Michigan
Iowa
Thorius, Kipping Lead Wolverines Past Iowa
1/22/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Site:Â Iowa City, Iowa (Carver-Hawkeye Arena)
Score:Â Michigan 87, Iowa 67
Records:Â U-M (11-6, 3-4 Big Ten), Iowa (8-10, 3-5 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game:Â Sunday, Jan. 24 -- at Northwestern (Evanston, Ill.), 2 p.m. CST
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Before University of Michigan women's basketball coach Sue Guevara came to Ann Arbor in 1996, the Wolverines had won just two of 29 meetings against Iowa. On Friday night (Jan. 22), Guevara improved to 3-2 against Iowa as the Maize and Blue claimed its third straight win over the Hawkeyes, handing Iowa a 19-point loss, 86-67, in front of 3,591 fans in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Sophomore point guard Anne Thorius (Horsholm, Denmark) and freshman forward Ruth Kipping (Quincy, Ill./Quincy HS) led Michigan with 19 points apiece, while senior guard Ann Lemire (Fairgrove, Mich./Frankenmuth HS) added 17. Kipping was the only player in the game to reach double figures on the boards, recording her second career double-double with 11 rebounds. Iowa's Amy Herrig scored a game-high 20 points but was held to nine boards after averaging a Big Ten leading 11.5 per game.
The first minute and a half of the game featured multiple turnovers by both teams. After Michigan (11-6, 3-4 Big Ten) went up 4-0 at 18:37 and Iowa (8-10, 3-5 Big Ten) committed its third turnover, Iowa coach Angie Lee called a quick timeout. The game remained tight throughout the half, with nine ties and nine lead changes.
Michigan grabbed a five-point lead, the biggest of the half, at 2:30 on two made free throws from Lemire. Those proved to be the final points of the half for Michigan as Iowa scored six straight to take a 34-33 lead into the locker room. Lemire, back in the lineup after missing the previous three games, led Michgan's first half charge, scoring 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting while going a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.
The second half was all Michigan as the Wolverines went on an 11-2 run that ballooned to 30-11 midway through the final stanza. Kipping netted 13 points during that stretch as Michigan built on a 63-45 lead at 9:42. Iowa made an attempt at a comeback with four straight three-pointers, three from freshman Lindsey Meder. That brought the Hawkeyes within 15, 69-54 at 6:14.
With 1:43 left in the game, Michigan's lead reached 20 points on a Stacey Thomas (Flint, Mich./Southwestern Academy) layup. The game closed with a layup from Raina Goodlow (Detroit, Mich./Dominican HS), her ninth point of the evening.
Michigan continues its road trip with a Sunday afternoon (Jan. 24) game against Northwestern University (2 p.m.) at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. The Wolverines have won three of the last four against Northwestern, including two in 1997-98.
NOTES
• Several Wolverines had "career" nights against Iowa. Ruth Kipping's 19 points was a career high, while Anne Thorius' 19 points was a season high. Ann Lemire recorded her 200th career assist and with 204 now ranks 11th on Michgan's all-time list.
• Stacey Thomas has 227 career steals after snagging three against the Hawkeyes. She needs three more to move into second place on Michigan's all-time list. Diane Dietz is currently in second with 229, behind Lori Gnatkowski with 266.
QUOTES
Michigan Coach Sue Guevara
"My team did a nice job responding in the second half. They did a better job taking care of the ball. We have quick players, they were so quick in the first half they were moving without the ball. I've never seen so many travel calls. We had good help off the bench in the second half. Kenisha Walker played a much better game in the second half. Raina Goodlow had the best game she's had in awhile."
"Our bench has to really help our starters, especially coming off Wednesday's game (76-75 overtime win against Michigan State). Anne (Thorius) played 45 minutes in that game, Stacey (Thomas) played 42, so they were tired. Anne did a nice job running the show tonight, and Stacey found her jumper a little bit. This was a total team effort. We're fortunate to come in here to Carver-Hawkeye Arena and get a win."
"This was one of our games where we shot well from the perimeter. We were moving around well on the perimeter, got some good passes and took the shot."
U-M Forward Ruth Kipping
On her 15-point second half ... "Coach gave me a motivational yell at halftime, and I just got my act together."
Iowa Coach Angie Lee
"They (Michigan) ran us and they got some easy buckets in transition. We hit a dry spell. We were not as aggressive on defense as we needed to be. You've got to give a great effort defensively, but offensively there was not a lot of effort out there either. It was a total breakdown. You didn't see us go for bodies. You should have put us on the comp ticket list tonight because we were spectators in this game."
