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January 12, 2015 - Image 9

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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

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