Michigan Daily on the Northwestern Victory

Today's Michigan Daily has two articles on yesterdays win. The first headlined Melinda Queen's performance - "Queen's 12 points off bench, strong defense fuel fast conference start for young Wolverine squad":

The second stanza again started slowly for the Wolverines, who took about three minutes to produce their first points. But unlike in the first half, Michigan took off, thanks to Wildcat killer Melinda Queen.

Like in last year's contest against Northwestern, the Oak Forest, Ill. native recorded a career high in points. This time it was 12, one more than last season's mark. And even more impressive, all came in the second half.

"Maybe it's an Illinois thing," Queen said.

Queen was largely responsible for the Wolverines' domination in the second half. With the Wildcats within six early in the period, Queen orchestrated a 7-2 run to keep the game out of Northwestern's hands. All her baskets during the run were off the drive. One, in particular, was a swift back-door move for the layup and a foul.

"Queen stepped up big time," Minnfield said. "She did good. She got confident. She was taking it to the rack, posting up, getting rebounds."

The first half, as noted in the article, wasn't pretty:

Nobody ever said winning had to look good.

But after a first half uglier than Don Imus, it was a relief when the Michigan women's basketball team pulled away in the second frame for a 54-42 victory over Northwestern yesterday at Crisler Arena.

The second article focused on the team's defense:

The game was a masterpiece - if you like defensive basketball.

But for everyone else, it was just like the melting snow outside: sloppy and dirty.

Michigan's defense propelled its 54-42 win over Northwestern. Just three Northwestern players scored, including freshman Meisha Reed, who put up a game-high 24 points.

The Wolverine defensive effort, on the other hand, was spread more evenly across the lineup, which is why Michigan fared so well yesterday afternoon. Junior Melinda Queen came off the bench to chip in with two steals, and her total was matched by junior Jessica Minnfield and senior Krista Phillips.

"Coach emphasized a lot of things on defense," Queen said. "I just try to do my best and the team tries to do its best to get around the post."