Wolverines fail to 
pull off road upset

By BRAD WHIPPLE

Daily Sports Writer

Thursday, 
the 
momentum 

that has carried the Michigan 
women’s 
basketball 
team 
through 
its last two conference wins 
appeared once again in the final 
minutes against Iowa.

Senior 
forward 
Cyesha 

Goree led the charge with 26 
points and 13 rebounds, and for 
a time it looked as though her 
performance would be enough 
to help the Wolverines claw their 
way out of a 15-point second-half 
deficit.

Michigan 
(4-3 
Big 
Ten, 

12-6 overall) had been given a 
golden opportunity to upset the 
20th-ranked 
Hawkeyes, 
who 

missed several shots in the final 
minutes of the game to open 
up the door for victory. But the 
Wolverines’ mishaps caught up 
to them again, as they had for 
most of the game, and led to a 
76-70 loss.

“We couldn’t get stops when 

we needed to get stops,” said 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico. “We got down a little bit 
and we kind of battled back, but 
we were never really able to get 
over the top. We started out slow 
again shooting and did a better 
job in the second half.”

Guards Melissa Dixon and 

Ally Disterhoft led the charge 
for Iowa (6-1, 15-3), with 16 and 
14 
points, 
respectively. 
The 

Hawkeyes’ offense capitalized 
on easily sneaking in behind 
Michigan’s man-to-man defense. 

So with two and a half 

minutes left, Katelynn Flaherty 
came in to help. With her team 
down by seven, the freshman 
guard received the ball at the 
top of the key and knocked 

down a triple. Once again, it 
looked like Flaherty — who 
scored 19 points — could salvage 
a sloppy performance from her 
teammates.

But after Iowa center Bethany 

Doolittle missed a shot, senior 
guard Shannon Smith took it 
coast-to-coast for a fast-break 
basket, but the play was nullified 
because of a travel call.

After two more Hawkeye 
 

misses with a pair of Goree free 
throws in between, Smith took it 
down the court once more and 
passed it to an open Flaherty, 
positioned to make another 
clutch 3-pointer and bring the 
game to within a point.

But Smith had stepped out of 

bounds, and the whistle blew. 
With just a little bit more than 
one minute left, she stood at 
midcourt motionless. It was the 
moment the Wolverines needed 
to be errorless, but with the game 
on the line, the line was exactly 
what cost them a chance for 
victory.

Michigan failed to make an 

impact in the first half due to 
bad passing while facing an 
aggressive 2-3 zone from Iowa, 
forcing the Wolverines out of the 
key.

Reverting 
to 
shooting 

3-pointers wasn’t the solution, 
however, as Michigan went 
0-for-7, failing to score from the 
perimeter until four minutes 
into the second half with the 
help of sophomore guard Siera 
Thompson — who combined 
with Flaherty for five triples.

The 
woeful 
23.8-percent 

3-point 
shooting 
prevented 

the Wolverines from starting 
strong, making the comeback 
an uphill battle. And unlike in 
Michigan’s last two wins, the 
shots did not fall often enough 
in the end to reverse the Wol-
verines’ fortunes.

‘M’ hopes to avoid weekend letdown

By JEREMY SUMMITT 

Daily Sports Editor

The Michigan hockey team 

carries the nation’s top offense 
and a five-game winning streak 
into 
this 

weekend’s 
series 
at 

Wisconsin, 
but 
glaring 

concerns 
still 

linger.

While 
the 

Wolverines’ 
offense 
has 

been 
busy 

putting pucks 
in the back of 
the net at an 
alarming rate 
— 
averaging 

6.16 goals per 
game in conference play — the 
defense has fallen by the wayside.

In the past three games, 

they have conceded 14 goals. 
Such porous defense usually 
isn’t a recipe for success, but 
the unusual scoring rate has 
simultaneously kept Michigan 
(5-1 Big Ten, 13-7 overall) afloat.

“We’ve got away with it 

because we’ve been able to score 
more goals than we gave up, 
but we can’t keep playing like 
that,” said Michigan coach Red 
Berenson. “We’ve got to play 
better without the puck.”

Typically, a weekend trip to 

Madison would be the last place 
a team could safely shore up 
defensive concerns, but this year 
is an outlier. The Badgers (0-3-
1, 2-13-3) have had a historically 
poor season, and this series 
represents a golden opportunity 
for the Wolverines to tighten 
their play in their own zone.

A combination of factors have 

led to the lackluster defensive 
play, including a shaky penalty-
killing unit that is achieving just 
an 80.6 percent success rate this 
season. Making matters worse, 
senior forward Travis Lynch, a 
critical piece of the penalty-kill 

unit, broke his right hand two 
weeks ago against Minnesota.

“I think it’s our whole team,” 

Berenson said. “We’ve given 
up goals too easily. Our penalty 
killing has been a part of it. 
It’s been our D-zone coverage, 
which was just lax, and then it’s 
been weak goals on our goalies.”

And though this weekend 

seems like the best opportunity 
to erase those concerns from 
his mind — and it very well 
could be — Berenson feels that 
Wisconsin is a legitimate threat 
to play conference spoiler. In 
past weeks, the Badgers have 
earned points against three 
ranked opponents in Michigan 
Tech, Boston University and 
Minnesota, all teams Michigan 
has played tight games against.

In fact, they’ve lost just 

three of their last six games, 
respectable for a team that has 
just two wins. Despite a recent 
upswing, Wisconsin still ranks 
among the bottom 10 programs 
in the nation for team defense 
(3.61 goals per game) and team 
offense (1.78).

This 
weekend 
functions 

as more of a trap for the 
Wolverines than anything else. 
Avoiding a loss to the lowly 
Badgers will be instrumental 
in maintaining a strong RPI 
ranking, the main factor that the 
NCAA Tournament selection 
committee uses in determining 
the 16-team field.

Last 
season, 
Michigan 

dropped three games to Penn 
State, a team that won just eight 
total games. If the Wolverines 
had won only one, maybe two, of 
those contests, they would have 
likely snuck their way into the 
tournament.

That being said, Berenson 

has preached to his team how 
necessary it will be to take six 
points back from Madison. So to 
avoid any more what-ifs or could-
haves at the end of this season, 
Michigan needs to take care of 
business when it’s expected to.

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily

Red Berenson hopes to see improved defense from his team against Wisconsin.

Michigan at 
Wisconsin

Matchup: 
Michigan 
13-7; Wiscon-
sin 2-13-3

When: Friday 
9 P.M.; Sat-
urday 8 P.M.

Where: Kohl 
Center

TV: Friday 
BTN

MICHIGAN
IOWA 

70
76

Sports
8 — Friday, January 23, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

