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February 18, 2019 - Image 9

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
February 18, 2019 — 3B

Behind Robbins, Wolverines beat
Illinois for sixth-straight victory

Sunday
afternoon
in
Champaign, Ill., two teams on
very different trajectories crossed
paths.
The
Michigan
women’s
basketball team had won five
consecutive games and was making
its case for the NCAA Tournament.
On the other hand, Illinois was on a
downward spiral, having lost 13 of
its last 15 contests.
And despite flashes were it
appeared the Fighting Illini (2-13
Big Ten, 10-16 overall) might get
the upset they needed to change
course, the Wolverines (9-6, 18-9)
eventually pulled away with a
70-56 victory.
After leading for the entire
second quarter, Michigan’s grip
on the game loosened early in the
third. The Wolverines conceded
two jumpers from off the left block
— as well as a pair of free throws —
and soon trailed, 30-29.
Michigan
gave
up
seven
offensive rebounds in that third
frame, and as a result the game
stayed close. But then junior
forward Kayla Robbins — who
finished with a team-high 15 points
— stepped up, grabbing two steals
and scoring seven points to give her
team the breathing room it needed.
From then on, the Wolverines

widened the gap.
“Kayla Robbins is an incredible
basketball player,” said Michigan
coach
Kim
Barnes
Arico
to
MGoBlueTV. “She does so many
things that other players on
our team don’t do. She has an
incredible motor to the basketball,
she rebounds the ball exceptionally
well, she’s becoming more and
more confident on the rip-and-go
to the basket. She’s a great defender.
She has great length and she’s just a
great kid.
“She
has
been
working
incredibly hard lately and it’s so
nice for her to be seeing a lot of
positives and really impacting our
team.”
The
Wolverines
had
a
meaningful moment in the first
quarter, when senior center Hallie
Thome scored from the post on a
routine move. That basket made
her the program’s third-ever player
to reach 2000 points.
“Oh my goodness,” Barnes Arico
said. “2000 points is incredible.
That is not easy to do. 1000 is not
easy to do. To have the ability to
score 2000 over the course of your
career is really special, and Hallie
has been special to our program
from the minute she stepped on
campus. She’s just unstoppable.”
Early in the game, the Fighting
Illini excelled from beyond the
arc. They hit two triples in the first

two minutes to take a 6-0 lead. By
the first media timeout, they had
notched a third and led 11-7.
When
the
timeout
ended,
Michigan’s streak began.
Freshman forward Naz Hillmon
and Robbins checked in, and with
them the Wolverines brought a
near-full-court defensive press.
For a while, Illinois had no
answer.
The
Fighting
Illini
struggled to make it to half court,
and by the time they did there was
often limited time left on the shot
clock. This led to bad shots.
Michigan capitalized on the
opportunity its defense provided,
going on an 8-0 run to end the
quarter. Robbins was crucial to
that run, accounting for the latter
half of those eight points to give her
team a 15-11 lead.
In
the
second-frame,
the
Wolverines’ run continued. It
topped off at 14-points, giving
Michigan a 21-11 lead early in the
stanza.
Illinois
soon
fought
back
though, led by forwards Alex
Wittinger and Mackenzie Blazek.
Wittinger converted a jumper and
a triple. And then nearing the end
of the half, Blazek hit back-to-back
jumpers to cut the Wolverines’ lead
to 29-24 by intermission.
But at the end of the day, the
two teams continued in opposite
directions.

ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Junior forward Kayla Robbins finished with a team-high 15 points in Michigan’s 70-56 win over Illinois.

Through the lens of Ann Arbor, a
look at the race for the Big Ten

As the Michigan hockey team
inches closer to postseason play,
one thing is abundantly clear — the
only way that it makes the NCAA
Tournament is with an automatic.
The Wolverines currently sit
at 25th in the Pairwise rankings,
and according to College Hockey
News’ Playoff Probability Matrix
they have a zero percent chance of
an at-large bid, even if they win out
their last four games against Ohio
State and Wisconsin.
But not all hope is lost. The
Wolverines can still earn an
automatic bid if they win the Big
Ten Tournament. Besides Ohio
State — which leads second-place
Minnesota (33 points) by the same
eight-point margin that the Golden
Gophers lead last-place Wisconsin
(25) — the second through seventh
seeds in the tournaments are
all essentially up for grabs. To
guarantee home-ice for the three-
game series in the first round,
Michigan must finish no lower
than fourth. For the second-round
game to be at Yost as well, it would
have to finish second.
“It was disappointing you know,
at Ohio State when you have the
lead in the third period and played
pretty well but made some bad
mistakes in New York because
you can’t get those points back,”
said Michigan coach Mel Pearson

on Jan. 31 after splitting a home
and neutral site series against
Penn State. “And as you look at the
standings, everything’s so tight.
One game and you go from third
place to seventh place.”
With the way the conference
schedule is set up, there are likely
four teams vying for the three
home-ice spots in the first round:
Minnesota,
Notre
Dame
(31
points), Michigan (30) and Penn
State (29). Though Michigan State
is close behind with 27 points, the
Spartans only have one series to
make up ground, while the three
teams directly above them all
have two. To make matters worse
for the Spartans, that series is in
Columbus.
As long as the Wolverines win
at least one of its last four games
or Michigan State loses one of its
games to the Buckeyes, Michigan
will finish above the Spartans. And
if the Wolverines take one game
against Wisconsin, that would
put the Badgers at an eight-point
deficit to Michigan — meaning
that the Wolverines would be safe
from slipping below Wisconsin if
the Badgers lose at least one other
game.
That is, by no means, is a given.
Though Michigan picked up a win
in Columbus themselves and could
have walked out with a sweep if
not for a third-period meltdown
in the second game, Ohio State is
currently the only Big Ten team

in the top ten for a reason — it’s by
far the most consistent team in the
conference. Even Wisconsin gave
Michigan all it could handle in two
extra-time games at Yost.
It’s hard to imagine a scenario
where the Wolverines lose out, so
that likely leaves them jockeying
for position with Penn State,
Notre Dame and Minnesota. The
calculus gets a little twisted from
there — head to head, Michigan
is tied with the Fighting Irish,
up only one point to the Nittany
Lions, and down one to the Golden
Gophers. Notre Dame hosts Penn
State and travels to Minnesota, but
the Gophers play one series in the
span while the other teams in the
race all play two.
“It’s hard to make up points
because
everybody’s
playing
the same teams,” Pearson said.
“Everybody is playing each other.
Someone’s gonna win, someone’s
gonna lose, so it’s important if you
can string a sweep together.”
Still, any scenario where the
Wolverines don’t get at least three
points against the Buckeyes this
weekend would likely spell doom
for Michigan’s chances at second
place. That, coupled with a Penn
State
sweep
over
Wisconsin,
would drop the Wolverines to the
No. 5 seed. However, a scenario
where
Michigan
sweeps
its
season-ending slate would likely
put it in a good position for the No.
2 seed.

Early trouble
Michigan drops three straight against North Carolina and Louisville in Big Ten/ACC Challenge, falls to 4-5 on season

Though Louisville and North
Carolina didn’t seem to be the
caliber of the Michigan softball
team’s
opening
weekend
opponents,
the
17th-ranked
Wolverines
knew
they’d
present a challenge. And, after
a lackluster first tournament,
it
originally
seemed
like
Michigan came ready to play in
Chapel Hill, beating Louisville
6-0 in its first game of the Big
Ten/ACC Challenge.
“We were really on task, we
were sharp, we were crisp, and
we had a great energy about
us,”
Michigan
coach
Carol
Hutchins said. “When we got
there, we were excited to get to
play. I was very pleased, and I
thought we had improved from
week one to week two.”
But
what
seemed
like
a
promising
weekend
of
improvement
turned
sour
quickly.
After the shutout win over
Louisville on Friday, Michigan
(4-5) mustered a measly six
runs over the course of its next
three games, losing the North
Carolina (5-3), 8-3 and 4-2,
respectively, while dropping
a close one to Louisville (4-5),
2-1.
“We need to start generating
more
offense
in
general,
period,” Hutchins said. “We
need more bases, we need
better cuts. If we’re guilty of
anything, there’s no question,
it’s that we’re trying too hard.
We’ve got some kids that have
power, but we just want to hit
the ball hard. We’re not there
yet, but we’ll get there. It’s
tough.”
Added senior catcher Katie
Alexander: “Usually, hitting is
contagious so, you know, I just
got to keep trying to do what
I can do for my team in any
way possible to get on base.
And again, mental toughness.

Like softball is a game of ups
and downs. Hitting 1-for-3 is
good so we just have to string it
together.”
The turning point of the
weekend occurred during the
fifth inning of game two. Tied
at three, against the Tar Heels,
sophomore left-hander Meghan
Beaubien
relieved
freshman
right-hander Alex Storako. The
wheels couldn’t have fallen off
any faster for the Wolverines.
After giving up five earned
runs,
Beaubien
was
pulled
within the same inning.
“We
didn’t
stay
as
competitive,” Hutchins said. “I
don’t want to say (we lost) our
confidence, but all of a sudden,
we got tentative. You can’t.
You’re in the middle of a game.
When you’re getting outplayed,
you can’t play tentatively. We
can’t play tentatively, we can’t
pitch tentatively, we can’t hit
tentatively and we can’t play
defense tentatively.”
That inning set the tone for
the rest of the Big Ten/ACC
Challenge for the Wolverines.
After practicing how to hit with
runners on base this past week,
Michigan was unable to drive

in runs and leaving several
runners on base each game.
The
Wolverines
will
undoubtedly
drop
in
the
rankings after losing three of
four to unranked competition.
But
more
than
that,
the
weekend raised more questions
than solved them.
With the starting first base
job spot still up for grabs and
junior third baseman Madison
Uden getting benched toward
the end of the weekend, the
lineup is far from set according
to Hutchins. But rather than
building confidence for the
next two tournaments that
feature four of the top eight
teams in the nation, Michigan
has lost itself.
“We can’t really do anything
about it now so we should
be able to let it go and not
be thinking about it next
weekend,” Beaubien said. “We
just need to focus on the games
we have that are coming up and
just really focus on all around,
offensively,
defensively,
and
in the circle. And not putting
pressure on ourselves to get the
results we want and just play
softball like we know how.”

Rough waters have carried the
No. 17 Michigan softball team
into uncharted territory. Though
the ship is far from wrecked,
Wolverines’
coach
Carol
Hutchins is looking to plug any
leaks sooner rather than later.
After dropping three of its
four games at the ACC/Big
Ten Challenge, Michigan (4-5)
returned to Ann Arbor with a
sub-.500 record through at least
five games for the first time since
2001. The losing record isn’t
the only issue the Wolverines
brought back from Chapel Hill
— mounted frustrations have
manifested, too.
Right now, the vessel’s radar
system is pointing to a number of
different dangers.
“Our pitchers have a part
to do, which is (execute) their
process and limit the (opposing)
offense,” Hutchins said. “Our
defense’s job is to pick up the
pitchers and take care of the
ball. The offense’s job is to hit
and score some runs. Right now,
we’re not doing well in any of
those categories.”
While
Hutchins
may
be
disappointed in the team’s overall
performance, there are some
positive takeaways outside of the
turmoil. Michigan dominated
Louisville, 6-0, Friday afternoon
behind sophomore left-hander
Meghan
Beaubien’s
one-hit
shutout in its lone win of the
weekend.
“We were really on task, we
were sharp, we were crisp, and
we had a great energy about us,”
Hutchins said. “When we got
there, we were excited to get to
play. I was very pleased, and I
thought we had improved from
week one to week two.”
However,
the
Wolverines’
excitement was short lived.
Later that evening, the team
was deadlocked with North
Carolina going into the fifth

inning. When freshman right-
hander
Alex
Storako
began
showing
signs
of
fatigue,
Hutchins turned to Beaubien to
finish the game.
Moments
later,
the
ship
sustained its first gash. Beaubien
was
rocked
for
five
runs,
plummeting Michigan into an
insurmountable
deficit.
The
team’s enduring problem didn’t
lie in the deficit — rather, the root
of the issue came in the form of
its passive response.
“We gave up too many free
bases and five runs in an inning,”
Hutchins said. “Hit batters,
errors and they got ahold of
a couple. We didn’t stay as
competitive.
“I don’t want to say (we lost)
our confidence, but all of a sudden
we got tentative. You can’t.
You’re in the middle of a game,
when you’re getting outplayed,
you can’t play tentatively. We
can’t play tentatively, we can’t
pitch tentatively, we can’t hit
tentatively and we can’t play
defense tentatively.”
When
the
Wolverines’
defense faltered, they allowed
the shortcomings to adversely
affect them at the plate. After

scoring six runs in the first game
of the weekend, Michigan scored
a combined total of six in the
ensuing three losses.
“We need to start generating
more
offense
in
general,”
Hutchins
said.
“Period.
We
need more bases, we need better
cuts. If we’re guilty of anything,
there’s no question, it’s that
we’re trying too hard. We’ve got
some kids that have power, but
we just want to hit the ball hard.
We’re not there yet, but we’ll get
there. It’s tough.”
After failing to seize two
chances to capture early-season
statement victories against No.
5 Florida and No. 7 Arizona at
last weekend’s Wilson-DeMarini
Tournament,
the
Wolverines
find themselves limping into an
early crossroads.
Instead of pressing the panic
button, Michigan is looking to
use the experience to catalyze
long-term growth.
“When you go through tough
times, you’re meant to get
tougher,” Hutchins said. “And
that’s what it’ll do to you if you
make the choice basically.”
For the Wolverines, the time
to choose is now.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes and the Michigan hockey team must win the Big Ten Tournament.

RIAN RATNAVALE
Daily Sports Writer

AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
Daily Sports Writer

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior catcher Katie Alexander noted the offense relies on mental toughness.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins was displeased with her team’s performance.

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