Promising youth fuels 'M' attack

Four minutes and two Stacey Thomas fouls into Friday night's Big Ten match-up with Illinois, Michigan coach Sue Guevara began to worry.

With her team stumbling to a first-half deficit, Thomas, who suffered through the team's last contest at Purdue managing a mere two points, quickly joined her coach on the sidelines.

"Stacey came out and picked up her second foul and I said, 'Oh Lord, we can't go through this again, we just can't'," Guevara said.

And they wouldn't, as the Wolverines mounted a second-half charge to slide past Illinois 81-79.

Thomas' opportunity to join her coach on the bench came just before the conference standout had the opportunity to join only 12 other Wolverines in scoring 1,000 points in her career, a feat that occurred just moments before breaking her own season-steal record as she picked up her 90th swipe.

And as Guevara's team rallied to perhaps one of the most fulfilling wins of the Big Ten season, a delighted Guevara said Thomas should be applauded for her ability to bounce back on what would prove to be a milestone evening.

"When Stacey went back in there she relaxed and played much smarter defense," Guevara said. "And when the girl plays relaxed, she can flat out score."

Already one of the most celebrated players to don the maize and blue, Thomas' accomplishments this season have been nothing short of impressive as the Flint native has lead the Wolverines in scoring and steals all season.

But what should excite Guevara and fans alike is that the former Big Ten freshman of the year has the chance to do it all again next season.

Marshaling a contingency of younger players, Thomas has asserted herself as the team's experienced leader. Though her teammates have shown more and more that they are willing to shoulder that burden too.

"Its great to see the work the younger players are putting in," Thomas said earlier this month. "They're coming in and doing what they have to do to make us better."

And as Guevara took note of what her squad has accomplished in reeling off five wins in six games entering this weekend, she couldn't help but feel a bit optimistic for what the future may hold for a Michigan team that returns all but one of its players.

"This is a young team," Guevara said Friday night. "This team is maturing, and its one that is starting to see what's at the end of the tunnel."

At times, though, that maturation process has looked bumpy.

Fumbling through a demoralizing five-game slump in mid-season after watching a school-best nine-game streak evaporate just before the conference season, this year has tested Guevara's squad.

And despite falling to Michigan State last night, Friday's performance helped show that maybe after a year of ups and downs, Michigan is a team of promise - a team built on a foundation of youth, poised for a bright future.

Though its youthfulness may bode well for tomorrow, because for Michigan the future is now.

And the promise of that future has most recently been apparent in the likes of Alayne Ingram, Ruth Kipping and Raina Goodlow - a trio of freshmen who've lacked the patience to develop slowly.

With Kipping and Goodlow, who tallied a 11 points Friday, showing signs of their emergence as potent post threats for the Wolverines, Michigan's hopes for a balanced inside-outside attack are being realized in some of its younger contributors.

The Michigan backcourt, highlighted by Anne Thorius and Ingram, who has averaged nearly ten points in 16 starts this season, Michigan's youngest players have boldly shown an ability to guide their team's fortunes.

For now that future includes steering Michigan into a position to contend in the Big Ten Tournament later this month while working to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament - a future Guevara says her team will dictate.

"We are in control of our own destiny, nobody else is," Guevara said.

"We control how we perform."

02-15-99