8A - Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Spartans pull away late against 'M,'
take advantage of sloppy turnovers
By COLLEEN THOMAS
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - When it
comesto playing rivalry games,
records don't seem to matter.
Boasting its best start in pro-
gram history, the Michigan
women's basketball team came
into the Breslin Center hop-
ing to extend its record to an
impressive 13-2.
But Michigan State and its 9-5
record - regarded as an under-
achievement compared to past
seasons - wasn't going to win
on talent alone like in years past.
"You can't
afford not to be
tough in a game
like this."
So the Spartans stole it for
themselves.
Michigan State went on a 10-2
run to go up by 4 with 13:33 left
in the game, while Michigan
broke down offensively.
The Wolverines committed
four turnovers in the four-min-
ute stretch and came up empty
from behind the three-point
line, giving the Spartans all the
momentum they needed to win
the game.
To Michigan coach Kevin
Borseth, that sequence was the
game's deciding factor.
"We turned the ball over and
they hit shots," Borseth said.
"That was the game.
That was the whole game,
that stretch right there.
Had we been able to answer,
have some fluidity to our game
during that stretch right there,
it would have been a different
Blue dominates
Florida meet at
season's midpoint
Wolverines and kicked our butts," Bottom
said. "This time we're coming
prepare for Big Ten back - and we're still beat up
- but we understand that we're
schedule at Orange going to have to turn it around.
Today's meet was a little bit of
Bowl Classic a practice for that, even though
we're tired."
By BEN SEIDMAN One reason the team attends
For theDaily the Orange Bowl Classic tour-
nament is the training is pro-
The Michigan men's swim- vides the swimmers with for the
ming and diving team cleaned upcoming Big Ten meets, as well
up at the 2012 Orange Bowl as NCAA tournament play.
Classic in Key Largo, Fla., win- Additionally, it offers the
ning all 12 events and setting players some time to get away
Michigan coach Kevin Borseth and the Wolverines have now lost 10 straight games to Michigan State.
outcome.
"We turned the ball over,
they came back with a couple of
shots and I thought that was the
swaying difference."
The Wolverines' struggles
during those four minutes con-
tinued for the rest of the second
half.
Michigan committed 12 turn-
overs, reading to 15 Michigan
State points.
Though the Spartans had
more turnovers, recording 18,
the Wolverines struggled to
convert their opportunities into
points and momentum.
Michigan shot just 38 per-
cent from the floor, and junior
forward Rachel Sheffer was the
only Wolverine with a hot hand.
Sheffer scored a game-high
20 points, while senior guard
Courtney Boylan added 11.
Michigan's bench was nowhere
to be found, scoring just 14
points - the Spartan substitutes
scored 25.
Michigan State's size advan-
tage in the post gave the Wolver-
ines some issues as well. Sheffer
was in foul trouble for most of
the game, while her backups -
redshirt sophomore forward
Kendra Seto and junior for-
ward Sam Arnold - struggled to
match up against the Spartans'
stronger, tougher interior play-
ers.
"You can't afford not to be
tough in a game like this, espe-
cially when you're going to the
basket," Borseth said. "We had a
lot of opportunities down inside
that lane."
Michigan State's dominance
inside wasn't obvious from the
final points-in-the-paint totals
- Michigan was outscored by
just six points, 30-24.
But all night long, the Spar-
tans dominated the boards,
winning the rebounding battle,
44-29.
The Wolverines were espe-
cially hurt by Michigan State's
second-chance opportunities.
The Spartans pulled down 14
offensive rebounds, leading to
10 points.
course records in multiple con-
tests.
Freshman Richard Funk
claimed victories in both the
50-meter backstroke and 100-
meter backstroke at Jacobs
Aquatic Center on Tuesday.
The Ortiz brothers, freshman
Bruno and junior Miguel, had
impressive showings, as the
two paired with junior Roman
Willets to finished the 200-
meter medley with a time of
1:14.32.
They day ended with a
50-meter freestyle victory by
junior Evan Gregg with a time
of 23.25.
"What makes those wins hap-
pens is details," said Michigan
coach Mike Bottom. "Finishes,
breakouts, lane placement -
these are the things that are
tough to practice."
Set approximately halfway
through the season, the Orange
Bowl Classic signifies the begin-
ning of Michigan's postseason
run. When they return to Ann
Arbor, the Wolverines will face
a tough Indiana team at home on
Saturday.
"Last year, we came back
from an invitation and they took
advantage of our hard training
"They're ready
to go back and
study hard and
swim hard."
from school and focus solely on
swimming.
"Alot ofthese guysget totrain
really hard and not have school
to worry about and they're ready
to go back and study hard and
swim hard," Bottom said.
As far as goals for the season,
Bottom would like to see the
team win the remainder of its
dual meets and then battle for
a Big Ten Championship once
again.
"We were successful two of
the last three years," Bottom
said. "I can promise we'll be
there to fight for it."
Michigan will meet the Hoo-
siers at Canham Natatorium
for their second meeting this
season. Michigan won the first
meet, 216-84, on Nov.5.
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