The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
January 12, 2015 — 3B

Power trio lifts ‘M’ 
over OSU in OT

By BRAD WHIPPLE

Daily Sports Writer

Freshman 
guard 
Katelynn 

Flaherty made a 3-pointer. And 
another.

There were 50 seconds left in 

regulation when she received 
the ball at the top of the key. 
Unguarded and 24 feet from the 
hoop, she drained the 3-pointer 
with a flick of her wrist, tying 
the Michigan women’s basketball 
team with Ohio State at 82, 
forcing overtime and sending 
Crisler Center into a mad frenzy.

The Wolverines (3-2 Big Ten, 

11-5 overall) got the ball to start 
an electric five-minute battle, 
and Michigan played its best 
basketball of the season. Rebound 
by rebound and intangible by 
intangible, 
the 
Wolverines 

controlled overtime and came out 
with a thrilling 100-94 victory 
over the Buckeyes.

Flaherty, 
alongside 
senior 

guard Shannon Smith and senior 
forward Cyesha Goree, led the 
charge against Ohio State, and all 
scored in double digits.

“It was pretty incredible,” 

said Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico. “I’m so proud of our 
seniors and of our entire team 
for the way that they battled and 
played today.”

Michigan paved the way for 

its first 100-point scoring total 
since 1998 with the help of a full-
court press on defense, which 
held Buckeyes guard Kelsey 
Mitchell — the nation’s leading 
scorer with 26 points per game 
— to zero points by halftime and 
just 13 overall. Near halftime, 
the defense cooled down before 
firing back up late in the game.

As the defense clicked once 

again, so did Flaherty, who had 
started the game in a slump. 
After losing control of the ball 
twice in the first half, resulting 
in four points for the Buckeyes, 
she was benched. But when the 
stakes rose, she reverted back to 
her usual 3-point finesse.

To start the extra minutes, 

Flaherty followed up her clutch 
shot with another open triple 
from the same spot — ending the 
game with a career-best 24 points.

“Coming 
out 
(my 
3-point 

shooting) felt good, and then, just 
like Michigan State, I missed a 
lot,” Flaherty said. “But at the end, 
I started hitting them again. And 
my teammates find me in great 
spots that I’m wide open for.”

Then there was Smith, who 

was fearless en route to a career-
high 36 points.

Whether absorbing contact 

when driving to the basket or 

taking a charge, she executed 
every intangible there was and 
helped launch the Wolverines 
into overtime by scoring five 
quick points in 18 seconds.

During that span, Flaherty dove 

on the floor to steal the ball and 
passed to Smith, who was already 
in transition and faced only one 
defender to make an easy layup. 
The crowd jumped to its feet, and 
Smith signaled to get loud.

Whenever Michigan missed 

shots, it seemed as though Goree 
was always there to take the ball 
back. Goree — who had a double-
double in the first half alone — 
ended the game with 18 points 
and a career-tying 19 rebounds. 
Goree halted several crucial 
Buckeye possessions and helped 
Michigan outrebound Ohio State, 
45-31.

“She is the number one person 

in everyone’s scouting report,” 
Barnes Arico said. “That speaks 
to her work ethic, her motor and 
her desire and passion to be a 
great basketball player.”

The Wolverines have now 

beaten Penn State, Michigan 
State and Ohio State in the same 
season for the first time since 
2001.

If the trend continues, even 

bigger things could be on the 
horizon.

Wolverines are answering 

their own questions

W

ith the final seconds 
of overtime ticking 
down on the 

Michigan 
women’s 
basketball 
team’s 
100-94 win 
against Ohio 
State, coach 
Kim Barnes 
Arico looked 
out onto the 
court and 
smiled.

And she kept smiling as she 

went down her bench, hugging 
every player, coach and trainer.

“I know how incredibly hard 

everyone works everyday, and 
I was just so proud of them,” 
said Michigan coach Kim 
Barnes Arico. “This is an Ohio 
State team that’s been playing 
extremely well that has a lot of 
talented kids on their team, and 
we stuck together to find a way 
to win.”

Her team had just beaten a 

Buckeye squad that had won 
seven in its last eight games, 
a team that featured the first 
and 15th-leading scorers in the 
nation, and everything that could 
have possibly gone right went 
right for Barnes Arico and the 
Wolverines.

Before the season began, there 

were four big question marks 
that Barnes Arico was concerned 
with: rebounding, senior forward 
Cyesha Goree, youth and the 
strength of the Big Ten.

When Barnes Arico started 

her hug line, she did so because 
her questions had been 
emphatically answered.

First, there was rebounding.
While Michigan is still one 

of the shortest teams in the Big 
Ten, rebounding hasn’t been as 
big of an issue as Barnes Arico 
thought it would be.

The Wolverines have stood 

their ground on both the 
offensive and defensive glass 
with Goree and senior forward 
Nicole Elmblad leading the 
charge, grabbing a majority 
of the rebounds. But with 
contributions from freshman 
forward Jillian Dunston and 
senior guard Shannon Smith, 
Michigan has done just fine on 
the glass.

Sunday’s game against the 

Buckeyes showcased the team’s 
rebounders, with Goree pulling 
down 19 while Elmblad had 
eight. As a team, the Wolverines 
outrebounded Ohio State by 14 
by the end of the game.

The Wolverines are still an 

undersized team, and with the 
rest of the Big Ten schedule 
looming, rebounding is a 
question they are going to have 
to continue answering every 
single night.

But against the Buckeyes, they 

looked like they had a cheat sheet 
decoding the bounces of the ball.

The second worry Barnes 

Arico had was whether or not 
Goree could repeat her second 
team All-Big Ten performance 
now that she has received some 
recognition for her efforts.

While Goree wasn’t double 

teamed as much against Ohio 
State, she has had to fend off 
double and even triple teams 
most games. But she has found 
a way to still average a double-
double.

“She is the number-one 

person on everyone’s scouting 
reports after she wasn’t on 
anyone’s scouting report last 
year,” Barnes Arico said.

Added Smith: “I think we have 

the best big in the country.”

And Sunday against Ohio 

State, Goree only strengthened 
that opinion.

Not only did Goree earn 

herself a double-double by 
halftime, she played the 
intangibles — diving for loose 
balls or fighting for space inside 
— as well as anyone could have.

With 18 points to go along 

with 19 rebounds, Goree made 
a statement to the rest of the 
league that she is going to be 
an inside presence every night, 
despite her name appearing at 
the top of every team’s scouting 
report.

But Goree is just one piece. 

Other teams still know Michigan 
has just three seniors, and no 
matter how Goree and her senior 
counterparts played, Barnes 
Arico was worried about the 
youth of the team and if they 
would be able to handle the 
pressures of a tough Big Ten 
schedule.

But Sunday, over half 

of the players who played 
for the Wolverines were 

underclassmen, and while they 
didn’t have as much impact 
as Smith or Goree, all five 
underclassmen contributed in 
some way.

Freshman guard Katelynn 

Flaherty was on point, as usual, 
with her shot, scoring 24 points 
on six-for-11 shooting from 
behind the arc, and bounced 
back from her four-point 
performance at Rutgers.

Flaherty has answered her 

coach’s questions about youth 
by making Barnes Arico forget 
there ever was one.

“Sometimes I have to remind 

myself that she is still a freshman 
playing college basketball at the 
highest level,” Barnes Arico said.

Sophomore Danielle Williams’ 

hustle and defense were integral 
as she was a big part of a full-
court press that stonewalled 
the Buckeyes from crossing half 
court at times.

And while freshman forward 

Jillian Dunston and sophomore 
guard Siera Thompson both 
struggled with foul trouble, the 
duo still contributed a combined 
10 points to the cause.

But even if all of those things 

went well, Barnes Arico was 
worried about the talent of the 
Big Ten. But after five games of 
conference play, the Wolverines 
have proven that they can 
hang with the best in the Big 
Ten, as they have beaten three 
top teams in the conference, 
including both of last year’s 
co-champions in Penn State and 
Michigan State.

“The challenge every night is 

to keep that intensity each and 
every single night, because if you 
have a letdown in this league, 
you’re going to lose.”

Michigan’s loss to Rutgers on 

Wednesday gave Barnes Arico 
little to smile about, but after 
its win over Ohio State, Barnes 
Arico couldn’t stop grinning.

Just because the Wolverines 

answered all of Barnes Arico’s 
preseason questions doesn’t 
necessarily mean Michigan will 
win the national championship, 
because it is going to have to 
answer the same questions night 
in and night out.

But for one game, at least, 

everyone contributed to the 
victory.

And everyone got a hug.

Michigan splits on weekend

‘M’ falls just short 

against No. 2 

Minnesota but tops 

Michigan State

By NATHANIEL CLARK 

Daily Sports Writer

EAST LANSING — Reflecting 

the poise and strength Paul 
Bunyan used to cut down trees, 
the Michigan wrestling team 
nearly took down a giant of its 
own.

The 15th-ranked Wolverines 

fell just short of a road upset of 
No. 1 Minnesota on Friday, 20-19, 
and came back on Sunday to beat 
down in-state rival Michigan 
State, 28-9. 

Michigan 
went 
5-5 
in 

individual matches on Friday 
and 7-3 on Sunday.

“Our goal was to make sure 

we put (the loss at Minnesota) 
behind us,” said Michigan coach 
Joe McFarland. “I think the guys 
did a pretty good job of that.”

The big story from Friday was 

No. 8 sophomore heavyweight 
Adam Coon. With Michigan (1-1 
Big Ten, 4-2 overall) down 17-10 
to the Golden Gophers, Coon 

tossed No. 13 Michael Kroells 
onto his back a mere eight 
seconds into his match. Coon 
went on to pin Kroells at the 0:23 
mark to cut the margin to 17-16.

“Having a stopper like (Coon) 

is very important,” McFarland 
said.

Redshirt sophomore Conor 

Youtsey followed up Coon’s 
victory with one of his own, a 
10-7 decision over Jordan Bremer 
in the 125-pound class. Youtsey’s 
win gave the Wolverines their 
first lead of the meet, 19-17.

It also set up a do-or-die 

matchup at the 133-pound weight 
class, with junior Rossi Bruno 
taking on No. 1 Chris Dardanes. 
Bruno 
fought 
valiantly, 
but 

Dardanes scored a takedown 
with less than one minute left 
in the third period, sealing the 
match for himself and the meet 
for Minnesota.

Sunday’s meet against the 

Spartans 
went 
much 
more 

smoothly for Michigan.

Youtsey led off with a victory 

over Mitch Rogaliner, 3-2, in the 
125-pound class.

“(Conor) getting the first 

win was huge in that it gave us 
the momentum for the match,” 
McFarland said.

Bruno followed Youtsey with 

a dominant performance of his 
own, notching a 4-0 win over 
Hermilo Esquivel at 133 pounds.

No. 
13 
Alec 
Pantaleo, 
a 

freshman, and No. 19 Brian 
Murphy, a sophomore, kept 
the 
Wolverines’ 
momentum 

going with 10-3 and 6-0 wins, 
respectively.

Things got tense at the 165-

pound 
match, 
when 
Ryan 

Watts of Michigan State went 
down with an injury late in the 
third period in a close battle. 
Watts eventually got up, but 
No. 10 Taylor Massa, a redshirt 
sophomore, grabbed a win by 
injury default, putting the match 
out of reach. 

The weekend matches capped 

a two-month-long stretch on the 
road for the Wolverines.

Michigan will return to Cliff 

Keen Arena on Jan. 18 to face 
Ohio State in their first home 
dual meet of the 2014-15 season. 
McFarland is excited for his 
team to resume channeling Paul 
Bunyan in Ann Arbor.

“It hasn’t been a typical year,” 

McFarland said of the long road 
stretch. “We usually have at least 
one dual meet at home in the first 
semester. But we always enjoy 
wrestling at Cliff Keen Arena and 
it’ll be nice to be home.”

BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan Women’s Basketball

100

Points Michigan scored Sunday, its high-

est total since 1998
36

Points senior guard Shannon Smith 

scored Sunday, a career high
2001

The last year Michigan beat Michigan 
State, Ohio State and Penn State in the 

same season
19

Rebounds by senior forward Cyesha 

Goree
22

Turnovers forced by the Wolverines

9-1

Michigan home record, compared to 0-4 

on the road

MINH
DOAN

ROBERT DUNNE/Daily

Freshman guard Katelynn Flaherty scored 24 points on 6-for-11 shooting from 3-point range in Sunday’s win.

WRESTLING

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

