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Michigan readying for San Diego
By CHRIS CROWDER
Daily Sports Writer
The
Michigan
women’s
basketball team has reached the
Sweet Sixteen
of the Women’s
National
Invitational
Tournament,
but
anything
less
than
a
championship
will
leave
a
bad taste in the
Wolverines’
mouth.
On
paper,
Michigan (9-9
Big Ten, 19-13
overall)
is
talented enough to advance to the
WNIT Final Four and possibly
run the table to hang a banner in
Crisler Center. But before they
can start thinking about that,
the Wolverines must get past San
Diego on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at
Crisler.
The
Toreros
(13-5
West
Coast Conference, 25-7 overall)
got to this point by defeating
Michigan’s
Big
Ten
foe
Northwestern and IUPUI by four
and 11, respectively. Against the
Wildcats, San Diego had control
for the most of the game even
though they were away from
home. The Toreros led by as
much as 20 in the fourth quarter,
but allowed Northwestern to
cut the deficit to as little as two
before pulling out a victory. After
a tie ballgame at the half facing
the Jaguars, San Diego pulled
away and didn’t look back.
When the Wolverines traveled
to Evanston to face the Wildcats,
Michigan squeezed out a five-
point victory. In that matchup,
the Wolverines surrendered 23
turnovers
that
Northwestern
turned
into
30
points.
If
Michigan had taken better care
of the ball, the margin of victory
would have been much larger.
Lately,
the
Wolverines
have
been valuing their possessions.
After surrendering 16 turnovers
in the first round of the WNIT
against Wright State, Michigan
had just seven turnovers in the
next round against Bucknell. The
Wolverines will have to be even
more careful Tuesday night.
“San Diego is a real tough
team, they’ve had a tremendous
season,” said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico on her weekly
radio appearance with WTKA.
“They’re playing exceptionally
well.
They’ve
been
in
the
Midwest for the duration of the
WNIT.
“They’re
a
great,
great
defensive
team,
and
they’re
gonna change the pressure on
us. They’re really going to get up
and force turnovers, they forced
25 turnovers the other night.
They’re gonna be scrappy and all
over the place.”
Along with cutting down on
turnovers, the stellar play of
junior guard Siera Thompson
has also been a boost for the
Wolverines.
Thompson
is
known as a lockdown defender,
guarding each team’s respective
best player. But in the WNIT,
Thompson has topped her career
high in points in both games with
19 and 20, respectively.
Against
the
Toreros,
Thompson will likely be given
the task of defending guard
Malina Hood, who averages 18.5
points per game. Malina’s twin
sister, Maya, is second in scoring
for San Diego with a 14.4 average.
With the twins leading the way,
the Toreros have lost all but one
game by single digits.
San Diego is strong in guard
presence,
but
lacks
height,
priming
Michigan
freshman
center Hallie Thome to have
another standout performance.
Against Bucknell, Thome tallied
24
points
and
four
blocks.
With San Diego’s tallest player
standing at 6-foot-2, Thome’s
6-foot-5
frame
and
shifty
footwork could allow her to pad
the stat sheet in the paint. Her
scoring has been instrumental in
the Wolverines’ 81- and 95-point
displays so far in the WNIT.
“If we can continue to score
like we have the last couple
games, that’ll put us in great
shape,” Barnes Arico said.
Michigan’s best seasons may
lie in the future with younger
players continuing to develop and
another ranked recruiting class
coming in next season, but the
seniors are still the focus of this
year’s Wolverines. They want to
send guards Madison Ristovski
and Halle Wangler and forward
Kelsey Mitchell off with a WNIT
championship.
It wouldn’t be as prestigious as
the NCAA Tournament bid that
Michigan wanted, but the WNIT
is an opportunity to finish the
season the way the Wolverines
started it — with a win.
San Diego
at Michigan
Matchup: San
Diego 25-7;
Michigan 19-13
When:
Tuesday 7 P.M.
Where: Crisler
Center
TV/Radio:
MGoBlueTV
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Junior guard Siera Thompson has averaged 19.5 points per game in the Wolverines’ WNIT run this month.
Wolverines’ ‘D’
sees resurgence
By JASON RUBINSTEIN
Daily Sports Writer
Nearly three weeks ago, the
state of the Michigan hockey
team was in flux.
Prior to the Ohio State series,
the Wolverines had only trended
upward. Senior netminder Steve
Racine was playing his best
hockey of his life. The feared
CCM line — freshman Kyle
Connor and juniors JT Compher
and Tyler Motte — was scoring
endless goals and the defense
was finally erasing the kinks
that plagued it in past years.
Then came the series against
the Buckeyes.
The Wolverines traveled to
Columbus, eager to continue
their strong season, but couldn’t
forge ahead. They let in 13 goals
and were swept — one coach
said prior to the series that
Michigan’s goal was to limit
the
Buckeyes
to five goals on
the weekend. It
was a giant step
backward, and
the team was
playing a type
of hockey that
you don’t want
to play with the
postseason just
weeks away.
But it didn’t faze them. The
Wolverines went on to promptly
sweep Penn State by a margin of
13-2 before beating the Nittany
Lions again, 7-1, and Minnesota,
5-3, to capture the Big Ten
Tournament championship.
If you ask the team what
changed
defensively,
they’ll
tell you it was a whole-team
effort. Every player became
accountable:
forwards,
defensemen and Racine.
Starting with the forwards,
Compher mentioned throughout
the year that the forwards
needed to backcheck more. But
backchecking was all but absent
in Columbus.
However,
the
captain’s
message rang deep during the
Big Ten Tournament.
“We won more battles, we
were harder working, harder to
play against, especially against
Minnesota,”
Compher
said.
“Our ‘D’ did a really good job
gapping up and taking away
space from their forwards. It
was probably the hardest our
team has backchecked all year,
and it really took away a lot of
what they were trying to do.”
Added Berenson: “A lot of
things had to happen and our
team battled harder as a group.
But then there were individuals
who made plays that saved goals,
which are just as important as
the individuals who scored goals,
starting with Racine and then
(sophomore defenseman) Cutler
Martin on that two-on-one.”
Berenson
referenced,
perhaps, the play of the game.
And it wasn’t another goal from
the CCM line. Knotted at three
midway through the period
after Michigan let in three
unanswered goals, Minnesota
capitalized on a turnover to force
a two-on-one opportunity. With
the way the game’s momentum
was shifting, it felt like the
Gophers would capitalize.
Instead,
Martin
decided
to challenge the puck-carrier
head-on, diving toward him
and knocking the puck toward
Racine, who scurried the puck
away from the danger zone.
“I told Marty that it was the
play of the year for him,” Racine
said. “It was an awesome play.
He took a chance and it worked
out.”
Added
sophomore
defenseman
Zach
Werenski:
“We work on two-on-ones a
lot throughout the week and it
seems to have paid off. I don’t
know if that was safest play
or way to do it, but it was one
of the plays of the game in my
opinion.”
Martin’s
play
shows
that
when
Michigan
takes
chances,
it
plays
its
best hockey.
When
the
defensemen
have pinched
down the boards to keep the
puck in the offensive zone, more
goals have occurred.
In the Ohio State series, the
defensemen got away from that.
They tried to play to close to home,
allowing the game come to them
rather than being the playmaker.
“I think we are buying into
what is in front of us. We know
we can make a run,” Werenski
said. “When we want to, and
commit to playing defense, we
can do it. It’s just, as a team, it
hasn’t been there all season,
which is a tough pill to swallow
thinking about what we could’ve
done earlier in the year.
“I think when you can gap up
on the other forwards and not
give them much time to make
plays, it helps us a lot. It’s been
nice having our forwards do a
good job coming back hard and
it gives us more confidence to
step up and make plays.”
Then there’s Racine, who has
looked like a bona fide goaltender
for the majority of the year, but
has also suffered through down
weekends like the one three
weeks ago in Columbus.
“He didn’t have his best series
at Ohio State and he was the first
to admit that,” Compher said.
“We’re going to help as much as
possible, and when he gives you
big saves like the one he had on
that two-on-one last night, that
was a game-changer. If he can
make those saves and we can
put in our opportunities, then
we can beat anyone.”
If that’s true, it has to start
with the forwards backchecking
hard
and
the
defensemen
playing aggressive. The rest
should take care of itself.
“I think we
are buying into
what is in front
of us.”
‘M’ wraps up non-conference play
By ORION SANG
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 2 Michigan softball
team has had a long buildup to
conference play.
The
Wolverines
(21-2)
have
traveled across
the country to
tournaments
in
Florida,
California
and
Kentucky,
facing
a
host
of
nationally
diverse — and
talented
—
opponents,
including No.
1 Florida, No.
7
Washington,
No. 11 Florida State, No. 13
Missouri, No. 14 Oklahoma and
No. 16 UCLA.
But the team finally returned to
Ann Arbor last Wednesday to play
its first home game of the season,
clobbering Eastern Michigan, 14-1.
Tuesday’s home game against
Western Michigan represents the
end of Michigan’s journey to Big
Ten play.
After
facing
the
Broncos
(8-12), the Wolverines will begin
a 23-game conference schedule,
with the exception of one game
against
Central
Michigan
sandwiched
between
series
against Maryland and Penn
State at the end of April.
Michigan’s strong start has been
boosted by an offense that ranks
fourth in the nation in scoring and
10th in batting average.
Its
pitching,
however,
lags
behind in comparison, with the
rotation giving up four or more
runs in five games this season
and ranking 38th in the nation in
earned-run average.
For a team with championship
potential that has been ranked No.
2 all year — and came in at No. 1 in
the first RPI rankings of the season
— the Wolverines haven’t been
very balanced.
But that seems to be changing.
Over its last eight games,
Michigan’s pitching staff has
hurled five shutouts and has
a combined team earned-run
average of 0.94.
For junior right-hander Megan
Betsa, walks have been a thorn in
her side all season. Currently, she
has given up more free passes than
hits.
In her past two starts, she has
tempered the problem, giving up
just two walks and tossing what
was easily her best game of the
season in her most recent start.
Betsa threw a complete game
shutout with 11 strikeouts and no
walks.
Betsa is building off of an
All-American season last year,
and Michigan will need her to
continue to return to her previous
excellence if it hopes to experience
more postseason success.
Sophomore right-hander Tera
Blanco has bounced back as well.
In her first start of the season,
Blanco gave up seven runs (five
unearned) in an 8-0, run-rule loss
to No. 1 Florida, but she has since
thrown two shutouts in her past
three starts.
Fifth-year senior right-hander
Sara Driesenga has been the most
consistent of all the pitchers,
sporting a gaudy 11-0 record
with a team-best 2.12 ERA. But
even she struggled earlier in the
season, giving up 13 runs in 20.1
innings pitched at the Mary Nutter
Collegiate Classic.
Since then, however, she has
given up only one run in the past 18
innings she has pitched.
With its staff rounding into
shape, the Wolverines are an even
more dangerous team than before.
Even if pitching alone can’t win
championships, consistently good
pitching can only help a team
with the caliber of offense that
Michigan has.
“If we can get our pitching to
consistently keep us in the game,
our offense has the ability to do
their part, which is score more
runs,” Hutchins said. “That’s
really what we try to stress every
day with our pitchers to take the
pressure off them. They don’t have
to be perfect.”
WMU at
Michigan
Matchup:
WMU 8-12;
Michigan 21-2
When:
Tuesday
4 P.M.
Where:
Alumni Field
TV/Radio:
MGoBlueTV
ICE HOCKEY
DELANEY RYAN/Daily
Junior right-hander Megan Betsa struggled with her control early in the season, but she struck out 11 batters and walked none in her most recent start.
8 — Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com