Michigan
Minnesota
U-M Buries Gophers with Five Players in Double Digits
2/5/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Site:Â Minneapolis, Minn. (Sports Pavilion)
Score:Â Michigan 88, Minnesota 65
Records:Â Michigan (14-7, 6-5 Big Ten), Minnesota (7-15, 2-10 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game:Â Sunday, Feb. 7 -- at Purdue (West Lafayette, Ind.), 5 p.m.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- In a game featuring two hot-shooting teams, the University of Michigan women's basketball team made up for a mid-January loss to Minnesota with an 88-65 victory over the Golden Gophers on Friday (Feb. 5). Michigan shot 53.4 percent (31-of-58) from the field and 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from three-point range to improve to 14-7 overall and 6-5 in the Big Ten Conference. Minnesota fell to 7-15, 2-10.
Five Wolverines scored in double digits, led by junior All-Big Ten candidate Stacey Thomas (Flint, Mich./Southwestern Academy), who had 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and six steals. The Gophers' Antoinetta Blevins scored a game-high 18 points with three three-point field goals.
The opening three minutes of play proved to be a good indicator for the pace of the game as the two teams opened with four triples in the first 2:20. Michigan took a 15-6 lead heading into the first media timeout at 14:30, but Minnesota returned with a 6-0 run before Thomas netted a 16-footer to put the Wolverines up by five.
Raina Goodlow (Detroit, Mich./Dominican HS) put Michigan up by 14 on a layup from Anne Thorius (Horsholm, Denmark) at 2:39, but the Gophers closed the half with four unanswered points for a 39-31 Wolverine halftime lead. In the first half, Michigan shot 61.5 percent to the Gophers' 54.5. Both teams were effective from long range, with Michigan hitting 6-of-9 and Minnesota 3-of-7. The Gophers took a 12-11 advantage on the boards.
In the second half, Michigan outscored the Gophers 49-34 while out-boarding them 22-15. Thomas scored 12 of her 17 points in the closing 20 minutes, while Ann Lemire (Fairgrove, Mich./Frankenmuth HS) tallied all 14 of hers. The Wolverines went on an 18-4 burst to take a 64-41 lead, and they went up by 25 (72-47) on one of Thorius' four triples, at 7:36. Minnesota never got closer than 20 after that.
After going 1-of-2 from the free throw line in the first half, Michigan closed the game at 19-of-26. The Wolverines claimed a 33-27 edge on the glass while recording 17 steals and forcing 28 Gophers' turnovers.
Joining Thomas and Lemire in double figures were Thorius (12), Alison Miller (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) (14) and Alayne Ingram (Lansing, Mich./Waverly HS) (13).
Michigan continues its two-game Big Ten road swing by playing second-ranked Purdue on Sunday, Feb. 7, at 5 p.m. The Big Ten Game of the Week will be televised by Fox Sports Chicago.
NOTES
• Stacey Thomas now needs just eight more points to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career. With six steals against Minnesota, she now has 85 this season and 245 in her career and needs three more picks to move into the Big Ten's all-time top 10, five to break her own U-M single-season record and 22 to set Michigan's career steals mark.
• As a team, Michigan recorded 17 steals, with six from Stacey Thomas and four from Alison Miller. Anne Thorius and Alayne Ingram each grabbed two.
QUOTES
Michigan Coach Sue Guevara
"I'm real happy to get a win on the road. I was happy with the way we shot in the first half, but I wasn't happy with the way Minnesota shot in the first half. Anytime you win on the road in the Big Ten it's big, especially with the young team we have."
On the Jan. 10 game with Minnesota ... "Anybody who knows anything about the way we played (against Minnesota) the first time knows we shot 28 percent. We put in a zone offense today and it worked well. The kids felt they had something to prove because we didn't play as well as we could. Today I told them this game is not about paybacks or revenge, it's about showing Minnesota our real team."
Minnesota Coach Cheryl Littlejohn
"I look at where we were and where we want to go. But I can look at this and see things we've worked on and improved upon."
