4B - Monday, January 28, 2013

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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


Two rarities for 'M':
Sheffer scoreless and loss

Senior guard Jenny Ryan heads for an easy layup following a steal, but the Wolverines came up short against Iowa,
B own leads doom Wolverines

Michigan
squanders nine-
and 10-point leads
to Hawkeyes
By ALEXA DETTELBACH
. Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's basket-
ball team came to play. Well, most
of it did.
The 23rd-ranked Wolverines
were going for a season sweep of
Iowa (5-2 Big Ten, 16-5 overall),
but were IOWA 63
unable to MICHIGAN 57
repeat their
success from a 68-64 victory back
in Iowa City on January 6.
After starting its afternoon
off with a ceremony honoring
senior center Rachel Sheffer's
100th career point accomplish-
ment, Michigan (5-2, 16-4) took
the court against the Hawkeyes.
Little did they know that would
be her last highlight of Sunday's
63-571oss.
Recently Michigan has strug-
gled getting its offense going
in the early part of games, but
Sheffer had proven to be the lone
bright spot, averaging 19.5 points
per game in the last two games.
But in today's loss against Iowa
that was anything but the case.
The Wolverines came outready
on offense and hit 41.5 percent of
their shots, a significant improve-
ment from their 35.2-percent
shooting average over the last
two games. But their bright spot
in Sheffer ended the afternoon
scoreless for the first time since
her freshman year. I
Instead, it was senior guard
Jenny Ryan who led the way.
Ryan started the game by taking
the opening tip and pulling up
for a quick jumper, then hustled
back on defense and drew a foul,
setting the tone for the aggres-
sive style of play the Wolverines
embodied until the last seven
minutes of the game when they
lost their spark.
"Definitely a tough one," said
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico. "We had a 10 point lead in
the first half A nine point lead in
the second half"

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n stood above the rest, par- was the same way throughout
yin the first half, having a the whole game. We (would) go
n every basket in the first on a run (and) do the things we
minutes of play. Whether needed to do, executed, getting
an assist, rebound or bas- the rebounds, doing all the hustle
ran was at the center of plays, and then we'd let our guard
ion throughout the after- down a little bit and they'd come
nd ended the game with a back.
high 20 points on 64-per- "They just had one extra run
ooting while adding four that we didn't have and that was
Ryan's previous career the difference in the game."
as 19 points, which came Iowa's victory came at no our-
Wisconsin on Jan. 13. prise for the Hawkeyes who are
first half proved to be a now 6-0 against ranked oponents,
nd-forth struggle with but their offense came in different
rams exchanging baskets. forms this afternoon.
an was unable to find its Iowa's leading scorers, senior
outside of three of its center Morgan Johnson and
- Ryan, forward Nya Jor- senior guard Jaime Printy - who
nd forward Sam Arnold. average 16.2 and 14.3 points per
not until freshman guard game respectively - were both
n Ristovski hit a jumper held without a field goal until
29 left in the first half that Printy hit a jump shot with 4:10
h player hit a field goal for remaining in the first half. Mean-
lverines. while Johnson was held without
a field goal in the first half, and
ended the game with six points,
a slight improvement from her
hey just had abysmal showing against Wis-
consin last Thursday where she
le extra run only scored two points. Instead
center Bethany Doolittle scored
it we didn't." 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting.
"We did a decent job shutting
down Morgan Johnson, Jaime
Printy, but we let Bethany Doo-
turning point in the first little have a great night for them,"
me when Iowa grabbed Barnes Arico said.
ad with 8:20 remaining. Similar to the Hawkeyes'
olverines called a timeout leading scorer being shut down,
me out on an 11-0 tear that Michigan's leading scorer, senior
ver four minutes, building forward Kate Thompson, was
irgest lead of the game to held without a field goal until she
ts. The Hawkeyes clawed hit a long 3-pointer with 57 sec-
nd Michigan went into onds remaining in the first half.
e only up by two points. That would be her only field goal
Wolverines opened the of the game. This was Thomp-
half on a 7-0 run, four son's third poor shooting game in
of which belonged to a row. She ended with 10 pointson
hat forced Iowa to call a 1-for-7 shooting.
t and collect themselves. "I thought we really couldn't
he timeout, the Hawkeyes get anything going for Rachel
sick 3-pointer from guard and Kate, which really made us
a Taylor that spurred a unsure of what we were doing
n. From there, both teams offensively," Barnes Arico said.
ged shots until Iowa held "Any time Kate and Rachel strug-
an without a field goal for gle as much as they did together
ven minutes. By the time in one night, I think its going to be
olverines hit a field goal extremely difficult for us to win.
seconds remained on the "Obviously Sam came in and
nd the Hawkeyes were up Jenny did a tremendous job; but
we need to add somebody else to
sought it was those little that mix. We need Kate and we
Ryan said. "I thought it need Rachel to make some shots."

By DANIEL FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
It wasn't surprising how
much applause senior forward
Rachel Sheffer received while
accepting a ceremonial ball in a
pregame ceremony to note her
becoming the 23rd player in
program history to score 1,000
career points.What was surpris-
ing was that Sheffer was held
scoreless for the entirety of the
Michigan women's basketball
team's 63-57loss to Iowa (5-2 Big
Ten, 16-5 overall).
After scoring 26 points
against Iowa in their first
matchup of the season earlier
this month and being the Wol-
verines' leading scorer the past
two games by scoring a com-
bined 39 points and grabbing 16
rebounds, it seemed that Sheffer
would continue her hot streak,
or at least contribute ina benefi-
cial way the second time around.
Instead, the four other Michi-
gan seniors combined for 30 of
the team's 32 points-at halftime
and 52 of 57 for the game.
Though the Michigan senior
core carrying the scoring bur-
den for the team is nothing new
- they have combined for 82 per-
cent of the team's scoring this
season - it has typically been
with five scorers and Sheffer as
the second-leading scorer with
13.2 points per contest.
On Sunday, with Sheffer post-
ing her first scoreless game since
her freshman year, the team
relied on a senior quartet of
guard Jenny Ryan, and forwards
Nya Jordan, Kate Thompson,
and Sam Arnold.
Ryan, who entered the game
averaging 11.1 points per game,
realized early on that her scor-
ing would. be needed for the
Wolverines (5-2,16-4). Through-
out the season, Ryan has picked
up her scoring when needed and
continued that trend Sunday by
posting a career-high 20 points

on 9-for-14 shooting from the
field. She started almost imme-
diately against the Hawkeyes,
scoring Michigan's first two bas-
kets while assisting on the third
to give the Wolverines an early
lead.
"As a senior and as a person
on the floor, I have to be a threat
and that's just what happened,"
Ryan said.
Ryan wasn't just a threat on
the offensive end, as she took

production from Michigan's
usual two leading scorers, Shef-
fer and Thompson, ultimately
doomed the Wolverines.
"I think Jenny knows when
Kate and Rachel are struggling
that she really needs to step up,
and she made every bigtime shot
that she needed to make," said
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico. "We just couldn't get any-
one else to make them."
Though Thompson scored 10
points in the game, her effort
wasn't enough without pro-
duction from Sheffer. After
recording 23 points, including a
program-record seven 3-point-
ers against Northwestern,
Thompson has cooled off from
behind the arc, making just
7-for-28.
"She's going to have days like
this," Barnes Arico said. "When
other teams are keying on her
like this, other people need to
step up. And when you have both
her and Rachel having a bad day,
it really hurts us."
Without the duo's inside and
outside shooting working, the
team basically had no real offen-
sive plan that would work. It was
strongly evidenced by the team's
dry spell from tle A'd u
seven minutes remaining in the
game. Though they had a series
of free throws fall for them, the
team's lack of depth at the point-
guard position ultimately cost
the Wolverines the game.
Michigan relied on Ryan, who
played nearly 40 minutes for the
third straight game and for the
most part she came through.
But as the game progressed, her
tiredness from playing three
games in one week seemed to
catch up to her.
"I think I took -her out for six
seconds," Barnes Arico said.
"That's probably all she's going
to get. I think obviously she's
worn out. I think the final four
minutes of the game, she was
worn down a bit."

Senior forward Nya Jordan had 10Y
points and seven rebounds Sunday.

Senior guard Jenny Ryan scored a
career high 20 points in the loss.
two charges in the first half
including one right after the
first basket of the game. Her
play, combined with hot shoot-
ing from Jordan and Arnold,
helped the Wolverines construct
as much as a10-point lead in the
first half. The lack of offensive

6
0

'Super' Blue flies past Stanford

By SIMON KAUFMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Redshirt senior captain Syque
Caesar set a new NCAA record on
the parallel bars Saturday night
for the Michigan men's gymnas-
tic team.
And Cam Newton was in atten-
dance to see it all.
Okay, the Carolina Panthers'
quarterback wasn't actually at
Cliff Keen Arena, but his sig-
nature "Superman" celebration
was, as performed by Michigan
sophomore Stacey Ervin after
sticking his landing on the vault
that earned him a score of 15.050.
And it was a good thing the com-
ic-book hero was there because
the Wolverines needed a cast of
superhero-like performances -
like Caesar's - to take down their
version of Kryptonite: Stanford.
The third-ranked Wolverines
tallied a total of 439.750 points
to best No. 2 Stanford, which fin-
ished with 429.350. -
Caesar tallied a 15.900 on the
parallel bars - a new NCAA
record. The previous high mark
was 15.850 earnedby Tim McNeil
of California on April 5, 2008.
Led by Ervin's 15.400 mark,
Michigan's floor exercise -
ranked first in the nation - took
four of the top five spots en route
to a score of 74.750.
"We have a strong floor team,"
said Michigan coach Kurt Golder.

it

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Sophomore Stacey Ervin did his best
Superman impression Saturday night.
"(It) just built the energy for the
whole rest of the evening."
The momentum from the floor
carried over into the second rota-
tion - the pommel horse. Junior
Matt Freeman and freshman
Nolan Novak led the Wolverines
to a 71.150 mark for the exercise
while taking first and second
place, respectively.
Following just a .15-point
defeat on the rings, Michigan
swept the final three events.
Sophomore Adrian de los
Angeles, who won the all-around
with a score of 89.200, placed first
on the vault with a 15.300. Four
other Wolverines posted scores of
14.750 or higher to round out the
top five.

De los Angeles finished the
night by placing second on both
the parallel bars (15.400) and the
high bar (14.550), behind Syque
Caesar who notched the top spot
on the final two rotations. It was
de los Angeles' second all-around
victory this season, having also
captured the title last week at the
2013 Windy City Invitational in
Chicago.
"It's not surprising (that de los
Angeles won the all-around),"
Golder said. "He's just a real hard
steady worker.... He's a gamer."
The victory against Stanford
should give Michigan a boost of
confidence moving forward.
"I'm extremely proud of how
this team is coming together,"
Ervin said. "We have a great team
chemistry, and I feel that trans-
lates into our gymnastics so well.
It definitely helps knowing that
(we all have) each other's back."
It will help to have some more
superhero-like performances this
season. And Clark Kent's new
high-energy alter ego, Stacey
Ervin, looks like he'll be a deter-
mining factor in Michigan's suc-
cess.
"I always get excited about my
gymnastics (and) other people's
gymnastics," Ervin said. "During
the competition, we like to keep
the high energy, and I like to lead
through that, you know, try and
get everyone else as excited as I
am. It's definitely working so far."

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