48 - February 18, 2013
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
seniors snap
losing streak
For first time
in five years,
Michigan beats the
Spartans
By DANIEL FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
As Michigan women's bas-
ketball coach Kim Barnes Arico
strolled into her postgame
press conference on Saturday,
she couldn't control her excite-
ment. After senior forward Kate
Thompson wrapped up her inter-
view, the duo embraced in an
emotion-filled hug.
Thompson and her four other
senior teammates did something
on Saturday that the Wolverines
(8-4 Big Ten, 19-6 overall) had not
accomplished since Jan. 13, 2008
- beat Michigan State, 70-69.
It's been just that type of year
for this Michigan team, led by its
five seniors - Thompson, guard
Jenny Ryan, and forwards Rachel
Sheffer, Nya Jordan and Sam
Arnold.
After gaining entry into the
Associated Press Top-25 poll for
the first time in more than 10
years in early January following
a program-best start, the team
followed it up with a road victory
over then-No. 13 Purdue - the
Wolverines' first victory in West
Lafayette since 1998.
"This senior class, we say has
accomplished things that haven't
been accomplished for a Michi-
ganwomen's basketballteam ever
or not in a very long time," Barnes
Arico said. "One of things that
they weren't able to do in their
time here was to beat Michigan
State, so for them to be able to do
that in their last opportunity on a
day like today at our home place
was truly incredible and they
deserve that celebration. It's been
a longtime coming."
On Saturday, with the Crisler
Center's lower bowl filled to the
brim and a sellout crowd of 5,800
on hand, Michigan once again
rode its seniors to victory.
"(The crowd) was awesome,"
Thompson said. "They were loud.
They really got into it too, which
was huge. Every time we scored,
it felt like an eruption."
Thompson was key to the
repeating bursts of loudness
from the crowd. She contributed
20 points on 7-of-12 shooting,
including four 3-pointers.
The loudest outbreak of noise
from any of her shots came mid-
way through the first half as the
shot clock was winding down.
Thompson collected the ball
approximately 30 feet away from
the basket and heaved up aprayer.
Somehow, it went in.
While the crowd went into a
fury, Ryan kept her cool.
"When (Kate) hit that, I looked
at her and smiled," Ryan said. "It's
just one of the plays that you pray
that it goes in and when it does
you move onto the next one."
Such was how Ryan played on
Saturday, as she posted a career-
high 24 points while committing
zero turnovers. She also chipped
in eight rebounds, five assists and
four steals in her 39 minutes of
action.
Though it's common for Ryan
to distribute the ball, her scor-
ing and overall level of play was
something that this recent one-
sided rivalry seemed to bring out.
"To see Jenny Ryan do some of
the things she did that's unchar-
acteristic of her normal abilities, I
think on a day-in, day-out (basis),"
said Michigan State coach Suzy
a
4
0
Seniorguard Jenny Ryan impressed Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant, who noted Ryan's uncharacteristic scoring. Ryan scored a career-high 24 points Saturday.
Merchant. "She's more of a facili-
tator. She just wasn't going to
have it today. She just decided
that they were going to be a little
bit better."
Ryan exemplified this notion in
the final minutes of the game, hit-
ting two pairs of free throws that
ultimately proved tobe the decid-
ing points in the game.
It was only appropriate for the
Wolverines' captain to be respon-
sible for the final points in their
first win in 13 tries against the
Spartans (7-5,19-6).
"This was Jenny's moment,"
Thompson said.
As a group, the seniors com-
bined for 66 of the team's 70
points. Jordan had 12 points and7
rebounds, and Sheffer tacked on 8
points to go with 5 rebounds.
For ateam that's accomplished
so much, ithas held back in its cel-
ebrations in past games. But after
the game on Saturday, the energy
came bubblingout.
"Just the amount of energy,
and excitement, and pride when
I opened that locker room door,
it was an outburst," Barnes Arico
said.
The party didn't stop there,
either.
After her press conference,
Barnes Arico stepped away from
the podium, ready to leave the
room. But before she could exit,
she had to let out one last line - or
lyric if you know the Kool & the
Gang classic.
"Celebrate good times, come
on," she sang.
Celebrate, indeed.
0
A long-awaited victory
By ALEXA DETTELBACH
Daily Sports Writer
Saturday's game was brought
to you by the number 12.
The Michigan women's bas-
ketball team faced off against its
in-state rivals for the second time
in 12 days, and it was a game to
remember.
The 70-69 win was a season-
defining_
moment for MSU 69
the Wolver- MICHIGAN 70
ines, who
had previously lost 12 straight
games to Michigan State (7-5 Big
Ten, 19-6 overall).
"It was a sense of relief and a
kind of 'finally' moment," said
senior guard Jenny Ryan. "Michi-
gan State has such a good annual
program year and year, they just
turn out phenomenal teams.
"It is good for the program and
for the season as well. Any time
you can beat Michigan State it's
just a good feeling to say that you
won in the rivalry game."
Leading the way for Michigan
(8-4, 19-6) in the first half was
senior forward Kate Thomp-
son, who wears the number 12.
Thompson had 11 of the team's
first 15 points and ended the game
with 20. Thompson's highlight
of the game, however, came five-
and-a-half minutes into the game
when she drained an incredible
30-footshotto beat the shotclock.
Thompson is now second all-time
in Michigan history with 183
career 3-pointers.
"(Thompson's) confidence
level is at an all-time high," said
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico. "She's such a great scorer
and such a great shooter. I've seen
very few players that can shoot
the basketball like she can."
Behind Thompson's strong
start, the Wolverines started the
game off with a 17-8 run. But after
a timeout, the Spartans collected
themselves and wentcon a12-2 run
to take the lead, holding Michigan
scoreless for more than four-and-
a-half minutes.
After the Wolverines were able
to find the basket once again, they
grabbed a 26-25 lead with 3:45
remaining in the half, but Michi-
gan State fought back to take a
32-28 lead at halftime.
The Spartans outshot Michi-
gan 48 percent to 41 percent
from the floor in the first half.
Michigan State also shot 57 per-
cent from 3-point range, and both
teams had two players in double
digits in the first half.
If the first half belonged to
Thompson, the second half
belonged to Ryan, who scored
14 of her career-high 24 points
in the half. She also added eight
rebounds, five assists, and four
steals, while not registering a
turnover for the first time all year.
"I told (Ryan) before the game
she was going to have to score,"
Barnes Arico said. "But I (also)
thought she was great defensive-
ly, she beat her kid on the drib-
ble when she needed to, (and) I
thought she made big plays when
she needed to."
To open the second half, the
Wolverines scored four quick
points, but Michigan State wasn't
quiet for long, extending its lead
to six. After back-and-forth play
by both teams, a huge three-point
play by Ryan put the Wolverines
up 48-47 with 11:47 remaining in
the game. After a timeout by the
Spartans, Ryan came up with a
steal that resulted in another
huge three-point play, this time
by senior forward Sam Arnold.
Michigan's biggest lead since
early in the first half came after
Ryan hit a huge 3-pointer with
8:13 left putting the Wolverines
up 55-49. A timeout from the
Spartan bench slowed Michigan's
momentum, but not for long. A
three-point play by Thompson
followed by a 3-pointer from
senior center Rachel Sheffer put
the Wolverines up by nine.
Five fast points by Michigan
State, however, quieted the build-
ing and forced Barnes Arico to
call a timeout with 3:15 remain-
ing. The stoppage in play didn't
slow the Spartans' touch from
beyond the arc, and junior guard
Klarissa Bell cut the Wolverines'
lead to one.
After missed free throws from
both teams, Michigan held a one-
point lead into the final minute.
Senior forward Nya Jordan
6
0
hit a huge layup with 41 seconds
left, and two free throws by Ryan
put the Wolverines up by five, but
the Spartans hit a 3-pointer with
5.4 seconds remaining. After two
more free throws by Ryan, Michi-
gan State hit another 3-pointer
with no time remaining to fall one
point short.
"(Ryan) missed a couple of free
throws early, but downthe stretch
she made every one," said Barnes
Arico. "Sometimes kids let that
get in their head, but she was able
to get rid of that and really put the
game away down the stretch.
"She was incredible. I've
coached a lot of really good
point guards in my career as a
coach and she leads the pack just
because of everything she does.
She's the total package. She's a
coach's dream, really."
Michigan also found offense
from Jordan who added 12 points
and 7 rebounds.
The Spartans outrebounded
Michigan 32-27, but the Wolver-
ines were able to keep their turn-
overs to single digits for only the
fourth time this season. Michigan
improved its shooting from the
first half and shot 55 percent in
the second.
"Splitting (the series) in the
regular season just creates the
drama in March that you look
for," Ryan said. "If we meet them
again it will be interesting."
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