Michigan women's basketball won their second in a row, and evened their record at 4-4, with a 77-59 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore. After a close first half which featured both teams hitting seven of 10 three point shots, Michigan clamped down on defense in the second half and got the win.

Kelly Helvey was especially impressive with a career high 30 points. She has always been a tough, hard working player but this is the first time she has really stood out as a scorer. Since she is the lone junior on a team with no seniors, it is very encouraging to see her stepping up and leading by example.

Three other Michigan players scored in double figures: Carly Benson with 15, Ta'Shia Walker with 14, and Janelle Cooper with 13. Krista Clement had nine assists.

This is a very important win for Michigan, giving them needed momentum going into a road game against Washington.

It appears that the coaches have found a starting lineup that works, with Clement and Helvey in the backcourt, Benson and Cooper at the forwards, and Walker at center. This lineup includes only one freshman, three sophomores, and Michigan's only junior. Now they need to get the other players involved a bit more.

One thing that continues to bother me is the poor quality of officiating in Big Ten Women's Basketball. The on-court officials tend to be pathetic, making many ridiculous calls and missing other obvious infractions. In addition, there are three people who sit at the scorer's table who wear Big Ten sweaters and therefore are probably employees of the conference. Two are old men who look to be Way Beyond Senile, the third is a Very Rude, Short Tempered woman who has no business doing anything that involves interaction with the public. These three repeatedly seem to zone out during games and forget to update the scoreboard and just generally seem to Not Have A Clue. I have a hard time believing that this is the best a supposedly big time conference like the Big Ten can do.

Finally, it looks like Penn State women's basketball is off to a 4-3 start despite having only nine players and not much experience. Maybe I have to give the Devil her due. Rene Portland is a horrible, despicable human being but I guess she does know something about coaching basketball. Still, I hold out hope that Penn State will tank the rest of this season and several seasons to come, until such time as Rene is forced to resign in disgrace like Bobby Knight, Woody Hayes, or Richard Nixon.