Breslin Center, East Lansing, MI. – The Michigan State Spartans Women’s Basketball team fell Sunday afternoon to 18th-ranked Michigan, 77-67. The Spartans started really strong but foul trouble and second-half scoring struggles led to their defeat.
The Spartans jumped to an early 10-point lead and kept the Wolverines off the board for almost 4 minutes which was highlighted by 3-pointers from Matilda Ekh and Moira Joiner. A big 3-point play by Tory Ozment gave the Lady Spartans a huge 12-point advantage. But the Wolverines battled back from the slow start and cut it to a 21-15 game by the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Spartans went cold and went over two minutes without a field goal and Michigan cut it to a two-point game 25-23. As the Michigan State offense went cold, the Wolverines used a 6-0 run over 1:42 to tie the score for the first time since the start of the game. The Spartans were able to go on a big scoring spree and took a 40-33 lead at the half.
At the half MSU celebrated its field hockey, cross country/track & field, gymnastics, women’s soccer, volleyball, and cheer and dance teams in honor of women in sports day.
At the beginning of the third, the Wolverines went on a roll and scored eight of the first nine points to tie the game. A Wolverine 3-pointer at the 5:40 mark of the third gave the Wolverines their first lead of the game. The Wolverines dominated the third period out-scoring the Spartans 23-15, but MSU only trailed 56-55 heading in the fourth quarter after a sweet Dee Dee Hagemann half-court shot right at the buzzer!
In the fourth quarter, the Wolverines scored the first 10 points of the period to put the game away. The Wolverines took as much as a 13-point lead but the Spartans never gave up and kept trying to battle back. The Spartans got into a lot of contested foul trouble and just couldn’t get any shots to fall for them in spite of their great play. The Spartans shot only 21.7 percent in the fourth period going 5-for-23 from the field.
The Spartans were led by Ekh & Joiner with 12 points each, Hagemann finished with 11, and Kamaria McDaniel finished with 9. Taiyer Parks led the team in rebounds with 9.
The Spartans were outshot in field goal percentage 47% to 31% and only shot 64% from the free throw line while the Wolverines shot 80%. The Spartans did force 20 turnovers though.
There were over 9,000 people on hand to watch the game and this is the third game head coach Suzy Merchant was not coaching at, who is out with a medical incident. The Spartans will tip off Wednesday at Wisconsin at 7:30
