Despite losing the team's leading scorer to graduation, the MSU women's basketball team has a bright future.
Sunday's 50-47 loss to Texas Christian in the first round of the Women's NCAA Tournament brought the season to an abrupt end.
The Spartans compiled a 17-12 overall record this season - head coach Joanne P. McCallie's most successful while at MSU - and earned a berth in the Big Dance for the first time since 1997.
"I think it's been fun and it was a great experience to have," freshman guard Lindsay Bowen said of the tournament. "Now we know what it's like. In the years to come hopefully we can get back here."
Many other Spartans made individual strides this season as well. After shooting 56.4 percent from the field during her freshman campaign, sophomore center Kelli Roehrig bettered her average by about 2 percent this year to 58.2 percent - third-highest in the Big Ten.
Bowen and forward Liz Shimek were honored with the conference's first co-Freshman of the Year award. The team's top scorer, senior forward Syreeta Bromfield, Roehrig and sophomore guard Kristin Haynie found spots on all-Big Ten squads.
Record wise, the Spartans were much improved compared to last year's group, turning in a 10-6 Big Ten record, which was tied for fourth-place. Last season, they finished a 6-10.
Statistically, the team's 3-point average jumped from 30 percent last year to nearly 40 percent this season, and MSU improved its free-throw efficiency by nearly 10 percent, canning 78 percent of its attempts.
And perhaps the accolade most worthy of applause - the team got it all done with a six-player rotation.
Injuries were mostly responsible for the scarcity of bodies.
Senior forward Maria Recker suffered a career-ending shoulder injury in the offseason, then highly lauded freshman guard Patrice McKinney was redshirted after tearing an ACL shortly before the first game of the season. Junior guard Candice Jackson soon followed suit, tearing an ACL during the team's third game. And transfer forward Caroline Nixon was ruled ineligible by the NCAA on Dec. 3, leaving McCallie to shape a squad with no room for error.
The six players averaged 31 minutes per game, but the Spartans still were able to down top opponents like then-No. 7 Purdue, then-No. 10 Minnesota and then-No. 22 Ohio State.
"To reflect, I couldn't be more proud, it's been an incredible year," McCallie said. "I don't know a team like this group, that has played with six people all year and has accomplished what they've done. These kids have played more minutes than any other team in the country and the fact they play the way they do is pretty incredible."
And if the Spartans could earn a NCAA bid with six people, then next year could be even better with a full roster. MSU signed four talented freshmen for its 2003-04 roster, including centers Myisha Bannister and Katrina Grantham, forward Lorenda Haynes and guard Victoria Lucas-Perry.
McCallie said the newcomers would add to an already gifted nucleus of athletes.
Finding a go-to player might be the biggest challenge. Bromfield was the team's leader on and off the court, and closed out her final season as the team's leading scorer with 14.7 points per contest. She also held the squad's second-highest rebounding average with 6.6 per game.
Shimek said she and the other players already are preparing to take on bigger roles next season.
"(Playing in the NCAA tournament) was exciting and a great experience," Shimek said. "We have to learn from it, and take the experience and build on it for next year, it was a great opportunity."
