T
12B --The Michigan Daily -Friday, December 8, 1995
Nebraska stands in way of
5-1 start for Wolverines
By Dan Stillman
Daily Sports Writer
With a 4-1 record, the Michigan women's,
basketball team is off to its best start in six years.
It's the Wolverines' best start since the 1989-
90 season, when Michigan won its first six
contests. That season, the Wolverines went to
the NCAA Tournament for the only time in team
history.
Michigan looks to ride the momentum of
Wednesday night's 82-47 stomping of Eastern
Michigan as it visits apairof Big Eight schools this
weekend. The Wolverines face Nebraska at 7
o'clock tonight and Kansas State on Sunday at 2
p.m.
Michigan is winless against the Cornhuskers
in three previous meetings, including last year's
99-81 loss.
The Cornhuskers (4-1) are off to a fast start
themselves and are 3-0 at home.
Nebraska returns all five starters from last
season's 13-14 squad that finished seventh in the
Big Eight. The Huskers bring to the court some-
thing that the Wolverines lack - experience.
Three of the Huskers' top five returnees are
seniors, including 6-foot-4 center Pyro Arden.
In last season's meeting, Arden shot 5-for-5
from the field and grabbed three rebounds.
Shooting was the key for both teams in last
year's game. Michigan's 44.9 shooting percent-
age was no match for Nebraska's 60.9 percent.
However, Michigan center Pollyanna Johns
tends to think that the game was much closer
than that statistic would lead to believe.
"Last year, we played really well and lost,"
Johns said. "I was really upset because it was
one of my best performances."
And Johns is looking forward to meeting up
with the Cornhuskers once again.
"I think my best game will come against
Nebraska," Johns said.
The Wolverines will have to do abetter job of
stopping sophomore guard/forward Anna
Deforge and senior guard Lis Brenden. The two
combined for 51 points against Michigan last
year.
Deforge is off to a fast start this year. She
ranks among the top 10 scorers in the nation
with an average of 18.2 points per game.
On Sunday, the Wolverines visit another team
playing well early in the season. Kansas State
(4-1) finished fifth in the Big Eight last year.
In last season's first-ever meeting between
the two, Michigan prevailed 62-53 at Crisler
Arena. The Wildcats shot a dismal 28.1 percent
from the field. The 53 points were the fewest
allowed by the Wolverines last season.
The Wildcats return four oftheir starters from
last season. They feature 5-7 sophomore Brit
Jacobson who has also landed among the top ten
scorers in the country so far this season with
15.8 points per game. As a freshman, Jacobson
averaged 13.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
Michigan has next week off before hosting
Houston Dec. 19 and Canisius Dec.21. Then the
Big Ten season gets underway as Michigan
hosts No. 18 Wisconsin Dec. 27.
Over the semester break, the Wolverines also
face Iowa, Northern Illinois, Michigan State and
Northwestern.
Women's basketball
schedule during the break.
Dec. 19 - Houston
Dec. 21.- Canisius
Dec. 27 - at Wisconsin
Dec.29-lowa
Dec. 31- at Northern Illinois
Jan. 5- at Michigan State
Jan. 7 -at Northwestern
HOCKEY
Continued from Page 98
easier with the semester winding down
and finals time here. More bad new-s.
"It's tough," freshman center Bobby
Hayes said of his first dose ofexam ina-
tions and blue books. "Everything,
comes crashing down on you at once.
Some of the guys in (the locker room)
are falling asleep in their chairs."
And it won't get any easier after this
weekend. The players will welcome
the good news of finals being over, but
Michigan will be forced to work shorthn e agi atheG atL k sI v-
tational, Dec. 29-30.
At least two Wolverines will be
absent for the annual holiday tourna-
ment at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.
Center Matt Herr has already been
named to the U.S. Junior National
team, which will compete over winter
break.
To add to the problems, left wing
Jason Botterill, who's missed three
full games and parts of two others
because of penalties, will in all likeli-
hood be a participant on the Canadian
team, as he has been in the past two
years.
Freshmen Bubba Berenzweig and
Sean Ritchlin are also being consid-
ered for the U.S. team by national
coach Jack Parker.
The Wolverines play Northern
Michigan at 6 p.m. Dec. 29 in the
tournament-opener. Michigan State
takes on host Michigan Tech in the
night game, so the Wolverines could
very well end up in a rematch with the
Spartans, who beat Michigan 4-3 in
East Lansing last week.
And before 'classes start back up
again in January, Ferris State and Mi-
ami will visit Ann Arbor for single-
game sets.
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Freshman guard Ann Lemire catches the ball in a game last week. The Wolverines look to seize their fifth
win of the season tonight at Nebraska. This is the best start for Michigan since it went 6-0 in 1989-90.
HOLDMAN
Continued from Page 1B
and his sense of finding the ball forced
him into the starting lineup."
The move to the inside before the
Baylor game put some different re-
sponsibilities on Holdman. Used to the
pass coverage and outside assignments
at the "drop" linebacker position, he is
now primarily concerned with stopping
the inside running game.
"I think the schemes and adjustments
of the inside game are more complex
and more difficult to get a hold on,"
Holdman said. "When the ball is
snapped, I have to sort of look at the
guard and the running backs at the same
time, and from that read I react to the
play.
"It's not the easiest thing in the world
to do sometimes, especially when the
other guys are flying around trying to
knock you on your butt."
With 44 tackles on this season
and three quarterback sacks
since starting, Holdman seems
to be having no problems with
the switch.
Slocum has been pleased with
Holdman's performance and cred-
its the redshirt freshman's "taking
care of business attitude" in aiding
his ability to adapt to the new posi-
tion.
And Holdman believes a more seri-
ous, committed attitude was needed on
his part going into this season.
"You need to be serious," Holdman
said. "If you're jacking around out
there, you can get hurt. I was young
'The biggest
thing I've learned
since (last year) is
when to turn on
the motor and be
intense"
- Warrick Holdman
Texas A&M linebacker
and inexperienced last year, and the
biggest thing I've learned since then is
when to turn on the motor and be
intense.
"You've got to have your motor run-
ning the whole game to play well."
ck Winters Sport: Football
Junior Year: Senior
i: Detroit High School: DePorres High School
past Wednesday, Winters spoke to a group of more than 90 students from
AA:- .11 n _ _ _1 :- n .a....:a T i-- - --..- ... ._ . ._- - _ _- 1 _t -, .. J - - _ . ,L t- A f
Who: Chuc
Eligibility:.
Hometown
Why: This
Hutchins Middle School in Detroit. The group was compr
successfully met standards in an academic incentive plE
experiences as a youngster growing up in Detroit and fie]
Background: Winters is the starting free safety for the V
tackles this season. Against Miami (Ohio), Winters inter
yards for a touchdown. Last season he finished third on
is enrolled in the Division of Kinesiology, majoring in tea
of his
audience.