MSU has more than just ending a seven-game slide on its mind.
These women are hungry for redemption.
“It’s a pride thing,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “I don’t think anyone anticipated being in this position, but we beat some teams early on that didn’t show what we needed to work on.”
When the MSU women’s basketball team traveled to State College, Pa., two weeks ago, the game was far from pretty.
The Spartans left with tears in their eyes and a 97-49 loss on the board.
Now the No. 16 Nittany Lions (16-6 overall, 8-3 Big Ten) will visit Breslin Student Events Center for a 7 p.m. rematch today.
The team that made MSU (8-13, 2-8) look silly two weeks ago is led by Big Ten scoring leader and guard Kelly Mazzante. Unless the Spartans can contain her, snapping their losing streak will be nearly impossible.
Mazzante, a candidate for Big Ten Freshman of the Year, leads the conference with 19.4 points per game - a number she dwarfed against MSU by scoring 28 points.
Although MSU used to lead the conference in field-goal defense percentage, they’ve now slid to seventh after giving up 237 points in the last three games.
Freshman forward Julie Pagel said if the team is going to improve against Penn State, that number must change.
“That’s a big key for us,” she said. “One of our goals is to strengthen our transition defense, because (Mazzante) killed us in transition. She’s a very solid shooter.”
Offensively, the Spartans have also fallen in the ranks. Scoring only 34 points against Purdue on Jan. 16 and 12 in the first half against Wisconsin on Sunday, they’re now 10th in the conference, with 53.4 ppg.
But more important than worrying about low numbers, Pagel said the team is still working on coming together mentally.
“We know we’re not going to win a Big Ten title, we’re not going to the NCAA Tournament or the WNIT unless we win the Big Ten Tournament,” Pagel said.
“We’ve lost pride right now. We’re going to work together as a team, to play on our type of defense.”
Pagel hopes that defense would stop the Lions from running up the score, as they did last time.
Despite a considerable lead over the Spartans, the Penn State starters played until the final minutes, trying to hit last-minute shots.
“That’s still in our minds,” Pagel said. “But we let them run up the score. I’m not saying they’re not a good team, but we’re not going to let them do that this time.”
Although Penn State is coming off a win, it was only a four-point victory over Big Ten doormat Northwestern - a game MSU sophomore guard Vnemina Reese said shows how unpredictable any conference game can be.
“As long as the team comes prepared to play, anything can happen,” she said.
Disappearing Act
Last week, McCallie said the coaches asked junior forward Kelly Czubak to leave the team. The decision came because the staff felt Czubak wasn’t displaying enough effort in practice.
“Kelly is no longer on the active roster,” McCallie said. “It was a decision brought upon by the coaches in practice.”
McCallie said she, the rest of the coaching staff and the team still have a very positive relationship with Czubak.
Czubak could not be reached for comment.
This season Czubak, played 50 total minutes in seven preseason games, averaging 0.85 points and one rebound per game.
After helping Lansing Catholic Central High win the Class B state title in 1995, Czubak came to MSU in 1998 as a walk-on.
Last year the coaching staff awarded her a full scholarship, which she will keep despite not being an active member of the team, McCallie said.
Next season, Czubak, a child development major, may take an administrative position with the team.
