Bryce Jordan offers unique experience

Maybe I'm just lazy, but when the Penn State public address announcer said on Friday that I had to stand up again before the Michigan women's basketball team beat Penn State, 67-59, I groaned. Apparently, the Nittany Lions wanted to sing the Australian national anthem to one of their teammates, an Aussie native, and I had to endure it.

I don't have anything against Australia. Actually, I kind of like the land down under. After all, they gave us Mel Gibson and the Lethal Weapon series. But how often do you see a basketball team sing a national anthem - not even its own - to a teammate?

ALLISON CANTER/Daily Michigan guard Stacey Thomas takes a jump shot over two Northwestern defenders in yesterday's overtime victory over the Wildcats. Thomas scored seven points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

Welcome to the wild world of women's basketball at the Bryce Jordan Center.

They sang the Aussie national anthem, and I stood - grudgingly.

But then the lights dimmed, and the laser show began.

Again, this was a first for me. A laser-light show at a women's basketball game? Most men's teams don't even do that. But there I was, sitting on press row with lights swirling all around me.

I was worried. Maybe this was the wrong place, maybe I was at the wrong game. At Crisler yesterday, for example, when the Wolverines edged Northwestern, 70-64, there was no Australian national anthem and there was no laser-light show. I think I might have heard Anne Thorius humming the Danish national anthem, but that was about it.

But there they were - the Wolverines that I've covered for nearly four months now - sitting on their bench in Bryce Jordan with the laser-lights swirling, waiting for the game to start. They didn't look any different - that is, except for freshman Mandy Stowe, who was sporting a new, braided hairdo, and senior Akisha Franklin, who was sporting a new tattoo on her right arm.

But still, I wasn't convinced. I looked for signs from the Wolverines, something to tell me they were alright.

And at first it looked like they would deliver. Senior Pollyanna Johns was dominating the low post. Stacey Thomas was hot from the floor. Freshman Anne Thorius was hot, too - her nine first-half points on 4-of-4 shooting were unusually high for her - but her two first-half turnovers showed me she was all right.

But then I heard something from behind me, something that worried me again. It was another reporter, apparently uninterested in the game, talking about the recent Academy Award nominations. He was upset that the Academy snubbed "Starship Troopers" for a Best Picture nomination. He even called the movie a "multi-level cinematic tour-de-force." Between that and the Australian national anthem, I couldn't be in the right place, could I?

Again, nothing like this ever happens at Crisler. The only thing I heard behind me yesterday was Donald Morton, the biggest Michigan women's basketball fan this side of the Mississippi, screaming at the players. "Box out, box out," he'd yell, jumping out of his seat - the only person standing in a crowd of 4,246 at the game.

So I needed a sign on Friday, something to convince me beyond a doubt that I was watching the same Michigan Wolverines I've come to know all winter.

Enter Michigan coach Sue Guevara. After Johns got into foul trouble, Guevara turned to senior Tiffany Willard. In her nine minutes of play, Willard picked up three fouls of her own. Now, there's something I'm used to seeing.

I still wasn't sold, though. And when the Wolverines hit four-straight free throws with just under seven minutes left, as the Nittany Lion pranced around the arena dressed up as Cupid for Valentine's Day, there was even more doubt.

Then Stacey Thomas missed the front end of a one-and-one. Thorius did the same. Murray hit a 3-pointer. Thomas somehow took rebound after rebound away from players four inches taller than her. In fact, Thomas did pretty much everything. The guard had 10 points, 14 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists.

And Michigan, using a gutty defensive performance - they held Penn State under 30 percent from the field in the second half - did what it had to do offensively, pulling out a much-needed road victory.

So, I smiled. Australian national anthem or not, I was in the right place after all.

02-16-98