it after the
game, but as Michigan's lead
began to deteriorate after the
Wolverines jumped out to a quick
double-digit lead, the team's
confidence slowly began to erode
with it.
The Hurricanes were the
first team to match Michigan
punch for punch this postseason.
Miami matched the Wolverines'
intensity, even surpassing it, put-
ting Michigan back on its heels.
And by the time the Wolverines
snapped back into the moment,
Miami's lead was too large to
overcome.
Don't get me wrong, the Hurri-
canes played a great game. Well,
two Hurricanes played great
games.
When Miami's sophomore
guard Riquna Williams had
four three-point plays on four
straight possessions, including
three triples, you could tell she
a
MARISSA McCLAIN/Daily
Junior Veronica Hicks gets her shot blocked in Michigan's loss to Miami last night.
Hicks was one of the team's leading contributors this season.
was alr
ing the
v
go(
Th
ve
finishe
cohort,
had 33j
terfinal
dence -
reboun
And
maine:
short, b
team.
eady on her way to hav- And a veteran squad doesn't
game of her life - she lose to a team like that, at home,
in arguably the biggest game of
their lives.
This isn't a veteran team -
Vhere's the that's the bad.
But where's the good in all
)d in all this? this?
That this isn't a veteran team.
at this isn't a And that's the perplexing and
dumbfounding result of having a
:teran team . team with six freshmen.
They'll all be back. Each of
them was a part of the Wolver-
ines' second-winningest team in
d with 26 points. Her program history.
Shenise Johnson - who Four starters will return next
points in the WNIT quar- year, with the most significant
l matchup against Provi- loss being 6-foot-6 center Krista
- added 17 points and nine Phillips.
ds of her own. And to Michigan, for right now
maybe I'm selling Char- and for the future, its unlikely
Clark's double-double WNIT was more than just a con-
but that was a two-man solation. It was more like a pro-
gram builder.
I
I
Don't underestimate
Michigan softball
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Educating and Inspiring since 1912
Just a couple weeks ago, I con-
sidered No. 20 Illinois the class
of Big Ten
softball this LUKE
season. I pre-
dicted that PASCH
they would On Softball
surpass
expectations
and finish the regular season
with the best record in the con-
ference.
And for good reason.
At the time, the Fighting Illini
were opening up BigTen play with
a 23-3 record. Their two starting
pitchers rivaled the dominance
of Michigan's own starters. And
sophomore hurler Monica Perry is
returning from a 2009 campaign
in which she set the program's sin-
gle-season strikeout record (yes, as
a freshman).
Their lineup, from top to bot-
tom, is downright scary.
It leads off with a .411 hitter,
who's then followed by a.419
hitter. By the time the middle of
the order bats in the first inning,
there's roughly an 80 percent
chance there's already a runner
on base, begging to be knocked
home.
And who better to bringthem
home than Illinois's clean-up hit-
ter Meredith Hackett, who's hit-
ting a Big Ten second-best average
at.427 and is fourth-best ina BI
with 28?
On paper, the team is nearly
flawless. Even more so than No. 2 including last season's Women's
Michigan (1-0 Big Ten, 24-5 over- College World Series.
all). Illinois's two premier pitchers
And last weekend, Illinois are both underclassmen - a fresh-
came to Ann Arbor to play what I man and a sophomore.
thoughtwould be one of the more And you could see it when you
competitive series of the season for read the body language of the play-
the Wolverines. ers on the field.
But it didn'tturn out that way. You could see it when Michigan
Not even close. senior Nikki Nemitz jumped early
The Wolverines manhandled on a fourth-inning-pitch and land-
the Fighting Illini in a 7-1 blowout ed it foul on the roof of the Indoor
victory. And I was forced to re- Track and Field Building a good
100 feet beyond the left field fence.
As the home crowd gasped in dis-
I was forced to belief, Nemitz stepped back into
the box with an ear-to-ear grin on
reevaluate my her face, eagerto straighten out
the nextpitch.
initial thoughts. The Illinois hurler was still
baby-stepping back to the mound,
seemingly confused as to how any-
one could hit a softball that far.
evaluate my initial thoughts. But this group of Wolverine
How is it that Michigan was softball players has witnessed
able to dismantle every aspect of plenty of that. This group has seen
Illinois's game? more and done more than any
How did they send Perry pack- other team in the Big Ten. There
ing after just two innings of work? are no freshmen starters on this
And how did junior pitcher Jordan team..
Taylor allow just five hits in a com- As we approach the beginning
plete game effort to limitone of the of April, the softball squad enters
best lineups in the country? the most important two-month
Upon reflection, the answer is stretch of play leading up to the
really quite simple. WCWS.
Michigan is far and away a more And once again Michigan's
battle-tested and experienced experience should propel them to
team. They've played together best Illinois and the rest of the Big
for longer than Illinois has. And Ten by the time the postseason
they've faced tougher competition, rolls around.