February 19-26, 2014

Harsh winter freezes groundskeeping budget See Features, page 5

WSU program wins diversity award See News, page 2

Kohrman talks numbers: Snyder’s university funding hike See News, page 3

championS

WSU’s Swim teams break records, clinch GLIAC championship SEE Sports, PAGE 6 COURTESY FARES KSEBATI

FEBRUARY 19 - 26, 2014 | WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1967 | THESOUTHEND.WAYNE.EDU | DETROIT, MICHIGAN | FREE

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Cultural series scores national award LYNN LOSH Features Correspondent Wayne State’s Thursdays in the D program received the 2014 Outstanding Diversity Achievement Program award from the National Association for Campus Activities on Feb. 17.

Thursdays in the D is a program that engages students in social and cultural activities around Midtown and downtown Detroit. The program hosts events Thursday evenings during the fall and winter semesters.

“Ultimately the goal of Thursdays in the D is to engage Wayne State students with the various cultures that the city of Detroit has to offer, while simultaneously diversifying their cultural experiences by engaging with other Wayne State students,” said Eboni Turnbow, student conduct officer and coordinator of student life, campus activities and leadership development at WSU.

Turnbow and six WSU students, who are members of the campus activities team, traveled to Boston to accept the award.

Thursdays in the D began in 2011, when the administration got the idea to start a program that could showcase events and sights around Detroit.

“The administration at the time basically had a conversation amongst themselves talking about (how) we have so many great things the city has to offer that we didn’t think our students are being exposed to. One of the primary reasons we felt that way is because of transportation, and so we said okay we will subsidize the costs,” Turnbow said.

Thursdays in D hosts events such as musicals, hip-hop concerts, salsa dancing and talent shows.

The events usually draw in around 200-250 students.

“Since it is a free event, it is usually very crowded with students,” said WSU student

LAST WEEK’S POLL

Wayne State is competing to sign up as many organ donors as possible. Have you ever considered it?

Do you think university politics are corrupt?

Yes, but I’m not signed up No Gross I’m already a donor!

VOTE ONLINE AT WWW.THESOUTHEND.WAYNE.EDU!

FOLLOW THE SOUTH END ON YOUR FAVORITE SOCIAL NETWORKS. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. 2 I FEBRUARY 19 - 26, 2014 I

include demonstrating an impact on the understanding of diversity, originality and innovation fostering meaningful relationships between diverse student groups, challenging stereotypes, helping students learn to communicate effectively with people of varied backgrounds, and generating an appreciation of diverse cultures.

“Wayne State is a very diverse institution and so what happens is it hosts an array of different Thursdays in the D events,” Turnbow said. “(These) events bring our various groups of students together, and so you have students from many different backgrounds at different types of cultural events, so they all mesh together.”

The next Thursdays in the D event, Blackout Game: WSU Basketball vs Lake Superior, will be held Feb. 27 at Matthaei. Admission and parking will be free in Lot 50 for students with a valid OneCard.

POLL OF THE WEEK

PUBLICATION

The South End is published Wednesdays during the fall and winter semesters by Wayne State University students. Copies are available free of charge at various locations throughout campus. The Student Newspaper Publication Board, established by the Wayne State University Board of Governors, acts as the publisher of The South End. The board establishes and ensures compliance with publication, editorial and news reporting guidelines. All complaints, comments and suggestions concerning the student newspaper should be directed to doso@wayne.edu.

Catherine Mitchell.

WSU pays for 95 to 100 percent of the costs for Thursdays in the D events and provides shuttles for transportation. Approximately 90 percent of all Thursdays in the D events are free for WSU students with a valid OneCard.

The NACA Outstanding Diversity Achievement Award recognizes programs at NACA member institutions that positively contribute to the development of diverse culture on campus.

“The awards selection committee were impressed with Thursdays in the D because the program was a recurring event and included many cultural activities throughout the city,” said Latrice Williams, NACA’s marketing and communications manager. “They also liked that the program involved the community and gave the students an opportunity to get out into the surrounding area.”

Criteria for the award

/THESOUTHENDNEWS

A) Yes 52.6%

B) No 5.3%

C) Somewhat 21.1%

D) I don’t pay attention 21.1%

WSU budget administrator wants more from state Kohrman thankful for Snyder’s university funding hike despite ‘unfair share’

JON ADAMS/THE SOUTH END

PAT ANDRZEJCZYK The South End Gov. Snyder’s recent proposal to increase funding for the state’s public university system by 6.1 percent was met with cheers from thankful university presidents, and jeers from his Democratic opponents.

In the middle is Robert Kohrman, associate vice president of the budget at the Wayne State Office of the Provost.

Kohrman said the 6.1 percent increase reflects the total increase to the state’s university fund, not to the budgets of each public university.

“The total increase for just the institutions themselves will be about 5.5, 5.6 percent roughly,” Kohrman said. “The reason for the difference (between the two figures) is that other monies go to things like the (agricultural program) extensions at Michigan State, financial aid and other extension programs.”

WSU’s share, he said, will be about 4 percent, or $7.3 million. Kohrman said that’s only a 1.3 percent increase over the current $565 million budget.

“The reason for that is the amount is

divided into two (categories). The first is called base restoration,” Kohrman said WSU, like other Michigan universities, saw major cuts to funding that have yet to be filled. Funds designated for base restoration will be used to patch some of the holes in universities’ budgets.

“The second portion will (be) allocated through performance metrics, and WSU doesn’t do very well with (them),” Kohrman said He explained that two-thirds of the funds made available to WSU will depend on how the university matches up against other public universities in Michigan, but also in the United States.

“We’re being compared to peers who aren’t our peers,” he said. “It’s not just U of M and MSU; it’s (UC) Berkley, (UNC) Chapel Hill, Minnesota (State) and Ohio State.”

Kohrman said the differences between WSU and other top-tier research universities aren’t complicated.

“Those are residential schools, and most of our students commute here. We serve a different population. Our graduation rate is about 32 percent, and Michigan State’s is in the 90s.”

A point-system will rank Michigan’s

universities, and funding will be doled out according to how well they perform.

The problem Kohrman sees is that, in order to improve WSU’s standing against other, better-funded schools, the university would have to raise tuition and spend more money on high-demand degree programs and student support services.

That wouldn’t be ideal, he said, but it could be done. The state capped tuition increases at 3.2 percent and restricted university spending. But, Kohrman said, in order to improve WSU’s standing in the performance metrics system, the university would have to spend more money.

“Some of the strategies to improve graduation rates and degree completions require the university invest more,” he said.

“But we’ll be penalized if we spend more money.”

Kohrman said one factor playing in WSU’s favor is the addition of a Pell Grant metric, which would increase funding for universities who accept more high-performing low-income students.

Still, Kohrman said the university isn’t getting its fair share, and put the current increase into historical context.

“Three years ago, our budget was cut by

15 percent,” he said. “(The state) is going to put 2.7 percent of that 15 back into what we lost.”

This means WSU is still lacking more than 12 percent from the last cutback.

In December 2013, Kohrman said WSU funding went from $240 million in 2002, down to $180 million in 2013. Relatively low tuition rates coupled with rising costs of faculty compensation and weaker enrollment numbers have created “a nasty situation”.

Not only that but he said WSU hasn’t seen a non-inflationary increase since the 1980s.

“We’re essentially being funded at the same level as we were in the 1980s,” Kohrman said.

The late 1970s and 1980s were a particularly precarious time for WSU, when deep budget shortfalls forced the university to close some schools and stop offering certain programs.

“We really restructured the university back then,” he said.

Part of that restructuring, Kohrman said, involved raising tuition rates for students.

“Just 15 years ago, a student paid one-third of the cost of an education, while the state picked up the other two-thirds,” Kohrman said.

/THESOUTHENDWSU I FEBRUARY 19 - 26, 2014 I 3

eSports, Blizzard sweeten deal for college gamers

LISA FRALEIGH TSE Columnist Get ready Wayne State gamers, because I have some exciting news for the collegiate gaming community: Blizzard Entertainment has announced a new partnership with The eSports Association (TeSPA) that will reward and support the growth of bigger, more active college gaming groups.

So what does this mean exactly?

Rewards and free stuff! Through the partnership, Blizzard will help fund and facilitate TeSPA’s Membership Milestone program, through which the groups will be rewarded with event funding, merchandise, promotion opportunities and in-game items for “Hearthstone,” “Heroes of the Storm” and “StarCraft 2.”

“TeSPA has been a positive force in the eSports community, built from the ground up by a small group of dedicated fans,” CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Mike Morhaime said in a press release. “By partnering with TeSPA we hope to give back to the players in a very new way to add fuel to an already thriving collegiate scene.”

So how does this all work, you might ask? Well, it’s very simple. To participate in the Membership Milestone pro-

gram, groups must be within TeSPA’s network, which isn’t as complicated as you might think. According to TeSPA, there are only two requirements to join: “First, your group must be game agnostic, meaning you are open to building an inclusive community for all gamers.

Second, student members must pay annual dues of $10 each academic year.”

Once your group is part of TeSPA, the fun can really start. The bigger your group gets, the more rewards Blizzard will fund. All of the details and rewards can be found on TeSPA’s website; however, just to give you an idea of what you can get, I will list a few. At 40 members, you will get a vinyl banner to hang at your school and a partnered Twitch stream. At 65, you will get $300 to sponsor one event per year and access to equipment, like power

cards, switches and Ethernet cables to hook up your group’s equipment. At 80 members, your group will get a pizza party, more equipment and in-game rewards for “Hearthstone.” And at 200 members, your group will get an additional $500 to sponsor events, as well as many other benefits on each tier.

In a press release TeSPA co-founder Adam Rosen said, “Our goal is to empower passionate students, to bring their eSports dreams to life. By doing this, we hope to cultivate thriving eSports communities while fostering the next generation of entrepreneurial business leaders in the gaming industry.”

So, are you ready to rally your fellow WSU gamers to play together, get awesome rewards and have a good time?

Because I know I sure am!

OneCard fraud at RFC leads to new safeguards JESSICA SADER Contributing Writer A two-by-three-foot sign of a man wearing shades is one of the first things you’ll see when you walk into the Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center.

The man is Christy Nolan, Wayne State’s director of campus recreation and associate athletic director. His message to students? “Make our job easier and your workout hassle-free. Make sure your OneCard picture matches your face.”

This issue began several years ago.

Non-WSU students were obtaining OneCards and illegally accessing the fitness center. The number of misused OneCards was in triple digits for a single semester, so a new system was implemented to reduce the rate.

“People not paying for the facility as a part of their tuition don’t have a vested interest, so they didn’t take care of the building,” Nolan said. “They weren’t necessarily here to work out, relax or

de-stress.”

The new system allows the fitness center staff to confiscate cards used by those who are not the rightful holder.

That person will then be asked to leave the complex. According to the fitness center website, if a person refuses to leave or hand over the card, “WSU Police will be notified, and Code of Conduct charges (will be) filed with the Dean of Students Office.” This can also lead to being banned from the facility permanently.

Approximately five years later, Nolan said the number of misused OneCards in the fitness center has decreased to less than 20 cases a semester.

Through his years of working at WSU, Nolan said he’s heard “every excuse under the sun” when people are confronted for trying to gain access with someone else’s card.

“We can tell who is going to do it beforehand, because they’ll typically turn their back, put their hoodie up, or we will see them come in in big groups and they’ll try to distract the front desk,”

Nolan said.

Regardless of the distraction method, student supervisor Takeisha Webster warns, “I can see who is swiping, so I don’t think you want to try that.”

WSU senior Randi Yako supports the policy.

“Since us as students have to pay a $25 maintenance fee every semester, I believe it is necessary to make sure each student uses his or her own OneCard in order to avoid abuse of our facilities,” Yako said.

A $25 fine is also charged on the original cardholder’s account for each person involved in the incident. Once the fee is paid, access to the facility is allowed again. If your card is lost or stolen and someone tries to use it on your behalf without your consent, you can file a police report.

Reasons for OneCard misuse range from stealing the card from a member to avoiding having to pay a guest fee.

Guest passes are only $10. Members of the fitness center are allowed one guest per day. Guests, along with their sponsor,

must provide valid photo identification in order to gain entrance into the facility.

“We’ve had people misuse OneCards and then threaten staff, and try to grab a card that isn’t theirs back,” Nolan said.

“I’ve seen fake OneCards and OneCards with someone else’s information on it transferred electronically — A lot of work just to get in, which at first I was kind of surprised about. But typically someone who is going through this much work, they aren’t here to run on a treadmill or play basketball, they’re here to go through unlocked lockers and steal laptops, credit cards – all that stuff.”

If you forget your OneCard, just tell the staff at the front desk. They will look up your information and let you in the facility if you have paid your bill and aren’t barred from accessing the fitness center.

“My advice to students is, if you don’t have your OneCard, ask the staff — they’ll be happy to look you up,” Nolan said.

CONTACT DESIGN/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR, JON ADAMS, FOR MORE INFORMATION! 4 I FEBRUARY 19 - 26, 2014 I WWW.THESOUTHEND.WAYNE.EDU

WSU competes to enlist donors, save lives JESSICA SADER Contributing Writer A little friendly competition and a story that hits close to home is fueling Warriors around campus to put more than just their hearts on the line to be the Gift of Life Campus Challenge winners for the third year in a row.

The Gift of Life Campus Challenge puts schools in a head-to-head contest to see who can get the most people to sign up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry.

The Wayne State community has been inspired by the memory of student Rebecca Joy Butler to come together and make a difference.

Rebecca, 20, was pursuing her degree in marketing at WSU when she died in May 2011 of pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disease that required her to get a lung transplant.

Having learned there were so many others like herself waiting for organs, Rebecca told her father, Timothy Butler and her mother, Beverly Butler,

that she wanted to spread awareness on campus.

Carrying on the wishes of their late daughter, Timothy and Beverly contacted Gift of Life Michigan and sought the help of Rebecca’s former sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta, to sign individuals up to become organ donors.

“We’ve pretty much ran out of Greek community (members),” said WSU student and Alpha Gamma Delta sister Kelsey Skinner. “At this point we have registered almost everybody (in the Greek community) that is interested.”

For this reason, the six-week-long competition has expanded to nearly ten other organizations that have been recruiting donors and setting up information booths on campus.

WSU has won the challenge for the past two years, sparking a rivalry with previous champions Michigan State.

This year, MSU revealed their intent in the opening of a public service announcement: “Win the trophy back from Wayne State University.”

Two different trophies are awarded. One is ranked by the number of

students registered, and the other by percentage of student body registered.

WSU prevailed last year with 22 more donors registered than MSU. While increasing student involvement by pitting WSU against MSU can be fun, Beverly said the ultimate goal of the challenge is to register donors and increase awareness.

“We know not everybody we ask is going to register at that time, but we might get them thinking about it, and later on in their lives they might change their minds and register,” Beverly said.

Thinking about dying and giving up one’s organs can be unpleasant for some people.

“The thing I try to remind people is, if one of your loved ones needed an organ transplant, wouldn’t you want there to be an opportunity for that person to get an organ?” Timothy said.

“In order to do that, a lot of people have to be registered. We all need to be registered, so the people we love have a chance if they need an organ transplant.”

The Gift of Life Campus Challenge concludes Thursday, Feb. 27 at 11:59 p.m. Anyone can sign up on WSU’s Gift of Life page by going to: www. giftoflifemichigan.org/go/waynestate. You can also follow WSU’s Gift of Life on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Wrench weighs in on severe winter, increased costs DANIEL FORTUNE Contributing Writer “You want a forecast about the weather?...I’ll give you a winter prediction. It’s going to be cold. It’s going to be gray. And it’s going to last you for the rest of your life.”

These are the prophetic words of Bill Murray in the 1993 dark comedy “Groundhog Day,” a movie in which Murray’s character wakes up every morning to find himself stuck in the same miserable winter holiday in Punxsutawney, Penn.

While this year’s Feb. 2 has come and gone, the inclement snowy season has persisted on the campus of Wayne State.

“This has been a rough winter,” said Donald Wrench, director of custodial operations and interim director of ground operations at WSU. “In terms of salt, we’ve gone through close to 300 tons.”

Wrench said he and his crew have been working tirelessly to keep the WSU campus safe and clear from winter elements.

“We’ve been running 12 hours a day, around the clock,” Wrench said. “You can’t do anything but (that) with this

type of weather. And we just try to clear as much as we can as quick as we can.”

Wrench said the grounds department has even been plowing the campus streets, which are technically beyond their call of duty.

“The streets do belong to the city, but we’ve been taking care of them this winter,” Wrench said. “We’ve been taking care of them around campus because of safety. We can’t necessarily wait on the city to plow, so we got to get it done. And that’s what we’ve been getting done.”

But the grounds crew’s workload doesn’t end there.

“Streets, sidewalks, docks – basically you name it, we do it,” Wrench said.

“Steps, porches – you name it, because we have some houses on campus. We do curb cuts – handicapped access points to get their vehicles up to the building, front and back. The traffic light signals – we clear those areas out so people can hit the button. Safety’s always number one.”

Wrench said his crew has needed to work beyond scheduled hours to get the job done.

“Last I checked, I’m about $45,000 in overtime for snow removal (for the grounds crew),” Wrench said. “Typically that’s a whole season.”

Angela Strickland is the director of

business affairs for facilities planning and management at WSU. She confirmed the university is over-budget on winter maintenance.

“We certainly have exceeded what we would anticipate spending for salt,” Strickland said. “The overtime (hours for the grounds crew) has certainly been more than we have anticipated.

Without a doubt, this is probably one of the higher years that I’ve seen.”

While Strickland couldn’t yet quantify WSU’s budget overages on snow removal this season, she said the unexpected spending could impact other services later this year.

“Something else probably won’t get done,” Strickland said. “We just have to figure out what’s the least impact to the university. So we haven’t made any decisions on that yet, just because… with February starting out with a bang, we just don’t know at what point we’ll be at until February’s pretty much over with. And then we have to take a hard look at – OK, how far out-of-whack are we? And where do those costs need to now be pulled back in at?”

Strickland said future budget considerations would not take precedence over ongoing winter maintenance.

“I don’t think we’d risk any part of any safety issues to make sure that we compensated for what went on here,

because we deal with life safety and the critical facilities first,” Strickland said.

“And then you go from there.”

Wrench said there are ways students can help make the campus safer during extreme winter weather.

“It will be very helpful if people remove their vehicles from the street during snow emergencies,” Wrench said. “I can’t tell you how many times we’ve gotten a call where a student or someone has to get out of their car, and it’s (stuck) in the street, because we couldn’t plow it, because there are other cars buried (in snow), literally, that haven’t been moved in days. That’s a real big problem to us. And for our handicapped students, it’s even more of an obstacle.”

Wrench said FP&M appreciates any helpful information they receive from students as well.

“We take all phone calls: 313-5774308,” Wrench said. “And let us know if there’s some areas that are in campus that need some attention.”

Wrench believes everyone working together will yield the best results.

“You’re not going to get everything the way everyone wants it,” Wrench said. “I don’t think my mailman puts the mail in my box the way I wanted everything. But we can work together to make it better.”

/THESOUTHENDNEWS I FEBRUARY 19 - 26, 2014 I 5

SPORTS

WSU nabs championship, blows records out of water

COURTESY FARES KSEBATI

FUAD SHALHOUT The South End The Wayne State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are on top of the swimming world once again, clinching the GLIAC championships in Geneva, Ohio on the final day of the tournament, Feb. 15.

For the men’s squad, they became the first team in the 35-year history of the GLIAC Championship meet to break the 1,000-point mark, surpassing the all-time record of 952 points set 27 years ago by Oakland University in 1987. It’s the fourth consecutive GLIAC title and ninth in the last 12 years for the men’s team.

As for the women, they set a GLIAC record with 959 points to win its fifth consecutive conference title and eighth in the last nine years.

Men Three-meter: Junior Dylan Szegedi won the three-meter event on Saturday (Feb. 15) with a score of 532.30. Freshman Adam Littell (second place) scored 409.95 points and Junior Kevin White scored a 397.60 to finish off

the top three sweep for WSU. 1650 free: Senior Jordan Papp finished second with a time of 16:06.10. His teammates Jack Dischler and Kyle Taylor placed in sixth place (16:17.45) and ninth (16:33.64), respectively. Mitch Bohr, Calvin Reder and Cameron Fryzel rounded out the Warrior participants.

100 free: In the 100 free, freshman Till Barthel won the event with an NCAA “B” cut time of 44.31. Senior Kristian Larsen finished third (44.93), while sophomore Eric Gensheimer was 11th (46.00).

200 back: WSU had three of the top five finishers in the 200 back led by GLIAC Champion Juan David Molina Perez, who had an NCAA “A” cut time of 1:46.08. Junior Lucas Fernandez Vilanova placed third (1:48.64), while freshman Soren Holm was fifth (1:50.15).

Freshman Zach Zylstra placed seventh (1:51.02) to complete the Warrior scoring in the 200 back.

200 breast: Junior Piotr Jachowicz broke both the GLIAC and meet records with a winning

time of 1:57.06, while teammate Jayson Hansen was second (1:58.40). Junior Nick Victor finished sixth (2:02.04), while sophomore Aryell Pasternak finished 10th (2:05.82).

400 free relay: Barthel, Larsen, Fernandez Vilanova and Holm broke the meet record with a winning time of 2:58.88.

Women 1650 free: Junior Kristina Novichenko won the event with a time of 16:54.90. Kelsey Dischler and Veronica Loock finished in fifth (17:29.74) and sixth (17:35.25) place, respectively. Mallory Moore, Alycen Wiacek and Michelle Adamic rounded out the 1650 free competition.

100 free: Junior Gloria Martinez Perez placed fifth (51.91) with sophomore Elly Maleski finishing sixth (51.98). Junior Marissa Swartz placed 15th (53.48).

200 back: Champion Carol Azambuja broke her own GLIAC meet record set two years ago with a time of 1:57.99. Junior Kei Cze Prentis placed third (2:03.16), while freshman

Emily Maraskine was fourth (2:03.43).

200 breast: Senior Kayla Scott finished second (2:16.86) in the 200 breast while sophomore Hannah Loesch finished seventh (2:20.98). Sophomore Manuela Ferreira won the consolation finals to place ninth (2:20.15), with freshman Emily Heitchue finished 12th (2:24.09).

400 free relay: Prentis, Maleski, Loesch and Martinez Perez finished fourth with a time of 3:27.76.

Notes: -Senior diver Paige Kortman was voted GLIAC Female Diver of the Year for the second straight year. Senior Carol Azambuja was named GLIAC Female Swimmer of the Year, also for the second straight year.

-Junior Dylan Szegedi was voted GLIAC Male Diver of the Year.

-Head coach Sean Peters won the GLIAC Women’s Coach of the Year award for the eighth time in the last nine years and the GLIAC Men’s Coach of the Year award for the 10th time in the last 13 years. He has won either the Men’s Coach of the Year, or the Women’s Coach of the Year, or both every year since 2002.

Softball opener kicks off promising season AARON STALLINGS Contributing Writer It’s never too early to add to the postseason resume.

It was a very successful opening weekend for the Wayne State softball team. In the process of notching a 5-1 record at the Charger Chillout in Huntsville, Ala., the Warriors knocked off two teams ranked in the top 15.

WSU shutout seventh ranked Indianapolis 3-0 to open the season. War-

6 I FEBRUARY 19 - 26, 2014 I

rior redshirt freshman Lyndsay Butler returned to pitch her first game in nearly a year after an injury claimed all but a week of her freshman year.

The season opener offered the Warriors a chance to exact a little revenge on the Greyhounds, a familiar foe.

WSU and Indianapolis met up each of the last two seasons in NCAA postseason play, both resulting in lopsided WSU defeats.

As the cliche goes, third time’s the charm.

While Butler wasn’t particularly

/THESOUTHENDWSU

sharp, she did a marvelous job of pitching out of two bases-loaded jams in the fifth and sixth innings. She finished the contest =with 13 strikeouts.

Senior Logan White scored the first run of the season in the bottom of the first off the bat of sophomore Jade McGarr. Senior Julie Ingratta finished with two RBIs thanks to a two-out, two-run single in the sixth.

Butler stepped back into the circle to pitch a 5-1 victory over the second ranked opponent for the Warriors as they closed out the weekend against

No. 15 North Georgia. In a much cleaner performance, Butler struck out eight batters. She had separate streaks of retiring 10 and seven batters in a row.

With the game tied 1-1 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, sophomore Ali Lince broke the tie as she scored off a sharp liner from senior Amanda Burnard to give the Warriors a lead they wouldn’t give back.

The Warriors rest this weekend before gearing up for four games between Feb. 22 and 23 in the Lewis Indoor Tournament in Rosemont, Ill.

SPORTS

Warriors sunk by NMU after MI Tech victory

COURTESY ADAM BOUTON

FUAD SHALHOUT The South End The Wayne State women’s basketball team handed Michigan Tech its first home loss of the year in a hard-fought 90-82 road victory on Feb. 13, but then suffered an uncharacteristic blowout loss to Northern Michigan on Feb. 15.

Feb. 13, Shareta Brown notched her 13th double-double of the season with game-highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds.

Destiny Lavita-Stephens added 14 points.

After a slow start, MTU gained an 8-6 lead, but the Warriors proceeded to go on a 14-1 run to lead 20-9 with 8:31 left before halftime.

WSU then went up 15 points, 27-12, after three straight hoops by Ashley Wil-

son, Kristen Long and Imari Redfield.

The Warriors shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and led by as many as 20 points at the break, 38-22.

WSU built their lead to as many as 22 points in the second half and had a healthy 69-47 lead with 6:16 left in the game. At that point it seemed like the Warriors would cruise to another win.

But MTU made a surprising charge by getting hot behind the arch. They started hitting from the outside down the stretch and pulled to within seven points, 73-66, with 1:56 left in the game. The Huskies made five triples in the second half.

Then, the Huskies cut the WSU lead to 79-74 after a three-pointer with just 43 seconds left.

WSU made its free throws down the

stretch to hold off the Huskies’ charge and to preserve the win. WSU made 30of-36 free throws overall (83.3 percent) for the game and sank a crucial 11-of-12 free throw shots in the final 44 seconds.

On Feb. 15, the Warriors experienced a setback at Northern Michigan, losing 84-69. WSU fell to 19-4 overall and 16-3 in the GLIAC. Both teams went toe-to-toe for most of the opening minutes, with WSU leading 22-19 midway through the first half. The Wildcats went on a 11-2 run, however, to take a 30-24 lead with 4:40 left before halftime and led 40-36 at the break. A big Achilles heel in the first half for the Warriors was their inability to protect the ball; they committed 10 turnovers. Junior Shareta Brown scored 13 points to help

WSU keep pace.

The Warriors pulled to within two points, 40-38, 22 seconds into the second half on a lay-up by junior Ondrea Hughes, but NMU scored the next seven points to take a nine-point lead, 47-38.

The Wildcats then went up by double figures and WSU would never get within 10 points the rest of the game.

Brown led the Warriors with 19 points and nine rebounds while Imari Redfield added 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

WSU shot 49 percent for the game and were out-rebounded 36-29. Alyssa Colla was 10-of-15 from the field and scored a game-high 26 points to lead NMU. The Warriors will look to rebound Feb. 20 at Ferris State for a 6 p.m. tip-off.

Warriors drop four matches before home stretch MICHAEL LEWIS Sports Correspondent The men’s basketball season could be dead in the water. After winning three straight games, including an impressive overtime victory over Grand Valley, Wayne State’s men lost four of their last five games. This week, the Warriors dropped two on the road against Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan.

Thursday night (Feb. 13), the Warriors lost 63-55 to the Michigan Tech Huskies making them 0-2 in the season series. The first half was a defensive struggle with MTU jumping out to a 10-2 lead in the first four minutes of play. WSU responded with a 10-2 run over the next eight minutes to tie the game at 12. The Warriors were able to offset a terrible 25 percent shooting half

by holding the Huskies to 14 points during the final 16 minutes. However, MTU entered halftime with the 22-18 advantage.

Freshman guard Clark Bishop led all scorers with six at the break; he also added two steals.

The second half was controlled by Michigan Tech. MTU was able to stretch the lead to 37-27 off of a Kyle Stankowski layup.

WSU was able to cut the lead to four, but the Warriors’ foul trouble helped stretch the lead back to six. The Warriors were whistled for 30 fouls in the game resulting in 27 free throws in the second half. With the Huskies making 22 of the 27, the Warriors were not able to mount a significant comeback. Clark Bishop finished the game with 13 points. He was followed by Gerald Williams-Taylor who added 12 and Bryan Coleman with 11. MTU was able to out rebound (35-33), out steal (8-3), and out

block (7-2) the Warriors in the win.

The Warriors then traveled to Northern Michigan to take on the Wildcats. The Warriors were looking to repeat their 61-51 home victory on the road. Instead, the Warriors fell 74-66, dropping them to 3-8 on the road and 9-10 in the conference.

The Wildcats were able to overcome two double-doubles held by Bryan Coleman (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Gerald WilliamsTaylor (20 points, 12 rebounds) to break their eight game losing streak.

The game was a seesaw battle with five lead changes and ties in the first half. Once again, both teams struggled shooting the ball in the first half. Mutually, the teams shot under 40 percent from the floor. The Warriors owned a 27-25 lead at the end of the half led by 10 points from WilliamsTaylor. WSU did not allow a double digit scorer from the Wildcats in the first 20

minutes.

The seesaw battle continued in the second half with five lead changes and six ties in the first 10 before the Cats took a commanding 45-42 lead off of a Marcus Hall triple. Hall followed up with another triple stretching the lead to six (48-42). With three minutes left, the Cats held on to an 11 point lead. Despite cutting the lead to six, the Cats were able to sink crucial late game free throws to put the game away.

The Warriors are now two games behind Malone for a spot in the GLIAC tournament, with three games left to play.

Although they own the tie breaker, WSU is not in a good spot heading into the final games of the season.

The Warriors will travel to Ferris State to take on the Bulldogs on Feb. 20 before returning Feb. 22 for a rematch with GVSU.

THESOUTHEND.WAYNE.EDU I FEBRUARY 19 - 26, 2014 I 7

PHOTO STORY

DETROIT’S LARGEST SELFIE

BY KRISTIN SHAW

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