Sophomore Kipping 'is done here at Michigan' By Dena Beth Krischer Daily Sports Writer Michigan coach Sue Guevara said yesterday that sophomore forward Ruth Kipping is "done here at Michigan," as she has been indefinitely suspended from the Michigan women's basketball team. Kipping had played in all 17 games of the season, averaging 3.0 points and 2.3 rebounds. Kipping will leave Michigan with 47 career games, 331 points and 209 rebounds under her belt. According to unnamed sources, Kipping was extremely unhappy here at Michigan and wants to be closer to her hometown, Quincy, Ill. "She liked her teammates, she just wasn't happy with the atmosphere at Michigan," a source said. "Obviously when you're not happy, you're going to be struggling a little and I think it's in her best interest what happened." Guevara said in a press conference that she hopes Kipping will stay at Michigan for the remainder of the semester and will transfer at the end of the winter term. Kipping could not be reached for comment. Thomas breaks again: As if holding the Big Ten career steals record wasn't enough, senior forward Stacey Thomas netted a career-high 30 points against Iowa. The 30 points gives Thomas 1,407 on her career - 97 away from climbing up to fourth place on another Michigan stats ladder. Thomas needs 144 more to move ahead of Abby Currier (1977-81). Thomas also recorded eight more rebounds, placing her fourth on the Michigan career rebounding chart with 764. She needs 57 to take third place from Tanya Powell (1986-90). Thomas leads the Wolverines in four categories this season; scoring (289 points), rebounds (145), steals (68) and minutes (582). Thorius needs a new "two": Junior point guard Anne Thorius was without counterpart sophomore shooting guard Alayne Ingram yesterday. Ingram, who had started every game this season until yesterday, suffered a sprained ankle late in the Wisconsin game this past Thursday. Ingram is first in three-pointers with 30 (42.3-percent) and second behind Stacey Thomas in scoring (215 points) and minutes (534). "Alayne is always a contributor on the offensive and the defensive end," Thorius said. "We know once Alayne has the ball something's going to happen. "Either she's going to take a good shot or she's going to create something and I think that's where we were lacking in the first half of the game." Ingram's presence was much needed in the first half as Michigan created a meager 21 shots from the floor, the lowest field goal attempts during a first half this season. "Anytime you have a shooter out, it causes problems," senior forward Kenisha Walker said. "We had to step it up and Stacey did that and she took over for the whole team." For Thorius, her 40 minutes on the court yesterday were a little awkward without her second fiddle. "I love playing with Alayne because I know she's going to set up for a shot," Thorius said. "When you all of a sudden have somebody new on the floor, it makes a difference. But I think we came together as a team in the second half and proved that we can still win." Ingram is expected to practice on Tuesday and will hopefully be ready to play against Big Ten leader Penn State on Thursday. "We're looking forward to having her back," Walker said. Michigan rebounds second half: For the first time since playing Vanderbilt on December 7, Michigan was losing at the end of the first half yesterday. Only unlike the game against Vanderbilt, Michigan was able to rebound from an unusually slow start against Iowa. The Hawkeyes out-rebounded the Wolverines 21-16 throughout the first 20 minutes, but Michigan countered with 22 the second half and held Iowa to 18. "We decided that after being yelled at by coach, both halves wouldn't be good," Walker said. "We decided to come out and play with a little bit more heart, a little more intensity, we stepped it up on our defense and our shots started to fall." Michigan made 51.6 percent of its shots during the second half and only allowed Iowa to sink 33.3 percent. Bies likes the line: At 6-foot-3, freshman back-up center LeeAnn Bies is very good at creating her shots. She gets into the low-post, sets up her shot and the opposition almost always manages to send her where it counts - to the free throw line. Of her 153 career points, 73 have come from stripe. Bies netted 12 of 13 free-throw shots and scored 18 points for the game. SAM HOLLENSHEAD/Daily Sophomore Ruth Kipping (34) was suspended indefinitely from the Michigan women's basketball team Friday and did not play in yesterday's victory over Iowa. Originally on page 7B in the 1-24-2000 issue of the Daily.