After the MSU women’s basketball team saw its 14-0 first-half lead dwindle to a 33-point tie against the University of Detroit Mercy at halftime, the Spartans managed to muster up shooting and defense to win in the final minutes Thursday night, 76-63.
Senior forward Becky Cummings led MSU in a history-making performance with a career-high 25 points and 12 rebounds, en route to her 19th double-double.
Cummings also became the fifth player in Spartan history to record 1,000 points and 600 career rebounds.
“I have great teammates,” she said. “They’re boxing out their players, and that makes it easy for me. The stats reflect a team game.”
Cummings helped take MSU to its 14-0 lead in the first five minutes with eight quick points. The Titans scored their first points of the game when forward Molly Peterman hit a jumper with 14:31 left in the half.
The Spartans (3-2) now lead the series history over the Titans (2-2) by a game, 8-7.
MSU continued to dominate in the first half with a full-court press defense. Solid shooting and an aggressive inside punch from Cummings and senior center Erin Skelly gave the Spartans a comfortable 22-9 lead with 10:00 remaining in the first half.
“We didn’t have our best shooting night, but I think we definitely did some good things,” MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We’re not playing 40 minutes yet. We need to have consistency of efforts - then you have to add smarts.”
The Titans, who shot 16 percent in the first 10 minutes, began hitting shots, led by guard Shari Hill’s 20 points and Peterman, who added 19.
“After we got our first basket, we got over our nerves and I knew we’d come back,” said Detroit head coach Anne Rexford. “We started penetrating and looking to Molly more. Once we made those first baskets we were on our way.”
Plagued by fouls, MSU sent Detroit to the line, where the Spartans scored 14 first-half points. After matching MSU’s pressing defense moves, the Titans began closing the gap.
Detroit guard Michelle James sank a last-second shot at the first-half buzzer to tie the score at 33.
But Cummings kept the Spartans alive, with a team-high eight points in the second half.
The Spartans took an early second-half lead with a three-pointer by sophomore forward Maria Recker to make the score, 36-33.
After various lead changes throughout most of the second half, MSU claimed the lead for good with 6:37 remaining, after a layup by senior forward Donita Johnson, to make it 54-53.
Senior center Erin Skelly finished matching her career best with 18 points.
“I’m trying to be a leader, to get people excited and get the crowd going,” she said. “I’m feeling a lot more freedom in what I can do on offense.”
Krista Latham can be reached at lathamkr@msu.edu.
