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Sports | Basketball Women's

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Women's basketball claims South Point Holiday Hoops Classic beating Texas Tech in overtime

The MSU women’s basketball team won’t be returning from Sin City empty-handed. The Spartans claimed the 2012 South Point Holiday Hoops Classic championship in Las Vegas Thursday evening after beating Texas Tech 50-48 in overtime. On Wednesday, the first day of the two-game tournament, MSU (11-1 overall) knocked off Oregon State, 49-35, with a dominating defensive effort. With six minutes left in the game, the Spartans held a 38-31 lead, before Texas Tech (8-2) came storming back and cut the MSU lead to one with less than two minutes to play. Sophomore guard Kiana Johnson, who made her first appearance for MSU this season on Sunday following a nine-game suspension to start the season, came up clutch for the Spartans in the tournament final.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Players suspended for 9 games in 2012-13

MSU women’s basketball head coach Suzy Merchant announced Friday that sophomore guard Kiana Johnson and redshirt freshman forward Akyah Taylor have been suspended for the first nine games of the upcoming season, after NCAA guidelines “related to the receipt of extra benefits” were violated, according to a release by the MSU athletics department. “Both Kiana and Akyah are good student-athletes that made a bad decision this summer,” Merchant said in a statement.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Report: MSU women basketball players suspended

Two MSU women basketball players, Kiana Johnson and Akyah Taylor, are suspended for the first nine games of the upcoming season, according to the Associated Press. MSU officials said NCAA guidelines “related to receipt of extra benefits” were violated. Keep checking statenews.com and future print editions of The State News for more on this developing story.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Column: Seniors united through careers, tournament losses

After answering questions at the podium, Taylor Alton, with tears in her eyes, returned to the locker room and sat next to fellow senior forward Lykendra Johnson. It was the final time the duo would wear their MSU jerseys, and as Alton sat in her chair, emotionally drained from the afternoon, her fellow captain put her arm around her and the two rocked back and forth, talking of their time at MSU.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Spartans smash Northwestern 76-57 on road

The MSU women’s basketball team collected a solid 76-57 victory at Northwestern to improve their NCAA Tournament résumé. Heading into Sunday’s game, head coach Suzy Merchant warned her team that its six wins in the last seven games would be meaningless if MSU didn’t finish the regular season strong.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

MSU women take on Badgers

After struggling with slow starts for much of the season, the MSU women’s basketball team (16-10 overall, 8-5 Big Ten) got off to a hot start on Thursday, before cruising to a 62-46 victory over Wisconsin (8-17, 4-9) on the road.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Women's basketball handed first conference loss by Ohio State

As soon as the Spartans and Buckeyes tipped it off, it was clear the game was going to be a battle of physicality and will, and on the game’s most critical possession it was Ohio State that was able to exert theirs. On Sunday the Ohio State women’s basketball team (17-1 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) held on to beat MSU (12-6, 4-1) 64-56 to hand the Spartans their first Big Ten loss of the season.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Merchant strives to keep players focused

“No rest for the weary — that’s for sure.” That’s how MSU women’s basketball head coach Suzy Merchant led off her weekly press conference this week as the Spartans (11-5 overall, 3-0 Big Ten) try to stay undefeated in conference with back-to-back home games to finish out the week.