2/19/06-  tOSU at home and at Purdue

Following a loss to #16 Minnesota, the Michigan women's
basketball team prepared to face a team ranked even higher in the
national rankings. Said team being the Buckeyes of Ohio State, who
arrived in Ann Arbor with a #7 ranking and a 19-2 overall record as
compared to unranked Michigan at 6-17. Oh, and Ohio State had already
handed the Wolverine women a 62-34 drubbing earlier in the season at
Columbus.

As if this was not enough of a challenge, Michigan would
have to face the Buckeyes with two fewer of their more experienced
players. Katie Dierdorf was unable to play at Minnesota and on
February 8 came the grim news that she will be out for the rest of the
season with an injury to her right hip. Michigan fans will recall that
Katie missed most of last season with a similar injury to her left
hip. This is a most unfortunate turn of events, both for the team and
for Katie personally, and we all hope for the best as far as recovery.
Katie has worked very hard to get where she is, and hopefully she can
get healthy and have a successful last two seasons at Michigan.

Michigan would also be without sophomore forward Ta'Shia
Walker, at least for a while. She is expected to be back sometime this
season.

The health problems referenced above left Michigan with
only seven of the eleven players who started the season, and so Coach
Burnett has brought in some temporary substitutes. Three players from
the Michigan volleyball team have suited up: Mara Martin, Lyndsay
Miller, and Megan Bowman. In addition, walk on player Lindsay Sklar
(who was in uniform for some games last season) and team manager Renee Dean have also donned uniforms of late.

And so it was with this makeshift roster that Michigan
took on the mighty Buckeyes. Carly Benson, Jessica Minnfield, and
Janelle Cooper led the Maize and Blue charge as Michigan took a 14-10
lead. Ohio State then scored 13 unanswered points to surge ahead, but
Michigan would not give up and pulled to within four. The Buckeyes
pushed it back to ten points, but Stephany Skrba rallied Michigan and
at the half it was tOSU by only two.

Cooper hit a three point shot to start the second half and
an upset looked possible. Ohio State had other ideas as they went up
by nine. Still the gutsy Wolverines refused to fold and scores by
Skrba and Cooper trimmed the deficit to just four points.

A few minutes later, another bucket by Skrba made it a
three point game. It was then that the more experienced and highly
touted Buckeyes took over, and the closest Michigan would get the rest
of the way was eleven points from the lead. In the end the scoreboard
read 74-55 in favor of Ohio State.

Stephany Skrba led Michigan in scoring with 17 and
rebounds with 13. More and more, she is showing why she was named the
top high school player in the whole country of Canada, and she has the
potential to be very great indeed.

Janelle Cooper has also been playing quite well lately,
and proved it here with 13 points. Carly Benson added 12 points to the
Michigan cause.

In the assists category, freshman Jessica Minnfield led
the way with six. Like the other rookies, she still has some work to
do to get where she needs to be at the college level, but she
definitely has the skills and merely needs to get more experience.

It would not get any easier for Cheryl's Crew, as the next
item on the schedule was a trip to West Lafayette, Indiana and a date
with yet another team with a lofty national ranking. That would be the
Purdue Boilermakers, sitting at #10 as they welcomed the Wolverines to
their place.

Purdue came into the game with a similar record to that of
Ohio State, 20-3 overall and 11-1 in Big Ten league play. So once
again, Michigan would have to play a very good game for the full 40
minutes to have a chance at victory.

As has been the pattern of late, Michigan managed to keep
things close for a good part of the game. The first twenty minutes saw
both teams hold leads and at the break the score was even at 27.
Perhaps this would at last be the time for the youthful Wolverines to
break out of their Big Ten slump?

Sadly, the second half also conformed to recent trends, as
Purdue took command and put the game away with a 30-7 scoring run. It
was too much for Michigan to bounce back from, and the contest ended
with a score of Purdue 75-Michigan 50.

Michigan had ten more turnovers than Purdue, and the
Boilers had more rebounds and better overall field goal and free throw
percentages. One category where Michigan did do better was three point
shooting, making seven to only three for Purdue.

Janelle Cooper had another good game as she led Michigan
in scoring with 17 points. Stephany Skrba was the leading rebounder
with nine and also had 11 points. No other Wolverines made double
figures in scoring, while the Boilers had four players reach that
goal. Yet another thing that makes a difference between the joy of
victory and the agony of defeat.

Jessica Minnfield had a nice all around game, with six
points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. Melinda Queen had three
steals to lead in that category.

Three games remain in the regular season: a road game
against Iowa and home games against Michigan State and Illinois. All
of these teams have already beaten Michigan once, so these will all be
tough games for Cheryl's Crew. However, I still believe that if they
keep giving the effort that they have been giving, anything is
possible including a win (or two or three!). The talent and the effort
are there, now it is a matter of Michigan having enough confidence and
poise to finish strong and achieve victory.

Vince Prygoski
prygoski@umflint.edu

Vince Prygoski, is the Women's basketball columnist for UMGoBlue.com. He's been a fan of Michigan sports for as long as he can remember.
He has written a book on the history of Michigan women's basketball that will be published soon.

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