8E - Fall 2014
Sports
The Michigan Daily -michigandaily.com
L
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
'season ends in NIT
Women's basketball
finishes 20-14,
loses in 3rd round
to Bowling Green
By ALEXA DETTELBACH
Daily Sports Editor
MARCH 27, 2014, BOWL-
ING GREEN, Ohio - It's safe to
say the Michigan women's bas-
ketball team will want to beat
Bowling Green next year. Badly.
The Wolverines kicked off
their season with a loss to Bowl-
ing Green (17-1 MAC, 30-4 over-
all) in early November, and just
four and a half months later, the
Falcons picked up where they
left off. Michigan's season ended
just like it started after the Wol-
verines (8-8 Big Ten, 20-14) fell
63-53 in the third round of the
WNIT.
In one of the loudest venues
Michigan has played in this sea-
son, Bowling Green pushed the
Wolverines from both teams'
favorite spot - the 3-point arc.
The Falcons hit five of nine from
beyond the arc in the first half
and added four more in the sec-
ond, holding Michigan to 3-for-
13 from three.
Sophomore guard Madison
Ristovski, who in recent weeks
has become the Wolverines'
most lethal long-range threat,
was unable to find a rhythm.
And freshman guard Siera
Thompson, who has hit a three
in all 35 games this season, went
just 1-of-5.
"I think our team really grew
(between matchups with the
Falcons), really improved and
really found its identity," said
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico. "BowlingGreen is atough
matchup, and they're extremely
tough at home. They had a great
atmosphere here tonight, but I
think they had the edge playing
here."
Despite getting out of reach
late, the game looked promis-
ing early for the Wolverines
who, after trailing for the first
few minutes of the game, got a
jumper from the right side of
the key from junior forward
Nicole Elmblad to put them up
12-10 five minutes in. The bas-
ket not only marked Michigan's
new program record for points
in a season but also the Wol-
verines' last lead of the game.
From there, Michigan went
tight when its baskets weren't
falling.
"I think this time that we
played them we definitely start-
ed off a lot stronger," Elmblad
said. "This time we were more
focused and ready to lock up on
defense, but unfortunately we
didn't hold that the entire first
half and they were able to make
a good run."
With 5:02 left in the half and
the game still within reach,
Elmblad hit a fadeaway that put
Michigan within one, but the
Falcons countered with a 9-1 run
to end the half, putting the Wol-
verines down nine going into
the locker room. Bowling Green
used strong 3-point shooting,
going 5-for-9 in the first 20 min-
utes, to pad its lead.
Unfortunately for Michigan,
the second half wasn't any pret-
tier. The Wolverines were once
again plagued by turnovers,
committing12.
After beating their last two
WNIT opponents by an aver-
age of 38 points while commit-
ting 17.5 turnovers, Michigan
couldn't overcome the turnovers
in conjunction with a 40-per-
cent shooting night.
By the end of the night the
Bowling Green crowd was
deafening and the Wolverines
couldn't generate a last-minute
spark - ending their season just
like it began.
GYMNASTICS
From Page 1E
very confident pommel horse
team, and we wanted to get that
one out of the way, and we did it
with a bang. And that's just the
wayyouwantto startthenational
championship."
On its third rotation of the
night, vault, Michigan made
uncharacteristic errors that
seemingly opened the door for
competitors to get back into
contention. But the Wolverines
slammed that door shut on the
next rotation. narallel bars.
Mikulak once again led Michi-
gan with a score of 16.050 - only
.050 less than the NCAA record,
set by Mikulak himself two
weeks ago at the Big Ten Champi-
onships. Graduate student Syque
Caesar and Hunter, with scores of
15.200 and 15.050, respectively,'
also contributed to the overall
score of 75.95- thehighestofany
team competing.
The Wolverines sealed the
championship with perhaps
their best performance of the
night in the sixth and final rota-
tion on floor exercise. Junior
Hub Humphrey, participating in
his rst even f the night. s'the
tone for Michigan with a score
of 15.15. Junior Stacey Ervin,
competing despite a torn bicep,
topped Humphrey's routine
with a score of 15.30. But Ervin,
too, was upstaged, as Mikulak's
score of 16.05 was the highest on
the night on floor exercise by .50
points.
"We are very consistent on
floor and once we got three hits
out of the way, our two big guys,
Stacey and Sam, finishing off the
meet, we knew it," Caesar said.
"Once Stacey hit, we knew we
had it.Itjust made it allthat much
better when Sam stuck the dis-
mount andos all wentbalslitic"
ALLISON FAR
Sam Mikulak won the all-around national title in March, and Michigan won the team title, its second straight.
t.