Nov. 1, 2007

Listen to the LSSU v. U-M Game

SAULT STE. MARIE - It will be a reunion weekend for Lake Superior State coach Jamie Pewinski, whose women's basketball team opens the 2007-08 season with exhibition games Saturday at Michigan and Sunday and Michigan State.

The Lakers play the Wolverines at 7 p.m. Saturday in Crisler Arena and take on the Spartans at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Breslin Center. Radio coverage is not available for the LSSU-MSU game, but fans can follow the contest on Gametracker on MSU's web site. The game between LSSU and U-M will be broadcast on WLBY AM 1290 or WTKA AM 1050 out of Ann Arbor. Information regarding web streaming will be available as soon as possible.

"This is an incredible opportunity for our program to be able to play against such great competition," Pewinski said. "We are excited to experience the best of the state of Michigan and to peek into the lives of two Big Ten programs for a weekend. We know that on the court we will have our hands full, but we fully expect to compete for 40 minutes and to get better as a basketball team.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for both coaching staffs and the work that they have done at every school they've been at. Having known Coach Merchant and Coach Borseth for awhile now, I would expect them to have both of these programs competing at a high level for a long time to come."

Kevin Borseth will be making his debut as the University of Michigan's head coach against his alma mater. Borseth is a 1976 LSSU graduate who received the Shouldice Distinguished Alumni Award on Oct. 20. The Bessemer, Mich., native, who was a member of LSSU's 27-4 NAIA quarterfinalist men's basketball team in 1975-76, began a successful coaching career at Gogebic Community College before taking over the Michigan Tech and Wisconsin-Green Bay women's programs. His coaching resume includes 19 consecutive winning seasons, 13 conference titles and 14 NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2002-03, he was named WBCA Coach of the Year and a Naismith Coach of the Year finalist.

"Coach Borseth is someone whom I have looked up to from afar the entire time I've been in the GLIAC," Pewinski said. "He has a tremendous amount of passion for the game, and his players love to play for him. The best thing about him is that he really puts his team and the program first, and he has no personal agenda."

Borseth, who is assisted by former Grand Valley State coaches Dawn Plitzuweit and Mike Williams, is out to turn around a U-M program that has not had a winning record since 2001-02 and has never won a Big Ten title. The Wolverines' squad includes former St. Ignace guard Krista Clement, sister of former Laker Jim Clement and the program's first three-time team captain.

Eighteenth-ranked Michigan State is now coached by Suzy Merchant, who had a successful nine-year stint at Eastern Michigan and before taking over a Spartan program that has been ranked in every USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll for the past three years. Merchant recruited Pewinski when she was an assistant coach at Oakland University. After Pewinski's freshman year, Merchant moved on to take her first head coaching job at Saginaw Valley State. Pewinski transferred her senior year and played for Merchant at SVSU in 1998-99.

"I have known Coach Merchant since she began recruiting me at Oakland and have looked up to her since the moment I met her," Pewinski said. "She has had a profound impact on the way I coach and the things that I do both on and off the court. It is truly an honor to be able to coach against her, and something I hope I will get the chance to do again in the future."

MSU will tune up for the Lakers by playing defending Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Grand Valley State tonight. The Spartans expect to be led by pre-season Wooden Award candidate Allyssa DeHaan, a 6-9 sophomore center from Grandville, Mich., who totaled 125 blocked shots as a freshman - the seventh-highest single-season total in NCAA history.

The Lakers return several experienced players from last year's 18-9 team that tied for second in the GLIAC North Division. Junior center Jackie Armstrong is their top-returning scorer and rebounder, and sophomore Ronlea Peterson started every game at point guard last season. Seniors Shalyn Beauchamp, a guard, and Danielle Makins, a center, started 11 and 14 games, respectively, in 2006-07.

Armstrong, a pre-season All-GLIAC Team selection, averaged 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Armstrong (6-0), Makins (6-1) and junior Alyssa VanderWal (6-3) should be one of the GLIAC's most-experienced post combinations.