A hot Miami (Ohio) squad drained 13 three-point shots en route to an 86-84 win over the MSU women's basketball team in Sunday's championship game of the Spartan Chevrolet Classic.
After a short-lived 6-3 lead, MSU found itself trailing for the remainder of the game. The Spartans were down by as much as 13 points in the first half.
"To put it simple, we dug ourselves a hole. We fought back like crazy and fell a little bit short," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said.
Senior forward Syreeta Bromfield helped keep the Spartans in the game, draining four of six from three-point land while shooting 50 percent from the field to end the first half with 14 points.
With Bromfield's help, MSU entered the locker room at half trailing by just six points.
She finished the game with a team-high 28 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
MSU did not have an answer for RedHawk guard Heather Cusick, who tied the tournament record for points in a single game with 36.
Miami's team played its part as well, shooting a blistering 52 percent from behind the arc.
"After the half we wanted to pick up our defense - keep scrapping, move the ball around," freshman guard Lindsay Bowen said. "We came back but they were the better team today."
Down by 14 with just more than seven minutes remaining, MSU refused to give in, turning a 74-60 deficit into a 76-73 battle capped off by sophomore guard Kristin Haynie, who was fouled on a shot and drained both the jumper and the extra-point from the charity stripe.
Haynie was on fire down the stretch, netting 13 of her team's 16 points in the last four minutes.
MSU had control of the last shot with an out-of-bounds with less than 10 seconds remaining, but Bowen's three-point opportunity came up short and the Spartans fell to 1-1 on the season, while the RedHawks approved to 2-0.
"It was the first half that made the difference," Bromfield said. "They wanted it more. Our goal was to cut the lead to six or four, and we did it near the end, but it was too late."
McCallie remained positive about her team's runner-up finish, and said the Spartans learned a great lesson in the game.
"I thought (we) were amazing though, I thought we fought hard to and always thought we were going to win, right down to the buzzer," McCallie said. "Sometimes early in the season these little hits are the things that make the difference down the stretch."
The Spartans advanced to the championship game with a 82-68 win over Fresno State on Saturday.
Bowen led all scorers with 26 points, followed by Roehrig with 20. Freshman forward Liz Shimek earned her first double-double of the weekend with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Sunday Shimek added another, with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
MSU takes the road for its next game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Toledo.
