“I really thought in that second half, she had a commanding presence and really ran the team and did a nice job defensively,” Merchant said of Johnson.

Johnson came alive down the stretch, scoring 12 of her 14 points, dishing four assists, picking up two steals and earning a key charge in the final 20 minutes. Johnson said a halftime conversation with assistant coach Amaka “Mox” Agugua helped her get back on track.

“Coach Mox pulled me to the side during warmups in the second half and just told me ‘We need you,’” Johnson said. “‘We need your energy, your intensity. The team’s going to feed off whatever you do.’ So I just took that in stride and we had to get this win today.”

Senior forward Annalise Pickrel had 16 points, a career-high eight assists, six rebounds, two blocks and a steal. With four fouls late in the game, senior forward Becca Mills hit two clutch baskets in the last three minutes and finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

Freshman guard Siera Thompson paced the Wolverines with 16 points, two assists and two steals. Junior guard Shannon Smith, daughter of former MSU basketball captain Kevin Smith, had 11 points.

Despite a slow start to the game, Michigan diced up a stingy MSU defense, shooting 47 percent overall. The Spartans dished 20 assists and only turned the ball over nine times.

Head coach Suzy Merchant said the Wolverines saw luck in situations where the clock was winding down, taking advantage of one-on-one scenarios. Despite the comparatively poor defensive effort, Merchant said her team improved as the game went on.

“I did like our response,” Merchant said. “I thought defensively, in the second half, we were a different team.”

MSU had a 20-11 lead midway through the first half, but Michigan closed the half off with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 28. Michigan junior forward Cyesha Goree scored six points during the run and finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Madison Ristovski and freshman guard Paige Rakers nailed back-to-back corner 3’s to give Michigan a 47-44 lead in the second half. As the crowd roared, Pickrel silenced it by scoring four-straight. Johnson was then fouled on a layup to make it a 50-47 Spartan advantage.

Michigan, however, would not stand down. Down five with under six minutes left, Ristovski drained another corner 3 to cut the deficit to two, and Goree tied the game with a layup at 65.

With under three minutes remaining, senior forward Becca Mills hit a turnaround jumper with four fouls to put the Spartans back up two. She scored another clutch bucket with 1:19 on the clock, taking it to the rim to make it a four-point Spartan advantage.

““I know the situation where if I’m on the bench with fouls, to stay in it and be ready to go and be productive once I go back in the game,” Mills said, who has been in foul trouble more than a few times this season as she adjusts to the new hand-checking rules. “That has helped me for when it does happen again.”

The Spartans were perfect from the line for the rest of the match, and a breakaway layup by redshirt freshman guard Aerial Powers sealed the pivotal win for the Spartans.