0 8A - Thursday, April 1, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com a 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 Graduate Practice-Ready At UDM Law you learn and experience the law. Our curriculum requires: rigorous writing requirements, innovative law firm courses focusing on theory and practice, externships that teach the law as you gain valuable work experience, and global law courses that expose you to international legal systems. All of these requirements give our grads the UDM advantage-being practice-ready upon graduation. Find out more about UDM Law. UDMLaw.com 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.