8 — Friday, December 4, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
‘M’ earns 7-0 start
Wolverines roll past
Pittsburgh to tie
best season start in
program history
By BRAD WHIPPLE
Daily Sports Writer
The
Michigan
women’s
basketball
team’s
undefeated
start to the season hadn’t carried
much
weight
headed into
Thursday’s
game.
The
Wolverines
had
outscored each of their six
opponents by an average of 34
points, running the floor on both
offense and defense. Every game
was decided by halftime.
Michigan needed to take on a
more challenging test. It needed
to face a better-known opponent,
maybe even one with which the
Wolverines had a history. What
they got was Pittsburgh, which
handed Michigan its first loss
last season.
This
time
around,
the
Wolverines (7-0) passed.
Behind an explosive first half
characterized
by
Michigan’s
effective
three-quarter-court
press and 61-percent shooting,
the Wolverines jumped out to
a 22-point lead at halftime, and
they never relinquished it in
their 82-45 victory.
“We knew that (Pittsburgh)
was gonna be scrappy, gonna play
hard, gonna give us a different
look than we’ve faced all year
with their size, length and
athleticism,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico. “I thought we
handled it exceptionally well
from the start.”
Added senior guard Madison
Ristovski: “We’re able to sub in
and have fresh legs coming in all
the time. That’s super important
playing teams like Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is a good team, but
we were nine deep.”
Michigan not only bested one
of its demons from last season,
but it also continued its perfect
start to the season, reaching
7-0 for the first time since 2011
— equaling the best start in
program history.
Though Katelynn Flaherty
missed her first four shots, the
sophomore guard still led the
team with 24 points. With 1:46
left in the first quarter, Flaherty
jumped to tip a pass back toward
Pittsburgh’s basket, and she
took it down for an uncontested
layup.
That basket was the second of
a 16-3 run, which lasted nearly
five
minutes
and
extended
Michigan’s lead from five to
18. The Wolverines continued
to make stops on defense by
drawing several charges, diving
for loose balls and double-
teaming the Panthers’ point
guards the instant they crossed
the half-court line — limiting
Pittsburgh (4-3) to 40.4-percent
shooting.
Michigan found even greater
success on its offensive end. The
Wolverines shot 51.5 percent
from the field and yielded the
best results from their 3-point
shooters.
Freshman
guards
Boogie Brozoski and Nicole
Munger each knocked down
three baskets from beyond the
arc and proved why they are two
of the deadliest shooters on the
team aside from Flaherty and
junior guard Siera Thompson.
With 7:49 left in the game,
Brozoski, who totaled 13 points,
drained her third trey to give
Michigan a 32-point lead, its
largest of the night at that point.
The offense showed how
balanced it could be once again,
with 10 players scoring and
seven others lending an assist.
“We have Katelynn Flaherty,
who’s one of the best shooters
in the country, on our team, and
we’re not running every play for
her,” Barnes Arico said. “We’re
trying to find the best look —
not only Katelynn. … Katelynn
herself is making extra passes
and not feeling the pressure of ‘I
have to score’ every time.”
Where the Wolverines seemed
to be lacking, though, was
their rebounding game. Both
freshman center Hallie Thome
and sophomore forward Jillian
Dunston had an unusually poor
showing, combining for just
seven rebounds.
Stepping into the rebounding
role was junior guard Danielle
Williams, who grabbed a team-
high 10 boards as Michigan
still outrebounded Pittsburgh,
39-25. As usual, Williams wasn’t
looked to as a scorer and instead
dominated under the glass while
playing scrappy.
“She does the dirty work
for us,” Ristovski said. “When
you’re out there, you always
want to be out there with
Danielle, because she’s always
doing the little things to help the
team get better.”
The
next
two
Sundays,
Michigan
will
face
two
more teams that handed it
demoralizing losses last season:
Princeton
and
UCLA.
It’s
“revenge week,” as the team
is calling it, so the Wolverines
can’t soak in Thursday’s victory
for too long.
They still have two tests left.
PITTSBURGH
MICHIGAN
45
82
Wolverines’ pressure
‘D’ makes difference
By BRANDON CARNEY
Daily Sports Writer
It’s not often that a player
shoots 7-for-7 in the first half and
the opposing coach goes into the
locker room happy.
But even though Pittsburgh
forward Yacine Diop did just
that, Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico was pleased with the way
the Wolverines defended her on
Thursday.
Diop may have scored 15 points
at the break, but Michigan’s
suffocating three-quarter court
press forced the Panther forward
into committing five turnovers in
that time. By the end of the night,
the Wolverines had pressured
Pittsburgh
into
making
24
turnovers, as defense powered
Michigan to the 82-45 win.
Knowing Pittburgh’s height
was going to be an issue, Barnes
Arico set up a press scheme to
prevent the Panthers’ post players
from getting the ball early in
possessions.
The
Wolverines
had
two
defenders on Pittburgh’s ball
handlers in the backcourt, trying
to force half-court traps in the
corner or risky cross-court passes.
Senior
guard
Madison
Ristovski was at the head of the
press early in the contest. She
was constantly sliding between
the Panthers’ guards, trying to
stop them from getting any open
passing lanes or outside shots.
“(Ristovski) started the game
focused and locked in,” Barnes
Arico said. “She scored for us
early. She defended for us early.
She’s playing at another level,
and we need her to because of her
experience. I thought Madison
was absolutely terrific for us
tonight.”
Ristovski played a huge role
setting up the defense in the
first quarter, but it’s junior guard
Siera Thompson who will haunt
the memory of Pittsburgh ball
handlers.
Thompson
picked
up
a
team-high
five
steals
and
pressured
the
Panthers
into making countless errors
throughout the contest.
The Wolverine defense really
got up to speed when freshman
guards
Boogie
Brozoski
and
Nicole Munger entered the game
after the under-five timeout in
the first quarter. The Wolverines
earned 11 steals in total and forced
Pittsburgh to commit turnovers
on 34 percent of its possessions.
But whenever the Panthers got
through the Michigan backcourt,
the Wolverines were ready to
slide in and make an aggressive
move in front of the basket.
Michigan drew five charges,
with sophomore forward Jillian
Dunston acting as the roadblock
between Pittsburgh players and
the basket.
While Dunston has led the
Wolverines in rebounding for
most of the season, junior guard
Danielle Williams worked her
way inside and grabbed a team
high 10 rebounds Thursday. The
guard made up for her lack of
height by outhustling and out-
jumping Pitt’s big lineup.
Williams has come off the
bench to spark the Michigan
defense throughout her career,
and she did it again against the
Panthers.
“Out of anyone, (Williams
is) not a scorer,” Barnes Arico
said. “But the charges that she
took tonight, and the tips and
deflections that she took, and
to be a 5-(foot)-8 kid and get 10
rebounds against a big team just
shows you her toughness and her
unselfishness.”
The
Wolverines
baffled
Pittsburgh all night on the
defensive end, and will hope
whatever scheme they throw
at Princeton on Sunday will be
similarly effective. The Tigers’
offense,
which
averages
79
points per game, may finally be
an even match for a Michigan
defense
that
answered
the
challenge Thursday.
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Junior guard Siera Thompson led the Wolverines with five steals Thursday.