Poole steps up vocally, on court

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She stood with her teammates at the center court of Breslin Center after a game 56 other times, but this time, Porsché Poole couldn’t contain her emotions.

As her eyes turned red and tears streamed down her face, the MSU women’s basketball team (13-9 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) suffered its fourth straight loss on Thursday to Illinois (7-15, 1-8).

Poole scored a then-career-high 28 points in the game, but said afterward the only emotion she felt was pain.

“It hurt. It hurt a lot,” she said of the loss. “I feel like 28 points wasn’t enough.”

Poole’s emotions were likely brighter Tuesday afternoon, as it was announced she had been named Big Ten Player of the Week after helping MSU snap its losing streak while setting a new career-high with 32 points and matching career-highs in rebounds and assists with six apiece in a win over No. 18 Penn State (16-5, 6-3) on Sunday.

Her 60 combined points are the most scored in a two-game span in program history, but it’s the growth she’s made off the court that’s allowed her to take her game to the next level.

Helping her coach
Although she was battling her own emotions in the moments following Thursday’s loss, Poole said she noticed head coach Suzy Merchant was even more distraught than she was, leading her to search for her coach and finding her standing in a far-off corner of Breslin Center by herself.

“I knew she was upset,” Poole said. “I knew she was back there for a reason, and me being a senior, me being the person I am, I wanted to make sure she was OK.”

The two spoke about changes the team needed to make to improve on its slow starts and came up with a new starting lineup.

“I was just sitting there by myself, trying to figure out what we could do (to get back on track),” Merchant said. “I don’t know how she found me, but she found me, and we talked for 25 minutes and had a good talk.”

Before she tracked down Merchant, Poole called out her teammates for not playing up to their abilities and demanded they take greater accountability.

“People got to step back and look at themselves and see what they’re bringing to this team,” she said. “People (have) got to be real with themselves.”

The strong talk is the type of leadership Merchant said she’s been trying to get out of her naturally soft-spoken guard the past four years.

“We’ve had a few meeting of the minds — probably more with her than any player, mostly because she has so much talent,” Merchant said. “Sometimes kids don’t realize their value off the court and what kind of abilities they have to unite a team. That’s always been my challenge with her — be a better teammate and do more for your teammates, and I think she’s … taken that to heart and … our team has responded to her.”

Forward Lykendra Johnson said she and her fellow senior know now is the time to leave their mark.

“We talk to each other all the time, and we basically said, ‘This is it,’” Johnson said. “We can’t leave here with regrets, and so we’re leaving everything out on the floor.”

Sunday, Poole said the difference between her new career-high, and the one she set three days earlier was obvious.

“I’m smiling,” she said. “You never want to feel like you didn’t do enough, (and) I hate losing, (so) to score my career-high with a win — it feels great.”

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