Women upset defending champs Michigan 74, Purdue 67 By Arun Gopal Daily Sports Writer Hello, Dr. Jekyll. Nice to see you again. After a terrifying performance on Thursday night against sub-.500 Indiana, the Michigan women's basketball team decided to show its good side once again in a nationally televised contest with defending national champion Purdue on Saturday. The season-high crowd of 2,106 at Crisler Arena witnessed the Wolverines' best effort of the year. While senior co-captain Stacy Thomas broke the Big Ten career record for steals, a balanced scoring attack paced by Anne Thorius' 18 points and some key defensive stops late in the game carried the Wolverines to a 74-67 triumph over the 12th-ranked Boilermakers. In handing Purdue (1-2 Big Ten, 9-4 overall ) its second consecutive loss, Michigan (3-1, 11-4) gained a measure of redemption after the embarrassing loss to the Hoosiers. "I have to give my team all the credit in the world," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "We bounced back from a pretty tough loss on Thursday night." Against Indiana, Michigan's interior defense was gashed open by Hoosiers center Jill Chapman. Time after time, Indiana's guards found Chapman wide-open for uncontested layups. The result: Chapman scored a game-high 29 points, and Michigan's post players were left looking foolish. While Purdue center Camille Cooper was able to notch a season-high 26 points, the Wolverines were at least able to put up a fight this time. Senior center Alison Miller rebounded, both literally and figuratively, with a 12-point, seven-rebound effort, and sophomore forward Raina Goodlow came up large with 10 points. "This game was for our post players," Guevara said. "We challenged our post players that they needed to have at least 17 points between them, and if we can get that consistency in our post game, well, you saw what happened." This game marked the return of Thorius to the lineup. A thigh injury sustained during practice kept the junior co-captain out of the Indiana game; consequently, Michigan struggled to contain the penetration of the Hoosier backcourt. With the Danish import back in the fray, the Wolverines' perimeter defense was stifling. Purdue's starting guards, Kelly Komara (who fouled out) and Shinika Parks, shot a combined 3 for 12 (0 for 6 from three-point land), committed nine turnovers and were unable to consistently break down the Michigan guards. "The way I was feeling this morning, I didn't know how much I was going to play," Thorius said. "I wasn't going exactly for a big game or anything. I was just going out there to contribute as much as I could." "My trainer did a great job getting her (Thorius) ready," Guevara added. "Anne came prepared, and she did what she had to do." On a day when Michigan got clutch scoring performances from several unlikely sources (Thorius, Kenisha Walker), the Wolverines' biggest star was a player who is known for her defense. Senior co-captain Stacy Thomas carved out a place in history when she broke the Big Ten Conference's all-time record for steals. Thomas set the mark with 5:15 to play in the first half, and at the next stoppage of play the record was announced to the Crisler Arena crowd, which gave Thomas a standing ovation. "Whoever I have to guard, I wanna stop them," Thomas said. "It's kind of fun to frustrate my opponents. "The record just goes to show that I do take a lot of pride in my defense. I didn't expect it to come so soon, but I guess all of the hard work paid off." One ray of sunshine in Purdue's dreary day was the tremendous performance by forward Katie Douglas. With the Boilermakers constantly behind in the second half, the hyper-intense all-American put the Purdue offense on her back and carried it. Douglas poured in 30 points, 21 of them in the second half, before fouling out. She hit big shot after big shot and brought the Boilermakers within one point, at 53-52, with 7:18 left in the contest. Despite Douglas' best efforts, it was not meant to be for Purdue. Turnovers and an inability to find a third scorer to take the pressure off of Douglas and Cooper doomed the Boilermakers and gave Michigan a huge victory. "We just beat the No. 12 team in the country," Miller said. "This gives us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the Big Ten schedule. "We came off a disappointing loss on Thursday, so we were looking for something to pick us back up. This was a great win." JEREMY MENCHIK/Daily Michigan forward Stacey Thomas' first-half steal made her the Big Ten's all-time leader in that category. perimeter defense was stifling. Purdue's starting guards, Kelly Komara (who fouled out) and Shinika Parks, shot a combined 3-for-12 (0-for-6 from 3-point land), committed nine turnovers and were unable to consistently break down the Michigan guards. "The way I was feeling this morning, I didn't know how much I was going to play," Thorius said. "I wasn't going exactly for a big game or anything. I was just going out there to contribute as much as I could." "My trainer did a great job getting her ready," Guevara added. "Anne came prepared, and she did what she had to do." On a day when Michigan got clutch scoring performances from several unlikely sources (Thorius, Kenisha Walker), the Wolverines' biggest star was a player known for her defense. Senior co-captain Stacy Thomas carved out a place in history when she broke the Big Ten's all-time record for steals. Thomas set the mark with 5:15 to play in the first half, and at the next stoppage of play, the record was announced to the Crisler Arena crowd, which gave Thomas a standing ovation. "Whoever I have to guard, I wanna stop them," Thomas said. "It's kind of fun to frustrate my opponents. "The record just goes to show that I do take a lot of pride in my defense. I didn't expect it to come so soon, but I guess all of the hard work paid off." One ray of sunshine in Purdue's dreary day was the performance of forward Katie Douglas. With the Boilermakers constantly behind in the second half, the hyper-intense all-American put the Purdue offense on her back and carried it. Douglas poured in 30 points, 21 of them in the second half, before fouling out. She hit big shot after big shot and brought the Boilermakers within one point, at 53-52, with 7:18 left. Despite Douglas' best efforts, it was not meant to be for Purdue. Turnovers and an inability to find a third scorer to take the pressure off of Douglas and Cooper doomed the Boilermakers and gave Michigan a huge victory. "We just beat the No. 12 team in the country," Miller said. "This gives us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the Big Ten schedule. "We came off a disappointing loss on Thursday, so we were looking for something to pick us back up. This was a great win." Originally on page 1B in the 1-10-2000 issue of the Daily.