EVANSTON — Sunday afternoon, the Wolverines ventured
through the blustery conditions and into Northwestern’s
Welsh-Ryan Arena to take on a 7-4 Wildcat squad with which they had
a bone to pick.

Michigan’s 62-43 victory was significant, not just because
it grabbed its first road win in front of a hostile crowd, or even
because the Wolverines avenged last year’s 67-38 blowout loss
to Northwestern. This telling game could possibly be the first step
in Michigan’s ascent from the bottom rung of the Big Ten
ladder, a position the Wolverines shared with the Wildcats at the
end of last season.

“(The game) was exciting because we’ve been
preparing for it for a long time,” captain Stephanie Gandy
said. “We’re trying to get off to a better start than
we’ve gotten off to in previous years. It feels good to come
into the Big Ten season with a win.”

Early on, it looked as if the Wolverines might not be able to
pull it off. Michigan has become somewhat notorious for its road
struggles, and for most of the first half, it looked like the
Wolverines were on their way to another mark in the loss
column.

With 6:36 remaining in the first half, the Wolverines had scored
a paltry 13 points due to a temporary inability to hit their shots,
as well as the fact that Northwestern shut down Michigan leading
scorer Jennifer Smith by double-or triple-teaming her. Despite a
desperate cry from Gandy to “finish,” the Wolverines
went 28.6 percent from the field and turned the ball over 11 times.
Michigan finished off the dire 20-minute session trailing the
Wildcats 25-24.

Luckily for the Wolverines, the first frame proved to be a
warm-up for bigger things to come.

It turned out that no one was as responsive to Gandy’s
first-half plea as Gandy herself. She came out of the lockerroom
ready to go and sank a jumper from the perimeter, sparking a 15-1
Michigan run which she rounded off with six straight points. Just
in case there was any question as to why Gandy was chosen to lead
this team, the senior delighted the tiny Michigan crowd with her
three steals and 22 points, as well as her ruthless defense and
renewed ability to drive to the hole and capitalize. The fiery
outside shooting of Alex Mueller kept the game fairly competitive,
but Northwestern’s hope dwindled as the minutes ticked on.
Gandy’s continuous energy and determination stretched
Michigan’s lead into double digits.

“Stephanie Gandy’s performance today gave us so much
confidence,” coach Cheryl Burnett said. “Very rarely do
you have a player lead the team in effort and hustle points,
communication as a leader, and be such a performance leader. She
led us in all of these (areas).”

Not to be outdone by her senior counterpart, Smith made the best
of the Wildcats’ second-half switch to man-to-man defense,
finishing with 21 points. Showing her complete game, Smith iced the
already decisive win with a trifecta in the waning seconds.

This much-needed win came after a rough 64-44 defeat at the
hands of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The Wolverines are crossing
their fingers that this will be the beginning of a more positive
conference effort.

“Maybe it’ll start us on a roll,” sophomore
Niki Reams said.