Sophomore forward Kalisha Keane passes the ball while Stony Brook guard Misha Horsey attempts to block her during the second half of Sunday’s game at Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Seawolves 73-42.
The final score of Sunday’s 73-42 victory over Stony Brook meant very little to women’s basketball head coach Suzy Merchant.
The Spartans were tired, passive and careless in MSU’s second game of the season, Merchant said, even though the scoreboard displayed a 31-point MSU win.
“What bothered me the most was I felt like we had a pretty uninspired effort compared to what we have been doing,” Merchant said. “We practiced that way the day before and I felt like it carried over on the court. To me, improving every day is having mental toughness and we didn’t have it.”
The Spartans struggled with a stingy Stony Brook zone defense but used a balanced scoring attack to post 73 points against the Seawolves at Breslin Center.
The zone defense cooled an MSU offense that broke school records for points scored and victory margin Friday when the Spartans walloped Niagara, 116-50. Stony Brook, located in New York, finished last in the America East Conference last season and had never played a Big Ten team before Sunday afternoon.
MSU (2-0 overall) committed 24 turnovers and didn’t attack the zone off the dribble, causing consternation for Merchant.
“Our goal is 14 turnovers and we’ve had back-to-back games with 23 and 24 turnovers,” she said, adding many turnovers came from forwards and centers.
“It’s poor decision making, lack of focus and we’ve been practicing that way at times and we’ve got to get pretty serious about that. You can’t give it back to teams 24 times and think you’re going to win ball games.”
Junior forward Aisha Jefferson led MSU with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 21 minutes. Six Spartans scored nine points or more as MSU shot 44 percent from the field.
MSU held Stony Brook (0-2) to 28 percent shooting with strong man-to-man defense and kept the Seawolves off the glass, outrebounding them 54-33.
After subduing the Seawolves for the first 25 minutes of the game, limiting them to 17 points while forcing 17 turnovers, Stony Brook scored 25 points in the final 15 minutes.
The Seawolves never led and could only pull within 17 points in the second half as MSU ran away with the victory.
“It was a big win, but not a win we’re proud of because of the number of turnovers we had,” sophomore forward Cetera Washington said. “They were a really feisty team. I thought that our offense was a little timid as far as putting the ball on the ground. We have to play inside-out because we have the size.”
Washington and Jefferson said there was noticeable fatigue from players after Friday’s game, in which the starters sat for most of the second half.
“We can’t come out there a little winded two or three minutes into the game,” Jefferson said. “I think as the season goes along, we’re going to realize how important (conditioning) is and it will get a lot better.”
Senior guard Mia Johnson returned to action after missing a week and a half following minor knee surgery, going scoreless in 12 minutes.
“I was only out a week and three days,” said Johnson, MSU’s only senior. “If you miss out a week, it’s not bad at all. I feel kind of good.”
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