Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Wednesday, March 18, 2015 — 7A ‘M’ places seventh at Wildcat Invite By SAMANTHA MARSH For the Daily With underclassmen leading the way at the Wildcat Invitational in Arizona, the future looks bright for the Michigan women’s golf team. Freshman Kathy Lim started off the tournament strong with an even-par 72 in the first round with birdies on holes five, six and 10. Closely behind were sophomore Grace Choi and freshman Megan Kim with 74s, contributing to a team total of 296. The second round of play was suspended until Tuesday morning due to darkness, and the Wolverines fought hard despite different weather conditions, shooting a 298. Michigan coach Jan Dowling said she was proud of the way her team handled themselves. “The course that we played is desert golf so your ball can take a lot of unpredictable bounces that aren’t always great,” Dowling said. “They adjusted well and they were emotionally resilient throughout the whole week.” The team finished the final round with a score of 300, contributing to a team total of 894 for the tournament. “Our final round wasn’t our best round,” Dowling said. “But they fought hard, and because of that we ended up nipping some teams and finishing in the top eight.” Choi led the Wolverines and finished 16th overall after firing a pair of 73s during the second and third rounds and finishing with a total score of 220. It was a productive day for Choi, but one particular highlight stood out to her. “On my 36th hole, I made a-25 footer in front of my teammates, so it was a pretty cool way to finish a long day of golf,” Choi said. Her individual performance aside, Choi is optimistic about her team’s improvement. “We are constantly putting ourselves up against the best teams in the nation, and that’s the only way to get better,” Choi said. Among those teams was Southern California, which finished first with a combined score of 834, 60 strokes lower than Michigan. Lim and freshman Emily White followed close behind Choi, shooting 225 and 227 respectively. After playing as an individual in the last tournament, White was able to rejoin the lineup this week. “She had a pretty solid tournament at the Hurricane Invitational,” Dowling said. “She deserved a shot at getting in the lineup.” Three freshmen made up the team of five, and Dowling relied heavily on their talent throughout the tournament. “Their potential is pretty vast,” Dowling said. “They’re a very hungry bunch. They are comfortable, they are really wanting to learn, and they are gaining a ton of experience.” WOMEN’S GOLF Wolverines kick off WNIT play By MINH DOAN Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women’s basketball team is playing in the postseason, but it isn’t quite under the same circumstances it hoped to be in at this time of year. After missing out on an NCAA Tournament bid, the Wolverines will kick off their Women’s National Invitational Tournament run Wednesday night when they take on Cleveland State (10-6 Horizon League, 19-12 overall) at Crisler Center. “My staff met with each player individually (after the Big Ten Tournament), just to kind of refocus, regroup and talk about winning a championship,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico on WTKA Radio Tuesday morning. “Even if it is the WNIT championship, it’s something that hasn’t been done in Michigan women’s basketball (history).” Michigan (8-10 Big Ten, 16-14 overall) is coming off a disappointing Big Ten Tournament in which in-state rival Michigan State handily defeated the Wolverines two weeks ago, 69-49. In the game, Michigan was unable to get going offensively, shooting just 27.1 percent in its lowest-scoring output of the season. “(The Spartans) were super fired up,” Barnes Arico said. “They came out really sharp, really crisp, shooting the ball especially well, so it was a tough game for us and a tough way to finish the season.” If the Wolverines want to bounce back from their performance in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, senior forward Cyesha Goree is going to need to step up. In her last two games, Goree has put up just two and five points, respectively, well below her season average of 13.8. Michigan’s 3-point shooting arsenal of sophomore guard Siera Thompson, freshman guard Katelynn Flaherty and junior guard Madison Ristovski will also need to step up its game after shooting just a combined 11-for- 40 against the Spartans. On the opposing side, Cleveland State comes into the game after being bounced from the Horizon League semifinals by Wright State, 99-87. The Wolverines and the Vikings have played three common opponents this season: Minnesota, Detroit and Eastern Michigan. Cleveland State is 1-3 in four contests against these opponents, splitting its season series with Detroit and dropping its games against Eastern Michigan and Minnesota. Michigan, on the other hand, is 3-1 against the three squads, with its only loss coming in double overtime to the Golden Gophers. While the Vikings are 14-2 at home, they are just 5-9 away from campus, which gives the Wolverines an advantage at home, where they are 12-4. “They’re a team that has won 19 games,” Barnes Arico said. “But we feel extremely fortunate that they are coming to Crisler, and we have an opportunity to play at home again.” Cleveland State is led by first team All-Horizon League forward Imani Gordon, who leads the Vikings with 16.3 points per game, while second team All-Horizon League guard Cori Coleman averages 16.1 points. “Cleveland State’s a team that has been really solid year in and year out,” Barnes Arico said. “They have three primary scorers, two kids who average over 16 points per game. They really shoot a ton of (3-pointers). They do a lot of dribble-drive, they get to the line a ton, so it is going to be a team that tests our defense and makes us get out and contest 3-point shots, as well as contain off the bounce.” The Wolverines have shown this season that they can handle most teams that lack height, and the Vikings fit right into that formula with just one player taller than six feet. But Michigan has also struggled down the stretch, having lost eight of its last 11 games. A win over Cleveland State could jumpstart a long run in the WNIT, as the Wolverines have just one opponent in their region with a higher RPI — Kansas State. A win would also stretch out the illustrious Michigan careers of Goree, senior guard Shannon Smith and senior forward Nicole Elmblad just a little bit longer. “I don’t think they’re ready to hang up their shoes just yet,” Barnes Arico said. “They want to put on that Michigan uniform again, so it’s really an exciting time for them.” Michigan looks to keep up streak over Bowling Green By KEVIN SANTO Daily Sports Writer The Michigan softball team hasn’t lost to Bowling Green since 2003, winning the last nine matchups between the teams. But that doesn’t mean that anything is guaranteed Wednesday, when the Wolverines will host the Falcons at Alumni Field in their final game before Big Ten play begins Friday in Columbus. Michigan (24-4) is looking to cap off its non-conference schedule with a win against Bowling Green by applying lessons learned from a gut- checking loss to Kent State in the first game of its home-opening series last weekend. “We’ll just focus on being able to make adjustments quicker,” said sophomore left fielder Kelly Christner. “Obviously in the first game (Saturday), we couldn’t make the adjustment of laying off the high pitch. Even in the game (Sunday), we couldn’t do that until the end of the game. So (we’ll focus on) trying to adjust pitch to pitch or at-bat to at-bat, instead of game to game.” The Falcons (7-12) will enter Wednesday’s one-game contest riding the momentum of back- to-back wins, but they will need to improve at the plate to upset the Wolverines. Bowling Green sophomore Aspen Searle stands to be the biggest threat in the batter’s box, having contributed four home runs and a .426 on-base percentage in 19 games played this season. But other than Searle, the Falcons have just three players with a batting average greater than .300 — Michigan has six. And they will be facing a Wolverine pitching corps that has been excelling in the circle. Sophomore right-hander Megan Betsa and senior left- hander Haylie Wagner are coming into the game having allowed a combined five runs in three games against Kent State. There is one chink in the Wolverines’ armor that may be exploited, however. Michigan senior catcher Lauren Sweet suffered an injury in a play at home plate on Saturday. Michigan coach Carol Hutchins indicated that Sweet might need significant recovery time, but the diagnosis is not yet clear. Sweet will likely be replaced by freshman Aidan Falk on Wednesday. Though Falk put together a respectable performance behind the plate Saturday, Michigan will miss the experience and leadership Sweet has accumulated in her three years at the position. Losing Sweet’s bat will be a hard pill to swallow as well, given that she has tallied six home runs and 27 RBI so far this year while posting a .329 batting average. Despite the setback, Hutchins emphasized that it won’t serve as a distraction, and that the team will still do what is necessary to win. “I want to see us continue (taking it) one pitch at a time,” Hutchins said. “Winning the (Kent State) series was big, and hopefully that can give us some confidence. To get where we want to go, we have to be able to chip away and win tight games.” Bowling Green right-hander Braiden Dillow will be the biggest threat in the circle, battling against a powerful Wolverines lineup that has hit 48 home runs this season. Dillow has a 3.79 earned run average through 16 games, and the other members of the Falcons’ pitching staff — right- handers Jamie Kertes and Briana Combs — have accumulated 4.59 and 4.74 earned-run averages, respectively. Bowling Green will be in pursuit of its first win over Michigan in 12 years when it arrives in Ann Arbor, but Michigan won’t soon forget the upset it suffered against Kent State four days ago. Bowling Green at Michigan Matchup: Bowling Green 7-12; Michigan 24-4 When: Wednesday 4 P.M. Where: Wilpon Complex ROBERT DUNNE/Daily Kelly Christner is hitting .365 through Michigan’s first 28 games this season. SAN PHAM/Daily Senior forward Cyesha Goree has struggled offensively recently, despite averaging 13.8 points per game this season. Cleveland State at Michigan Matchup: Cleveland State 19-12; Michigan 16-14 When: Saturday 7 P.M. Where: Crisler Center “Their potential is pretty vast.”