Freshmen make fast impact

Mandy Stowe sat in the Crisler Arena press lounge with a grin stretching across her face.

She had just finished her first basketball game in a Michigan uniform - a 95-67 exhibition rout of Sporitelna Bratislava - and she had exceeded all expectations.

Stowe, a 6-foot-1 forward from Ludington, came off the bench to score 17 points and grab seven rebounds in just 21 minutes.

After a quiet first 10 minutes - she missed her only field-goal attempt - Stowe caught on fire, scoring nine points in a six-minute stretch.

"This was something that I had been waiting for for a long time," Stowe said. "The girls have been great in practice, helping me and teaching me, so it wasn't a complete shock, but I've still got a lot to learn."

Stowe has benefited from practicing against some of the the Big Ten's best on a daily basis, including preseason All-Big Ten selection Pollyanna Johns and senior forward Tiffany Willard. Sporitelna didn't have anyone the likes of Johns to send up against Stowe, so she was prepared for anything the Slovak team had to throw at her.

"I would be hurt if she didn't play like she did," Johns said. "I would have taken it personally."

The freshman had one rough stretch in the second half where she committed two turnovers and a foul. Those, however, were Stowe's only turnovers of the game.

She did get into foul trouble late in the game, committing her fourth foul with five minutes left. But Stowe stayed in for the last five minutes and managed to avoid picking up a fifth foul.

Stowe wasn't the only freshman to make a statement in Michigan's only exhibition game. Point guard Anne Thorius had an impressive debut, adding seven points and seven assists.

Thorius, a 5-11 Denmark native, ran the Michigan offense with the poise and on-the-court vision of a veteran. Starting in her first game at Michigan, she picked apart the Sporitelna defense with ease, finding Johns, Stacey Thomas and Stowe time and again for easy layups.

"I was pretty pleased with the way Anne played," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "She ran the show for us today. That's tough for a freshman to come in and, all of a sudden, you're leading the team. She has a lot of respect for the weapons we have on this team."

Thorius was unselfish at the point thorughout the game. In 27 minutes, she took just three shots from the field, hitting all three, as well as going one-for-two from the charity stripe.

"I want her to look to score a little more than she did," Guevara said.

Older than most freshmen - Thorius is just two weeks shy of her 20th birthday - she was a three-time member of the Danish National Team, giving her more experience than the average rookie.

Thorius' biggest problem was turnovers - she committed three of them against seven assists - which a point guard must avoid. But all three turnovers came in the second half, well after the game had been decided.

One explanation for the turnovers might be the actual ball. In Denmark, they play with a larger basketball, and it has taken Thorius some time to adjust.

But if that's her biggest problem, she should have a bright future at Michigan.

11-18-97