MSU women's basketball put a final stamp on its exhibition season Sunday with a convincing 77-48 win over the Basketball Travelers Inc. at Breslin Center.
Even with the victory, MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said her team is hungry and excited to perform better.
"We know that we can play better and we're excited to work hard to get to that point," McCallie said. "I definitely think we worked hard and I love the offensive scoring balance we showed with different people contributing."
The Travelers are composed of players from the Dominican Republic and, prior to the Spartans, had faced five Big Ten teams this season, and lost every game.
BTI opened the game with a long three from Andreina Paniagua, and for the first four minutes the teams traded baskets.
Two free throws with 14:41 left in the first half from freshman forward Liz Shimek were the turning point of the game. Shimek netted both from the line to put MSU ahead for the first time, a lead the Spartans would not relinquish.
MSU went on a 20-8 run to finish the first half, punctuated by sophomore guard Kristin Haynie, who stole the ball and drove in for two just before time expired.
Freshman guard Lindsay Bowen said the team was unsatisfied with its defensive effort in the first half, though the Spartans entered the locker room with a 42-25 lead.
"We started out really slow, we weren't focused and we didn't come out ready to play at all," Bowen said. "We went in at halftime and said we were going to pick it up, and we came out there and picked it up a lot."
In the second half the Spartans held the Travelers to 29 percent shooting from the field and tacked four more steals to the first-half total of six.
The Spartans dominated the big game as well, holding a 52-29 rebound advantage over the Travelers and converting 23 second-chance points to the Travelers' eight.
Teresa Duran was the high-scorer for the Travelers with 20 points. She was the only member to break into double digits.
On the other hand, five of the eight Spartan cagers finished with double-digit scoring, led by junior guard Candice Jackson and senior forward Syreeta Bromfield, who each had 15. Shimek had 14 points and 12 boards, while Bowen and Haynie had 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Bowen said that while the exhibition games have been great preparation, she's itching for the "big" matchups.
"I'm waiting for the big tournaments and regular season games," she said. "Every team's going to be good and we're going to have to come out and really focus on coming out hard."
MSU kicks off its regular season play when it hosts the Spartan Chevrolet Classic this weekend at Breslin Center. The Spartans face Fresno State at 2 p.m. Saturday and the winner of the Valparaiso-Miami (Ohio) matchup at 2 p.m. Sunday.
