Sireece Bass (again)

Mlive.com/Ann Arbor News had a nice article on Sireece Bass and her battle with lupus. She's one tough young lady.

Last season as a freshman, Bass played in 26 games for the Wolverines and made eight starts.

She's now down to four pills a day and is rarely affected by her disease. She goes full speed in drills.

"Basketball means a lot to her,'' Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. "She's on the court, she cares, she tries hard. I don't ever see her walking around feeling sorry for herself because she's got something.''

Bass will live with lupus the rest of her life, but doesn't allow it to define who she is or what she is capable of doing.

"She's still pushing and fighting - it's somewhat of an inspiration,'' Whitfield said. " So I can't complain too much because I look at how she handles what's she's had to deal with.''

First Big Ten Win

Michigan had a big win today - after struggling in the first half (shooting under 30%) and trailing by 2 at half time, a big second half led to a 63-46 win. Balanced scoring (three players in double figured - Janelle Cooper, Krista Phillips (a double double) and Krista Clement) along with an assist/turnover ratio over 1 (17 assists/14 turnovers) were big reasons for the win.

The win was nice for several reasons - it extends their win streak to 4 games, they are still undefeated at home this year, the first time in six years they have opened the Big 10 season with a win, the first win against Iowa in a few years... Congratulations to Coach Borseth and the entire team.

Iowa

Michigan opens the Big 10 season today against Iowa. The Hawkeyes are led by junior guard Kristi Smith (11.7 pts/game), sophomore forward Wendy Ausdemore (11.6 pts/game) and junior center Megan Skouby (9.1 pts/game).

Iowa is coming off a home victory against Penn State on Friday. It will be interesting to see if Michigan's relative long lay off (9 days) will help or if they're rusty...

A preview of the game from hawkcentral:

"Michigan is going to be another good challenge for us," Iowa senior Krista VandeVenter said. "I think (the Penn State) win gives us a lot of confidence."

The Wolverines seem to be playing much better than the team that finished last season 10-20 overall and 3-13 in the Big Ten. Iowa beat Michigan 66-49 in their only meeting a year ago in Iowa City and owns an eight-game winning streak in the series.

"There's no doubt this is a different Michigan," Bluder said. "Michigan struggled scoring last year, and they are scoring very well now. And they've got some good wins.

"They are playing a lot looser and a lot more confident than they played last year."

Detroit News & a Big 10 Preview from Minnesota

Today's Detroit News has a profile on the team before they open the conference season on Sunday against Iowa:

Kevin Borseth has accomplished more in a couple of months than what Cheryl Burnett was able to in four seasons as Michigan's coach.

Borseth has solidified roles and built confidence, things Burnett failed to do during her run of 35-83.

Burnett constantly juggled the lineup, resulting in a lack of team chemistry and a lack of confidence in players. They never knew where they stood regarding
Borseth said before the season he wanted to find a starting five and then build confidence.

He has accomplished a winning attitude with the lineup of Krista Clement, Jessica Minnfield and Janelle Cooper in the backcourt and Carly Benson and Ta 'Shia Walker up front. Krista Phillips, a 6-foot-6 center. Stephany Skrba and Melinda Queen also have key roles off the bench.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a Big 10 preview, picking Michigan to finish 10th (which echoes many of the preseason polls & articles:

10. Michigan
First-year coach Kevin Borseth faces major rebuilding job, but has strong group of three-point shooters who will spring an upset or two.

I know I'm biased, but I think they'll finish higher than 10th. The team is playing with confidence and has done well with a tough non conference schedule. They still struggle on the road against good teams, but the Big 10 appears weaker this year. I'm not ready to pick them in the top 5 yet, but I could see them easily finishing anywhere from 6th to 8th.

Articles on the Ohio University Game

Mgoblue has an account, as does Mlive and the Detroit Free Press.

Come From Behind Win

Michigan had a big, come from behind win tonight 69-64. Michigan was down 38-30 at half time, but had a nice rally in the second half and held on to win. Jessica Minnfield led the way with 19 pts, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Carly Benson added 16 points and 7 rebounds while Ta'Shia Walker had 10 points & Krista Phillips 11.

In a turn about of sorts, Michigan won (in part) because they only gave up 12 turnovers while Ohio had 27. On the flip side, the Wolverines were badly outrebounded by a smaller team 40-20.

All in all an exciting game and Michigan winds up the non-conference with a 7-3 record.

Ohio University

Tonight Michigan hosts Ohio University at 7:00pm. Michigan should be favored in this game, because of their success against a tougher schedule, their height advantage and because it is a home game.

Ohio University is led by senior guard Lauren Kohn who is averaging 14.7 pts a game. They also have a 6'4" center Chandra Myers who is averaging 7 pts and 5.6 rebounds a game, but no one else on the roster is listed as taller than 6'1".

Sireece Bass

The Michigan Daily ran a nice article about her a couple of weeks ago that I neglected to link to at the time. It talks about her toughness & her dealing with lupus:

Some mornings, it's hard for sophomore point guard Sireece Bass to get out of bed and make it to class. Although this may be a common occurrence for any college student, Bass's struggles are caused by more than just laziness or a hangover.

Her joints throb with pain, fatigue easily takes hold and she sometimes struggles to breathe.

And on top of all that, Bass has to suit up for basketball practice in the afternoon.

But she just presses on.

Krista Clement

From Mlive:

After playing a smaller role last season, Krista Clement is beginning to flourish as a senior for the University of Michigan women's basketball team.

In Cheryl Burnett's final season as coach, Clement never started, and averaged eight minutes per game and a team-low 1.4 points.

She has played a larger role in the team's best start since 2002-03, starting every game for new coach Kevin Borseth, averaging 34-plus minutes and 5.1 points per game for the Wolverines (6-3).

Mlive on Southern Cal

From mlive.com

Hot shooting lifted the University of Michigan women's basketball team to an 82-61 win over Southern California on Monday night at Crisler Arena and pushed the Wolverines (6-3) to their best start since the 2002-03 season.

Fueled by three 3-pointers, Michigan opened the game on an 11-0 run and staked a 48-28 lead at halftime. The Wolverines shot better than 50 percent from the field (28-for-55) and from behind the 3-point line (13-25) to win their third consecutive home contest.

Senior guard Krista Clement led Michigan's barrage from beyond the arc, hitting four of seven triples, and finished with 14 points.

Southern Cal

A big win, 82-61. Lots of scoring, spread around among a number of players - four were in double figures. From the Daily:

The Wolverines opened the game on a tear, scoring the first 11 points. After a strong performance against Kentucky, senior Krista Clement continued her solid play, knocking down a couple early threes in a nine-point first-half effort.

"We executed our offense really well," junior Jessica Minnfield said. "We cut to the basket and set screens for each other, and that got our offense moving."

And from mgoblue.com:

On why the offense was so successful tonight... "We moved the ball. We had open looks and made them. Krista (Clement) hit a couple of deep ones. She practices a lot so it’s good to see that. When the ball is going into the basket, I am happy."

On the play of Carly Benson... "She played well. She has really struggled as of late but she got into a nice rhythm and played extremely well. I was happy for her because she has been working hard off the floor, trying to make something happen on the court. She took one to the basket, had a nice drive. She hit some nice shots in rhythm on the perimeter. I was happy she was able to string some things together because she works hard."

Next up Southern Cal

Michigan has another home game tonight, at 6:00 against the University of Southern California. USC isn't ranked, but they should be a tough test. While they are only 4-3, one of their losses was by 2 points against No. 8 Georgia. They also lost a close game against UCSB and by a bit larger margin against Nebraska. They are a balanced team with ten players averaging 15 minutes a game or more.

More on the Kentucky Win

The Michigan Daily had a couple of articles about the game. The last few moments of the game:

Up two points with the clock winding down, Michigan center Krista Phillips blocked Kentucky guard Samantha Mahoney's layup attempt.

The ball landed in Clement's hands, and the guard was fouled with four seconds left.

Clement stepped to the charity stripe and calmly knocked down both free throws to seal the Wolverines' victory.

And this one talks about, among other things, the continuing battle with turnovers:

After a gritty 63-59 victory over Kentucky, Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said his team was lucky to pull out the win.

Looking at how Michigan has handled the ball recently, he might be onto something.

Five of the last six games, the Wolverines committed more turnovers than their opponents.

But this time around, Kentucky couldn't take advantage. The Wildcats translated 22 Michigan turnovers into just 10 points.

In each of their three losses this season, the Wolverines have allowed an average of 26 points off turnovers. And at 20 turnovers a game, Michigan is on pace to turn the ball over more than last season (19.1 per game). If the Wolverines don't cut this number down, good teams will pounce on their mistakes, which they learned many times last season.

Despite the sloppy play at both ends of the court Saturday, Michigan battled through the 14 ties, 17 lead changes and general sloppiness of the game on both ends of the court.

Kentucky Game

Michigan wins an exciting game,63-59. Balanced scoring for the Wolverines offset a big game by Kentucky's Samantha Mahoney (20pts).

Four Michigan players were in double figures (Walker 13, Clement 12, Cooper 10, Skrba 10) plus Phillips had 9 and Minnfield added 7. Krista Clement had a big night - 4-6 from the field, 2-3 from 3pt range and 9 rebounds. Stephanie Skrba had 10 board and 2 blocks, Phillips had 4 blocks as well.

The game was close all night, and neither team got a very big lead but Michgan had some big plays and were able to take and keep the lead at the end of the game.

Kentucky Preview

This looks like a more even matchup than the last couple of games. Kentucky is 4-4, having beaten four smaller schools (Florida Atlantic, William & Mary, Lipscomb and South Carolina Upstate), but had trouble with ranked schools (losing to Texas and George Washington). They've also lost to Minnesota & Western Kentucky. They're led by guard Samantha Mahoney (17 ppg) and 6'6" center Sarah Elliot (12 ppg, 7 rpg). On the positive side for Michigan - this is at home after a six game road trip.

The Michigan Daily has more:

After giving up 59 points in its last two road games, it's hard to blame the Michigan women's basketball team for being happy to come home.

Michigan (4-3) returns to Crisler Arena tomorrow to face Kentucky after a six-game road trip. It has been nearly a month since the Wolverines last played a game in Ann Arbor.

"It feels so good," senior Krista Clement said. "It's going to be fun to play in Crisler, but more importantly, we've all been complaining a little bit about our school. We've just been on the road. It just wears on you."

The wear and tear of a six-game road trip that spanned five states was visible in the Wolverines' past two games.

Changing lineups ?

From the Michigan Daily:

Michigan women's basketball coach Kevin Borseth has always emphasized the next play.

But after several slow starts, maybe the focus should shift to the first play.

And the first play is only as good as the starting lineup.

In Michigan's loss against Notre Dame Sunday, Borseth stared sophomore Krista Phillips in place of junior Carly Benson. He made the move to get more rebounds and scoring in the paint.

and

But once the five start playing together, Borseth is sure the Wolverines will get it.

"If we play five kids for the rest of the year, those five kids are going to figure it out," Borseth said. "And I guarantee you, I promise you, at the end of this year, you're going to see a different team."

Another Road Loss

This time to 22nd ranked Notre Dame, 77-46. Pretty much the same story - too many turnovers, poor shooting from the floor (27%) and out rebounded. "Official" recap at No.

Notre Dame

A preview of the game from the South Bend Tribune:

That emphasizes the depth of the Irish, who face Michigan this afternoon at 2 at the Joyce Center.

The Wolverines (4-2) are coming off a 69-41 loss Thursday at Texas Tech. Prior to that trip, coach Kevin Borseth's club finished third in the Vanderbilt tournament, losing to Iowa State before beating Belmont.

Michigan has almost everybody back from last season and has balanced scoring, similar to Notre Dame.

Borseth emphasizes the passing game and wants the guards to post up. Michigan wants you to shoot jump shots. They had turnover trouble at Texas A&M, but A&M was the first team that put a lot of pressure on them.

A&M scored 38 points off 33 turnovers by Michigan. Janelle Cooper and Ta'Shia Walker led Michigan with nine points each.

Notre Dame has won the last two games in the series for an 8-6 lead.

Last season's victory at Ann Arbor was one of the more spectacular finishes in Irish program history as Notre Dame scored 10 points in the last 47 seconds for a 61-58 victory.

Allen hit a 3-pointer with 10.9 seconds left, Tulyah Gaines two free throws with three seconds left and Allen two free throws with 0.7 seconds to go.

Michigan also made couple of free throws during those final seconds.

Allen scored 15 and Ashley Barlow 14 in that game at Crisler Arena.

Borseth was named Michigan's head coach last April 10, replacing Cheryl Burnett. He has been a head coach at the Division I level for 20 seasons -- 11 at Michigan Tech and nine at Wisconsin-Green Bay -- and guided his team into the postseason in 19 of those 20 seasons.