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.