Winner Winner Chicken Dinner: WBB to play Sparty

Michigan, the seventh seed in the B10 Tourney, tallied a 67-54 victory today over #10 seed Northwestern.



And the recap from mgoblue.com

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball team raced out to a 38-16 halftime lead and weathered an 18-2 Northwestern run in the second half to earn a 67-54 win over the Wildcats in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday (March 4) inside Conseco Fieldhouse.

All eight Wolverines that saw floor time scored, with five reaching double figures. Sophomore Courtney Boylan (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) led the way off the bench with 14 points on 3-of-6 shooting, including a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Carmen Reynolds (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard) scored 13 points with seven rebounds, while junior Veronica Hicks (Chicago, Ill./Thornwood) chipped in 12 and senior Krista Phillips (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan/Aden Bowman Collegiate) had 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Freshman Jenny Ryan (Saginaw, Mich./Nouvel Catholic Central) also stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight boards, four assists, two steals and a block in 40 minutes of action.

U-M scored the first four points out of halftime to take a 42-16 lead before Northwestern made its run, an 18-2 spurt over eight minutes that cut the lead to 44-34. A pair of Boylan free throws with 8:47 remaining ended a 7:45 scoring drought for the Wolverines, pushing the lead back to 12. Back-to-back three-pointers from Hicks and Reynolds on the ensuing possessions allowed Michigan to regain the momentum and keep the lead in double digits throughout the rest of the half.

After coming up empty on the first two possessions to open the contest, the Wolverines took control early with an 8-0 run in a span of 1:17, courtesy of three-point baskets from Phillips and Reynolds along with a shot-clock beating 18-footer from Ryan. The Wolverine lead increased to 25-9 with 6:38 remaining in the half when Hicks banked in a three-pointer from the left lane line to beat the shot clock.

The Maize and Blue closed the first half on an 11-2 run to take a 38-16 lead into the locker room. U-M shot 46.9 percent (15-for-32) from the field in the first half, hitting six three-point baskets, while Northwestern managed only a 25-percent (6-for-24) clip. The Wolverines took advantage of a 25-11 rebounding edge, leading to 12 second-chance points. Ryan and Phillips led the way, both scoring eight, while Hicks and Boylan chipped in six apiece.

The Wolverines advance to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament and will take on No. 2 seed Michigan State on Friday (March 5) at 11:30 am.

Curmudgeons at NCAA may kill emerging sport for women...SAND VOLLEYBALL

Oh yes gentelmen, this could be a Title IX legislative disaster of epic proportions.
Back in April 2009, the NCAA added Sand Volleyball as one of its emerging sports for women---along with the other revenue-risky sports of equestrian, rugby, and squash.
As you can imagine, allllll sorts of snickering and bickering started over sand volleyball.....
The New York Times is reporting today that the NCAA will vote soon to kick sand volleyball off the list !!!! W T F

And guess who is leading the pack??? The BigTeleven ! along with Duke, Stanford, and Clemson.
Our own volleyball coach says this to the NYTimes:

"But Mark Rosen, the volleyball coach at the University of Michigan, opposes sand volleyball because he says it puts schools in cold-weather states at a disadvantage. “If a school in the south has both programs and one in the north doesn’t, it forces me to lose a recruit or ask my athletic director to spend money where he can’t spend it elsewhere,” he said.

Rosen said many northern schools will end up playing a majority of their games on the road because it will be too cold at home to play outdoors in March or April.

Schools that want to override sand volleyball also question how many new scholarships will really be created. Initially, cash-strapped schools may ask indoor volleyball players and coaches to play sand volleyball as well.

“When you start double-dipping, you’re not adding,” Rosen said."

Like Baseball, Softball, and Track don't need to find warmer climates to play in come spring!?
Oh no, this is a much bigger issue than weather.
This is an affront to women's sports!!! This is clearly one more slap at female athletes everywhere, and must not be tolerated!!