Blue 'embarrassed' in weekend losses

A little less than a week ago, the Michigan women's basketball team looked unstoppable. It was riding a nine-game winning streak and hadn't lost in nearly two months.

How quickly things change.

After this past weekend's two losses, the once familiar taste of victory lingers as a distant memory, replaced instead by a bitter sense of defeat. The Wolverines are in the midst of another streak - three defeats in a row.

In last night's 54-47 home loss to Minnesota, the old team appeared to be a distant memory as well.

Though they lost 84-66 to No. 5 Louisiana Tech on Saturday, yesterday's game was much harder to swallow for Michigan coach Sue Guevara.

DANA LINNANE/Daily Michigan forward Ruth Kipping tried to put the clamps on Minnesota yesterday, but she and the Wolverines fell short.

"Did you ever have a nightmare and never imagine it would come true?" Guevara asked. "My nightmare came true ... for every tiny step we took forward (Saturday), we took 10 steps backward. You want to take out all your frustration on Minnesota, but I didn't feel before the game that we were ready."

But for the Wolverines (1-2 Big Ten, 9-4 overall), the frustration was entirely on their side. Prior to yesterday's game, Minnesota (1-4, 6-9) was the worst team in the Big Ten, the one looking for its first conference win. The team had five days to prepare for the Crisler contest, and it had the whole court covered.

"Our team was prepared," Minnesota coach Cheryl Littlejohn said. "We executed our game plan."

Minnesota's strategy was to keep Michigan from getting the 20 offensive rebounds it pulled down against Louisiana Tech and to keep defensive pressure on the Wolverine guards.

Though they didn't succeed in their first goal - Michigan got 19 boards off the offensive glass - they did manage to force Michigan's experienced trio of guards to shoot 10-for-33 from the floor.

But the Gophers didn't do everything themselves. They were aided by Michigan's 19 turnovers and 23.5 percent second half field goal shooting.

Guevara could not explain her team's performance.

"We had players that were in outer space," Guevara said. "I tried chewing, tough love, different people. On defense we were trying everything ... we weren't there. I apologize to the faithful 796 fans for not having my team ready.

"I'm so embarrassed for them. I'm really disappointed about our program and the direction we went today."

Yet, though Minnesota dominated the majority of the game, there was a brief period in the second half in which Michigan looked like it could come back.

After being down 48-38 with 5:53 remaining, the Wolverines closed to within six on two quick layups by Alison Miller and Ruth Kipping. For the next minute, the ball went back and forth as both teams missed easy shots.

After Minnesota's second time-out, Ann Lemire quickly got things moving, making a clutch 3-pointer to bring Michigan within three. On the ensuing play, sophomore Anne Thorius stole the ball back, giving the Wolverines their last breath of life.

But as was the case all weekend, Michigan missed out on another opportunity to convert.

On Saturday, the Wolverines came in as underdogs to the heavily favored Lady Techsters (1-0 Sun Belt Conference, 12-2). In order to win, Guevara said they had to play their best game. The Wolverines didn't do that.

In a regionally televised game, for the first time all season, it was apparent that the Wolverines were not used to playing in the upper echelon of women's basketball.

From the opening tip, the game was fast-paced. "Lala Tech" ran the ball all over the court and all over the Wolverines.

Again, Michigan was plagued by turnovers (26) and missed open shots (23-for-68).

"The big girls did a great job defensively putting a lot of pressure on us." Guevara said. "Every mistake we made they capitalized on. That's what good basketball teams do. We had to play our best game to play with them, and we didn't."

01-11-99