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Shorthanded Spartans defeat Indiana behind play of Jankoska and Powers

January 28, 2015
<p>Sophomore guard Aerial Powers dribbles the ball down the court Jan. 28, 2015, during the game against Indiana at Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Hoosiers, 72-57. Emily Nagle/The State News</p>

Sophomore guard Aerial Powers dribbles the ball down the court Jan. 28, 2015, during the game against Indiana at Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Hoosiers, 72-57. Emily Nagle/The State News

Photo by Emily Nagle | The State News

The dark cloud hanging over the head of the MSU women's basketball team this season is clearly the amount of injuries that have taken a tole of the program. 

Dressing only eight players for Wednesday night's matchup against Indiana at the Breslin Center, a couple players were asked to go further than what they're bodies are used too. 

Having almost played the entire 40-minutes, Tori Jankoska and Aerial Powers found ways to carry the load in the points column as only five players scored at least one point for the Spartans. 

Jankoska, the sophomore guard from Freeland, Michigan, scored a career-high 28-points while also adding 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals to lead MSU to a 72-57 victory, their third Big Ten conference win of the season. 

"Sometime she's taken on a tougher defensive assignment which has caused to not be as effective on offense," Merchant said. "But it was nice to see her have a good balance."

Finishing 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, Jankoska is four more treys (108) away from landing in the top 10 in three-pointers made, surpassing former Spartan Rene Haynes (111), who played from 2003-07. 

Powers, the Detroit product from Country Day, was an offensive and defensive machine, matching Jankoska's 28-points while also grabbing 11 defensive rebounds and five assists. 

The redshirt sophomore also led the team in field goal (22) and three-points attempts (10), proving that she can be an impactful player on the court, despite playing with an exhaust motor down the stretch.   

"When Aerial [Powers] gets turnovers, every time you can tell, is because she's exhausted," head coach Suzy Merchant said. "She over-tries, she loses the ball and makes mistakes at that time. It's not intentional, she's just whipped."

The "Big 3" which consists of Powers, Jankoska and Becca Mills, combined for 68 of the 72 points scored by the Spartans. Mills finished with 12-points while grabbing 14-rebounds, a team-high. 

MSU's dominance began with 11 minutes into the first half, when they were behind by just one-point. Down 12-11, Powers' three-point jumper gave MSU their third lead change of the night, and they didn't look back since. 

Going on a 12-0 run right before the first half, the closest Indiana got to regaining the lead was cutting the deficit to five with three minutes left in the half. But the outstanding shooting performances from Powers and Jankoska was too much for the Hoosiers to create any momentum during the rest of the contest. 

Karlee McBride was the work horse for Indiana, finishing with a team-high 17-points in 24-minutes of work while shooting 7-of-12 from the floor and 2-of-5 from three-point land. 

The Hoosiers as a whole shot 37 percent from the floor (24-of-64) and 35 percent (11-of-31) from beyond the arc.  

"I thought we did a good job getting some stops," Merchant said. 

After losing by 19-points on New Year's Eve to the Hoosiers in Bloomington, it was certainly a much needed win in order to to pick up serious momentum for the final stretch of conference play. 

The team will receive two full days of rest for the players to regain their strength for next week's schedule, which includes three games and two on the road. 

MSU will hit the road to Columbus on February, 2nd, to face the Ohio State Buckeyes and come back up to East Lansing to host instate rival, Michigan, followed by a trip to Minnesota. 

"I don't know what I did to the league but wow," Merchant said. "It's insane. But we're just going to have to manage it the best we can, stay in the fight and focus because were going to play some really good teams next week."

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