Halftime turnaround sparks 'M' women to victory, 82-78 Wolverines stumble in first half, come alive in the second By Arun Gopal Daily Sports Writer In the first half of yesterday's game against Iowa, the Michigan women's basketball team struggled miserably against a sub-.500 team. In the second half, the Wolverines demonstrated the form that has put them near the top of the Big Ten standings. For the Wolverines, it was truly a tale of two halves. Actually, for Michigan, the worst of times came first. After a turbulent week that included an injury to starting shooting guard Alayne Ingram and the suspension of forward Ruth Kipping, the Wolverines came out and played one of their worst halves of the season. Michigan's performance in the first half would have been a good cure for insomnia. The Wolverines didn't come flying out of the gate against the Hawkeyes; more accurately, they staggered around the floor as if they woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Michigan shot 43-percent from the field, committed 13 turnovers, and generally looked like they didn't know what they were doing. The result was a 37-32 halftime deficit, the first time that the Wolverines had trailed at the break since a home loss to Vanderbilt on December 7. "The first half was just horrible," Michigan forward Stacy Thomas said. "Our defense was slacking, we were missing easy layups. We knew that we needed to come out in the second half and perform." Michigan looked distracted the entire half, as if their bodies were in Crisler Arena but their minds were elsewhere. According to coach Sue Guevara, this may have been the case. "I don't think we were thinking about the Wisconsin loss in the first half," Guevara said. "I think we were thinking about Alayne Ingram being out and Ruth Kipping not being dressed." A telling statistic from the first half was that Iowa attempted 36 shots, while Michigan put up just 21. While the Wolverines lacked focus, credit must also go to the Hawkeyes, who took it to Michigan in the first half and were rewarded for their efforts. "Usually, we're a very sound defensive team and I think we came in here and we tried to be the aggressor," Iowa coach Angie Lee said. "The team that gets aggressive early defensively will see a lot of things go their way, and I think that was it in the first half." Fortunately for the Wolverines, the second half brought the best of times. Led by Thomas' career-high 32 points, Michigan gradually clawed its way back into the game and reassumed the lead with 15:41 left in the game, 45-44. "We had a lot of turnovers in the first half, and we can't have that if we want to win ball games," Thomas said. "We needed to come in and correct that, and we did a better job of taking care of the ball in the second half." Along with a more efficient scoring attack, the Wolverines clamped down on defense. Iowa sophomore guard Lindsey Meder, Iowa's leading scorer, was hounded by Michigan's defense into a nightmarish 1-for-12 shooting night. Her seven points were 15 below her conference scoring average coming into Sunday's contest. "This was Lindsey's worst day by far," Lee said. "She seemed very tentative and she hesitated - when you hesitate, you get lost in this game." With this victory in hand, the Wolverines can now train their sights on No. 4 Penn State, whom they face on Thursday night in State College. While the Wolverines have surmounted several major hurdles thus far (Purdue, Illinois), the upcoming game will be their toughest challenge yet. In order to win, Michigan cannot afford another tale of two halves. "We have a very big challenge coming up on Thursday, and I know the team will be ready to play," Guevara said. "I know one thing (Penn State coach) Rene Portland will say - 'the way to stop Michigan is to stop Stacy Thomas.' "So the challenge is for the other kids, because they can play." DAVID KATZ/Daily After scoring only 10 points in the first half, Michigan forward Stacey Thomas (11) came out firing in the second half. In the 82-78 victory over the Hawkeyes, Thomas scored a career high 32 points. Originally on page 7B in the 1-24-2000 issue of the Daily.