Next: Belmont

Michigan plays Belmont (2-1) this evening at 8:00pm (EST) as part of the Southern Mississippi tournament in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Belmont is led by junior guard Amber Rockwell (15.3 ppg), senior center Jessica Bobbitt (12ppg/8rbg) and junior guard LaWanna Holiday (9.7ppg/3.0apg). Belmont has some size on their roster, with five players listed at 6'2", including Bobbitt.

It will be interesting to see how the Wolverines play - if the team from the last two games shows up, they should be able to find a way to win. If they play like they did against Akron, it could be a long evening. (As a comparison - last year Akron had an RPI rating of 262, while Belmont's was 246.)

Tonight: Men's Basketball vs. Norfolk State

A reminder - Michigan Men's team plays Norfolk State at 8:30pm. Help out a great cause (Food Gatherer's in Ann Arbor) and see the game for only $1.00.

Vanderbilt Highlights

From the Big 10 network, highlights of the Vanderbilt game:

Coverage of the Vanderbilt Win

mgoblue.com:

Led by 14 points from senior guard Jessica Minnfield (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic), the University of Michigan women's basketball team knocked off Vanderbilt (No. 13 AP, No. 12 ESPN/USA Today), 50-42, on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 23) at Crisler Arena. The victory was the first for U-M over a ranked opponent since Feb. 29, 2004, when it defeated No. 12 Minnesota, 57-47. U-M also held Vanderbilt under 45 points to mark the first time in their program history that the Commodores have scored fewer than 45 points.

The Michigan Daily:

Picked to win the Southeastern Conference, Vanderbilt was accustomed to faster, more athletic teams who push the ball up the court and score on the fast break. The Wolverines are just the opposite — they like to slow the game down, pound the ball inside and get rebounds. It was a matchup of two very different styles of play, and Michigan came out on top.

“To you, it may look like agony,” Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. “But to us, it was exactly what we wanted to do.”

Also, the Michigan Daily Live Blogged the game, an AP wire story with photos, the Detroit Free Press, mlive.com, and Vanderbilt's site.

Michigan 50 Vanderbilt 42

A very big win for the Wolverines - their first win over a ranked team since they beat Minnesota 2004. Michigan was led by Jessica Minnfield's 14 points and Carly Benson's 10 points & 9 rebounds. Several other players made key contributions, including Stephany Skrba (5 steals), Veronica Hicks (she hit a clutch 3 point play that helped stem a small Vanderbilt run late in the 2nd half) and Krista Phillips (7 rebounds).

It wasn't always pretty (25 turnovers), but the team did what they had to do - they didn't let up, they hit their free throws (17/21) and kept up the defensive intensity throughout the game.

Next: Vanderbilt

Michigan hosts #12/#13 Vanderbilt today at noon, in another test against a ranked team. Vanderbilt is led by 6'1" senior guard/forward Christina Wirth (16.8ppg), 6' sophomore forward Hannah Tuomi (14.5ppg/6.2rpg) and guard Merideth Marsh (12.5ppg).

Let's hope the Wolverines can pull off the upset that eluded them against Texas A&M.

Coverage of Texas A&M Loss

From mgoblue.com:

(Coach Kevin Borseth)

On what the team can take away from the game... "It depends on your matchups sometimes. Our matchup might have been perfect tonight, and if we had made some shots, the game could have been in our favor. When you leave after a game like we played at Akron, you just think, 'Now what? Are we ever going to win a game?' Then you come and play a good team that is playing well and there is hope again. The team feels good. They feel something good is happening. I don't know if there is really such a thing as a moral victory, but I do think that the players at least felt tonight that they could compete against a really good team."

Aggieathletics.com:

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
On the game ...
"We were very fortunate to win this game. When you have a team that reaches the Elite Eight and has been to the NCAA Tournament for three-straight years, you know how to win down the stretch. We did a good job of keeping our poise. Give Michigan a lot of credit. They had us scouted very well. It was a good ballgame. Michigan is going to be in the top half of the Big Ten, because they have one of the best coaches in the country in Kevin Borseth."

On the team's pressure defense and aggressiveness ...
"It did not bother them a whole lot. Most of their turnovers were unforced. We did a good job on the press. We are a very aggressive team and he (Coach Borseth) did exactly what he needed to do to stop our aggressiveness by spreading the floor."

On Michigan head coach Kevin Borseth ...
"From midseason on, he did one of the best coaching jobs in the country last year. Our press will work well at home, but it did not work well tonight. We did not have the same personnel like we did last year against Michigan. When you have five players who can shoot the ball like they do and have a freshman coming off the bench, they are going to be very good."

Also mlive.com and thebatt.com.

Texas A&M 59 Michigan 56

Disappointing to lose such a close game, but still encouraging after the Akron loss. Michigan was led by 3 players in double figures - Jessica Minnfield (14 pts), Krista Phillips (13pts) and Carly Benson (10pts).

Michigan held the lead at half time, but was done in by poor second half shooting (25%, 13% from 3 pt range) and turnovers (18).

Tonight's game against Texas A&M

A reminder - game time was changed from 6:30pm to 7:00pm. Also, Michigan is sponsering a canned food drive to benefit Food Gatherer's in Ann Arbor. Bring two canned goods and admission is only $1.00. (The men's team is doing the same for their home game against Norfolk State on Tuesday, November 25th.)

Next: Texas A&M

Michigan opens their home season tonight at 7:00pm against Texas A&M (ranked #7 in USAToday, #12 in the AP poll). This is a much tougher team than either Kentucky or Akron - they beat Michign 69-41 last year in College Station. A&M are led by freshman guard Tyra White (13ppg), senior guard/forward Danielle Gant (10.5ppg, 8.5rpg), and senior guard Takia Starks (9ppg).

This (along with the upcoming games against Vanderbilt, NC State & Notre Dame) should be good measuring stick for the team. For Michigan to have a chance to win this, they will have to shoot much better than they did against Akron, do a better job of rebounding, limit turnovers and in general limit mistakes.

Akron Loss

Mgoblue has a write up:

Seniors Carly Benson (Carney, Mich./Carney-Nadeau Public Schools) and Stephany Skrba (Toronto, Ontario/Langstaff Secondary School) tallied 13 and 10 points, respectively, as the University of Michigan women's basketball team fell short at Akron 58-49 tonight (Monday, Nov. 17) at Rhodes Arena.

Benson's team-best scoring total came on 5-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-8 from behind the arc. Sophomore Veronica Hicks (Chicago, Ill./Thornwood HS) led the team with a career-high seven rebounds, while freshman Carmen Reynolds (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) made her collegiate debut and recorded five points on 1-of-2 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Additional stories from mlive.com, ohio.com and the Detroit Free Press.

Akron 58 Michigan 49

A disappointing loss to Akron. Poor shooting and turnovers by Michigan, combined with being out rebounded by the Zips pretty much ensured the loss.

Odds and Ends

Catching up on some things from the past few days:

• The Michigan Daily has a season preview.
• Veronica Hicks has another entry in her blog up on mgoblue.com.
• Radio announcer Matt Park has the entry in a blog up on mgoblue.com.
• The Ann Arbor News/mlive had a couple of articles about the team, but at the moment I can't find links. Mzonefan has posted them over at umgoblue.com.
  

Next: Akron

Michigan travels to Akron this evening to play the Zips in Akron's season opener. On paper, Michigan would seem to have the advantage - Akron was 7-24 last season (2-14 in the MAC) and is 0-3 against the Wolverines.

Michigan should have a height advantage - Akron only has one three players listed as taller than 6'0" - freshman center Kyle Baumgartner (6'3"), freshman center Denver McLean (6'1") and junior forward/center Victoria Arndt.

The Zips are lead by sophomore forward Kara Murphy, who averaged 14.5 points a game last season.

Tip off is at 7:00pm. Mgoblue.com has preview here.

Coverage of the Kentucky Win

From mgoblue.com:

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball had four players score in double figures, led by 18 points from freshman Courtney Boylan (Minnetonka, Minn./Chaska HS), in a season-opening 70-60 win at Kentucky this afternoon (Saturday, Nov. 15) at Memorial Coliseum.

In her collegiate debut, Boylan tallied 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-4 from three-point range. Melinda Queen (Oak Forest, Ill./Carl Sandburg HS), who made her first start since the 2005-06 season, tallied a career-high 15 points as she hit 3-of-9 from the field and added career bests for free throws made (nine) and attempted (11).

Other U-M players in double figures included Queen with 15 points, junior Krista Phillips (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan/Aden Bowman Collegiate) with 11 and senior Jessica Minnfield (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) with 10.

and quotes from Courtney Boylan:

On her performance... "I think that I just saw the openings and a lot of the openings we made by people penetrating and going to the basket. I saw just a little opening and I just took it when I thought I had a shot."

On the win... "It felt really good. We knew that after our exhibition that we could play a lot better. I think the game was pretty close for most of it until we broke away at the end. I think it was awesome win and it will be good going into our next game."

Kentucky.com:

Kentucky's big pre-season concerns were a lack of depth and a lack of offensive firepower.

Those worries certainly seemed founded Saturday in the Cats' season-opening 70-60 loss to Michigan at Memorial Coliseum.

"There were a lot of areas that were exposed that we were weak in today," Coach Matthew Mitchell said. "It was a very, very poor performance for us and not the way we wanted to get the season started out."

Foul trouble put UK, which shot 24.3 percent in the first half, in an early hole and the Cats could never quite climb out of it.

Five of UK's 10 available players had two fouls or more with 6:52 to go in the first half, including four starters.

Michigan took advantage, using a 9-3 run late in the first half to grab an early lead. The Wolverines carried a nine-point lead into halftime and it was 11 points 30 seconds into the second half.

Also the Lexington Courier-Journal, wkyt.com, and a brief mention the Detroit Free Press.

Michigan 70 Kentucky 60

Michigan opened with a solid road win today in Lexington. The Wolverines had big games from freshman Courtney Boylan (18 points) and Melinda Queen (a career high 15 points). It was a team effort, with solid contributions from Krista Phillips (11 points, 6 blocks), Jessica Minnfield (10 points) and Stephany Skrba (9 points, all in the second half).

Michigan shot 50% from the floor (vs 32 % by Kentucky). It wasn't all roses however, as Michigan was out rebounded 44-34 and committed 21 turnovers.

Next: Kentucky

Michigan opens their regular season tomorrow at 2:00pm against the University of Kentucky at Lexington. This will be the season opener for the Wildcats as well - they have had two exhibition wins, 99-28 over Kentucky State and 72-69 over Belarmine. In those exhibition games, Kentucky was led by 6'3" post player Eleia Roddy, who averaged 21 points on 80% shooting in the two games.

Last year Michigan won a close game in Ann Arbor, 63-59.

Signing Day

All six of Michigan's verbal commitments made it official today:

The University of Michigan women's basketball program received National Letters of Intent from six student-athletes on the first day of the early signing period Wednesday (Nov. 12). Sam Arnold, a 6-3 forward from Medinah, Ill., Dayeesha Hollins, a 5-7 guard from Cincinnati, Ohio, Nya Jordan, a 6-0 forward from Lathrup Village, Mich., Jenny Ryan, a 5-9 guard from Saginaw, Mich., Rachel Sheffer, a 6-1 center/forward from Watervliet, Mich., and Kate Thompson, a 6-3 guard from Plymouth, Minn., are all part of a 2009 class that earned a No. 21 national ranking by Blue Star Basketball Report.

"We couldn't be happier with our class of 2009," said head coach Kevin Borseth. "All these kids are solid. They are good athletes, good students and good people. We not only choose them, but they choose Michigan. What a great way to welcome in a new era of Michigan women's basketball. We have a great combination of quantity and quality."

Coverage of Northwood Game

Articles on mgoblue.com, mlive.com, bigten network and a brief blurb on freep.com.

Michigan 71 Northwood 66

After trailing by as many as 16, Michigan came back to beat Northwood 71-66. A combination of Michigan being ice cold to start the game, Northwood playing tough (and hitting 60% from 3pt range), occasional defensive lapses all contributed to making it a much closer game than it needed to be.

The bad - the poor shooting to start the game, 20 turnovers, being out rebounded (!) by Northwood 37-35

The good - a good crowd for an exhibition game, a team that kept working despite falling behind and much stronger play in the second half, 17 steals, 8 blocks and a good debut by freshman Courtney Boylan.

Ashley Jones

One bit of news from fan night tonight - Ashley Jones was on crutches. Coach Borseth's comments were that she had broken her foot and would need surgery. Let's hope for speedy recovery & that she'll be able to contribute this year.

Fan Night

A reminder - fan night - for both the Men's & Women's teams is tonight at Crisler Arena (7:15pm). Admission is free.

Also - the girls basketball clinic is this Sunday (Nov. 9th), and season ticket are on sale (including the exhibition game coming up Saturday night against Northwood at 7pm).

Hittin' the Hardwood with Roni Hicks

Umgoblue.com has the latest entry in Veronica's Hicks blog posted. She mentions a scrimmage Monday against Eastern Michigan, but no details:

There are so many things to do this week. Monday we had a closed scrimmage against Eastern Michigan University, which was MORE than helpful. Don't get me wrong, practice is always helpful, but anytime you get to compete against different opponents, especially not in your own camp, it helps generate a different kind of intensity, competition, and setting of goals. I mean, in practice you and your teammates compete, but it's toward the main goal of individually and collectively getting better. When you face opposition -- YOU JUST WANT TO WIN!

New baskets at Crisler

I'm a bit slow with this, but umhoops.com has photos up of the new baskets at Crisler Arena. The athletic department is slowly, but surely, sprucing up the place.