Spartans confident in Poole's shooting, leadership

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With 25 seconds on the clock and the score tied at 63 against Michigan, head coach Suzy Merchant called timeout and drew up a play with everyone in the arena knowing who would have the ball in her hands.

As the seconds dwindled down, senior guard Porsché Poole made her move, taking a screen from senior forward Lykendra Johnson and rising up and knocking down the game-winning shot with 3.9 seconds remaining.

It was a shot Johnson said all the Spartans knew she would make.

“She’s been phenomenal,” Johnson said. “(She) was huge down the stretch, and we didn’t want the ball in nobody’s hand but hers.”

The MSU women’s basketball team (14-9 overall, 6-4 Big Ten) extended its win streak over U-M (17-7, 6-5) to 11 games with the 65-63 win Sunday.

Merchant and Poole shared a large embrace as soon as the game ended, and Merchant said she was confident Poole would come through in the game’s final moments.

“She’s got a poise about her. … I wasn’t worried about not getting a shot off,” she said. “Maybe (if it was) somebody else I’d (have been) a little more worried about it, but she’s got a way of getting her own shot off, so we took the chance, and obviously it was a big play.”

For Poole, her recent success has been a product of the work she did in the summer, where she estimated she shot thousands of jump shots.

She finished Sunday’s game with 23 points, five assists and a career-high nine rebounds and said her goal is for her team to go undefeated in the month of February.

“I’m proud of my team,” she said. “We didn’t give up; we didn’t get down on each other; we got stops when we needed to, and I hit the shot to win it.”

Sophomore guard Klarissa Bell said playing alongside Poole has given her more confidence and helped her make a smooth transition to the starting lineup.

“(Poole) is an awesome player,” she said. “If we need a score, we know who to go to. She knows how to create her own shot, and I have mad confidence in her. I know it’s going to go in whenever she shoots it.”

Bell of the ball
Bell scored a career-high 13 points and grabbed six rebounds in the victory over Michigan and looked noticeably more comfortable on the floor in her second career start.

Merchant credited Bell’s laid-back demeanor in helping her adjust to her new role and make the most of the opportunity.

“It comes down to players making plays in this game,” she said. “I always tell players, ‘It’s never getting an opportunity. It’s what you do when you get it,’ and I feel like that’s back-to-back games where she’s been consistent.”

After knocking down a 3-pointer on the game’s opening possession, Bell said her confidence began to soar.

“I think it just comes with time,” she said. “The more time you get on the court, the more comfortable you’re going to be, and I think that’s just big for me. We have confidence. We’re scoring, defensively we’re playing good, … (and) I think that all five of us are just starting to click.”

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