The Michigan women's basketball team suffered through a serious slump in the early to mid 90s, hitting rock bottom during the coaching tenure of Trish Roberts. Coach Sue Guevara arrived in Ann Arbor in 1996, and led the Wolverines to winning records in her first six seasons. Her teams earned bids to the post season in five of her first six seasons, and in 2000-01 they advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Just when it looked like things had gotten better, Michigan suffered through a difficult Big Ten campaign in 2001-02. Things continued to decline in 2002-03, and Coach Guevara resigned. She was replaced by Cheryl Burnett, who compiled a record of 319 wins and 136 losses (.701 winning percentage) in 15 seasons at Southwest Missouri State.

1990-91: Michigan started out strong but faded late in the season, coming in at 11-17 and 4-14 in the Big Ten. They swept the home and home series against Minnesota as well as beating Wisconsin and Illinois. Carol Szczechowski, in the final season of her stellar Michigan career, led the team in points, assists, and steals. Sophomore Trish Andrew was the top rebounder and shot blocker.

1991-92: It was another tough year for the Wolverines, as they won seven and lost 21. Their Big Ten mark was 3-15, with another sweep of Minnesota and a home win over Indiana. Outside the conference, they posted an impressive upset of #11 Western Kentucky as well as defeating Notre Dame. Trish Andrew led in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, and her 136 blocks established a new single season Michigan record. Char Durand was the top playmaker and Jen Nuanes had the most steals.

1992-93: Trish Roberts took over as head coach following the resignation of Bud Van DeWege. Coach Roberts' first squad struggled, winning only two of 27 games. Andrew once again swept the scoring, rebounding, and blocked shot categories while Nuanes took top honors in assists and steals.

1993-94: Michigan began the season with only nine players, and after two left in December they were down to a mere seven. Of these, five were frosh. Needless to say, this made for a very difficult situation and it showed in the Wolverines' final record of 3-24. The young Wolverines had it especially hard in the Big Ten, where they were not able to muster a single victory in 18 tries. Amy Johnson led the team in scoring and Jennifer Brzezinski led in rebounds and blocked shots. Jennifer Kiefer led in assists and Silver Shellman in steals.

Year by year scores, 1990-91 to 1993-94

1994-95: The Wolverines more than doubled their victory total, finishing 8-19 and 3-13 in the Big Ten. The high point of the season was most likely back to back wins over arch rival Michigan State and Northwestern. Michigan also picked up a road win over Illinois. Jennifer Brzezinski topped the team in three categories: scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. Silver Shellman led the way in assists and steals.
 

1995-96: After an impressive 4-1 start, Michigan managed only three wins the rest of the way to finish 7-20 and 1-15. Pollyanna Johns took the scoring and rebounding crowns, Jennifer Kiefer the playmaking title, Brzezinski made it a "three-peat" in the blocked shot category and Akisha Franklin had the most steals. Coach Trish Roberts resigned at the end of the season. Her replacement, on an interim basis at first, was Michigan State associate head coach Sue Guevara.
 

1996-97: The Sue Guevara era got off to a very successful start, as the Wolverines won eight of their first nine games. The lone defeat was by only three points against Stanford, who was ranked number one nationally at the time. When all was said and done, Michigan had won 15 games and lost 11 overall, with a Big Ten mark of 7-9. The 15 overall wins were only five short of what the previous coach had taken four years to achieve, while the seven league wins were two better than the five that Michigan had won in the previous coaching regime. While there was still much work to be done, it was clear that the change at the top had brought about improvement in the Michigan women's basketball program. Pollyanna Johns once again led in scoring and rebounding, and also topped the team in blocked shots. Jennifer Kiefer and Ann Lemire shared the assists title and Stacey Thomas captured the steals crown as a freshman.

1997-98: Michigan took another big step forward, finishing at 19-10 overall and 10-6 in the Big Ten. Their league record was good enough for a third place tie, which was one spot higher than the 1989-90 team had finshed. The Wolverines won both meetings with Michigan State, defeated a ranked Wisconsin team in the Big Ten tournament, and just barely lost to ranked Illinois and Duke. For only the second time in program history, Michigan was awarded a bid to the NCAA national championship tournament. They fought bravely against UCLA, coming up short by a mere seven points. Pollyanna Johns closed out her collegiate career by leading Michigan in scoring and rebounds. Stacey Thomas led in blocked shots and steals. At the top of the assists chart was freshman Anne Thorius, who journeyed all the way from Denmark to be a student-athlete in Ann Arbor.

1998-99: For the third consecutive season, Michigan posted a winning record at 18-12. They finished an even 8-8 in the Big Ten. After losing the season opener to Vanderbilt, the Wolverines rattled off nine wins in a row. They came up short in their try for an NCAA invite, but did earn a spot in the WNIT (Women's National Invitational Tournament). In the first round, Michigan defeated Western Michigan in Kalamazoo. The second round game was at Ann Arbor versus Michigan State. The teams battled to the end, with the Spartans pulling it out in the final seconds. Stacey Thomas took top honors in four of five statistical categories: points, rebounds, blocked shots, and steals. The leader in assists, for the second straight season, was Anne Thorius.

1998-99 scores, from mgoblue.com

1999-00: Michigan sped out of the gates, winning their first seven games. Later in the season, they put together nine consecutive victories to tie the all time Michigan record. The Wolverines' final overall mark of 22 wins and 8 losses established a new all time standard. Their Big Ten record was 13-3, good enough for second place. Michigan defeated Purdue when the Boilers were ranked #12, and also took two games from the ranked Illinois team. For the second time in Coach Guevara's tenure, Michigan qualified for the NCAA tournament. In the first round of the "Big Dance," the Wolverines took Stanford into overtime before the Cardinal prevailed 81-74. Stacey Thomas ended her Michigan career by leading the team in scoring, rebounds, and steals. Anne Thorius made it three assists crowns in a row, and freshman center LeeAnn Bies was the top shot blocker.

1999-00 scores, from mgoblue.com

2000-01: The Wolverines kicked off 2000-01 in fine style, winning a thrilling 69-66 contest against #8 Louisiana Tech. This was the first time that Michigan had ever defeated a team ranked in the top ten. This season's team distinguished itself with a number of comebacks, including wins at Michigan State and Penn State and at home versus Iowa. The Wolverines earned a second consecutive NCAA tourney bid, facing off against Virginia in the opening round. As had been the case so often in the regular season, the Wolverines found themselves facing a halftime deficit. They answered the call in the second half, rallying to defeat Virginia. Although they lost in the second round to Notre Dame, it had been another season of success for Sue's Crew. Michigan finished 19-12 overall and 10-6 in the Big Ten. LeeAnn Bies had a solid sophomore campaign, topping the Maize and Blue in points, rebounds, and blocks. Anne Thorius led in assists for the fourth year in a row, establishing a new career record in that category while also leading the team in steals.

2000-01 scores, from mgoblue.com

2001-02: Following a season-opening loss to #6 Louisiana Tech, Michigan went on a ten game winning streak to finish the non-conference schedule with a 10-1 record. They rose as high as #12 in the national rankings. In the Big Ten part of the season, the going got much tougher as the Wolverines lost six of their first seven league contests. The lone win came against Michigan State. Michigan rallied to win five of their last nine to finish the Big Ten regular season at 6-10. In the league tourney, they knocked off Illinois before losing a hard fought battle to Purdue. They earned a bid to the NIT and hosted the first round against Valparaiso. This would be the last game of the season, as Valpo defeated the Maize and Blue. LeeAnn Bies topped the team in both scoring and rebounding. Alayne Ingram was the leader in assists and steals in the final season of her excellent career.

 2001-02 scores, from mgoblue.com

2002-03: Michigan once again started well, winning nine of eleven non-conference games. And also like the previous season, the Wolverines struggled against Big Ten opponents, with only three wins (two against Indiana, one against Northwestern) and 13 losses. They posted an impressive win over Illinois in the Big Ten tournament opener, but could not get past Purdue in the second round. Jennifer Smith was the leading scorer, while Tabitha Pool took top rebounding honors. Niki Reams led the way in assists, Stephanie Gandy in steals, and LeeAnn Bies in blocked shots. At the end of the season, Coach Sue Guevara resigned and was replaced by Cheryl Burnett.

 2002-03 scores, from mgoblue.com

2003-04: Cheryl Burnett's first Michigan team finished the season with a 14-17 overall record and a 6-10 Big Ten mark. Jennifer Smith averaged 21.3 points per game and set a new school record for single season scoring. Tabitha Pool edged out Smith for top rebounding honors and Pool also led the team in assists, blocks, and steals.

2004-05: Michigan was hit hard by players quitting the team, and was left with a very young roster (two seniors, no juniors, one sophomore and seven frosh). This made for a very difficult situation where wins were hard to come by. The team did manage to win four of their first eight games, but then only won one (vs. Indiana) the rest of the season. Tabitha Pool and BreAnne McPhilamy (the two seniors) did their best to compensate for all the players who quit, and the younger Wolverines also gave it their all. Sophomore Kelly Helvey and rookie Ta'Shia Walker looked particularly good, and provide hope for a successful future for the Michigan program.

2005-06: For a second consecutive season, Michigan was at a disadvantage due to youth and inexperience. Injuries to key players such as Kelly Helvey, Katie Dierdorf, and Ta'Shia Walker only made a difficult situation more so. The team managed to break even in non-conference play at 6-6, but against the tougher Big Ten competition they were unable to win any more games. Walker led the team in scoring and rebounding, Jessica Minnfield in assists and steals, and Stephany Skrba in blocked shots.