Home not sweet for Wolverines

After cruising through the first two months of its regular season, collecting nine wins in 11 tries, the Michigan women's basketball team was stalled this weekend as the Wolverines came up short not once, but twice.

And what may be even more unimaginable is that defeat reared its ugly head in the usually-friendly confines of Crisler Arena for coach Sue Guevara and her squad for the first time this season.

"I'm just really embarassed with our program and the direction it went today," said Guevara.

In dropping their second home game in as many days, Michigan now stands only one loss away from equaling last year's home loss total, with seven games yet to be played at Crisler.

After rattling off five road wins just prior to the winter break, the travel-weary Wolverines found themselves thankful to roll back into Ann Arbor.

DANA LINNANE/Daily Freshman Ruth Kipping and the Michigan women's basketball team had a tough weekend on offense. Against Minnesota the team shot 28-percent from the field.

And why not? Until the team entered this weekend, Michigan had won seven of its last eight games at home, while Guevara had only come up short in Ann Arbor on six occasions in her third season at the helm.

Tradition seemed to account for little this weekend though, and after failing to duplicate the success they experienced at home earlier in the season, perhaps Michigan is looking forward to hitting the road again. After all, the team's road record now stands at 6-2, while last night Michigan's home record fell to 3-2 on the year.

And as Michigan failed to capitalize on its home opportunities, perhaps it showed it is now anxious to board the bus for this weekend's matchup against Wisconsin in Madison.

Blue Streaks: For Guevara, it seems that this season's good things have come in streaks.

Unfortunately, with this weekend's upsetting showing, the team learned that bad things can also come in streaks.

In opening their season with nine wins in 10 outings, the Wolverines were able to post a school-best nine-game win streak.

And as Illinois brought that streak to a close last week, the Fighting Illini touched off another one for the Wolverines.

But, Michigan's current streak has been a lot less favorable for Guevara and her squad, as the Wolverines has dropped their third straight game for the first time in two years.

"We've lost three games in a row," said Guevara. "We haven't done that since my first season here, and two of them had to be at home."

And in dropping this weekend's games, Michigan not only ended their home winning streak, but actually began a home losing streak.

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