The MSU women’s basketball team reinforced the cliché “it’s not how you start, but how you finish,” Wednesday night at Breslin Center.
Two late scoring surges to close out each half proved to be the difference, as the Spartans (7-1) rallied from eight points down to defeat the Oakland Grizzlies 55-53.
“This was a very defensive basketball game,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “And I’m very proud of our defensive effort. Everybody had to really fight and scratch, and I’m proud our team was able to do that.”
MSU concluded each half with 15-5 scoring runs, with the runs stretching more than seven minutes in the first half and just under six minutes in the second half.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves having to come from behind,” sophomore forward Julie Pagel said. “We didn’t shoot very well tonight so basically it was our defense that won this game.”
The Spartans got double-digits in points from Pagel (12), junior guard Vnemina Reese (12) and freshman forward Joy Johnson (11).
Junior forward Syreeta Bromfield recovered from an off night offensively to pull down a game-high 10 rebounds.
As a team, MSU won the war on the boards with a 27-16 rebounding advantage.
Oakland head coach Beckie Francis said MSU’s early experience in close games made a difference in the game’s final moments.
“They’ve already won some close games, and it shows some good poise and composure down the stretch,” Francis said.
Oakland got a game high 19 points from guard Katie Wolfe and 14 points, including 11 second-half points, from forward Sarah Judd.
But the Spartans shot a mere 32 percent from the field in the contest but utilized stifling defensive pressure to accomplish a major goal of the team - holding their opponent to under 56 points.
During the first six minutes of the second half, Oakland managed to not only erase the Spartans’ four-point half-time lead, but create one of its own.
Behind the hot shooting of forward Sarah Judd - who scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half - and a stingy zone defense, the Grizzlies’ lead grew to as many as eight midway through the second half.
But MSU’s stifling pressure put the Grizzlies in foul trouble and spawned an 8-0 scoring run to tie the game at 48 after two Pagel free throws.
Pagel then drew a charge on Wolfe, sending her to the bench with five fouls with fewer than three minutes remaining and Oakland up 49-48.
Freshman guard Kristin Haynie scored four of MSU’s last seven points in the last two minutes to seal the victory.
The Spartans’ 7-1 record is the third best regular season start in school history and they will take that mark on the road on Dec. 15 when they face Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Dan Woike can be reached at woikedan@msu.edu.
