As you were filling your belly with grandma's stuffing and watching football last week, the MSU women's basketball team slayed nationally ranked Notre Dame, handed a loss to Eastern Michigan and started running suicide drills and practicing free throws to prepare for the next three weeks of road games.
The Spartans toppled then-No. 17 Notre Dame at home on Wednesday night, 92-63, with sophomore guard Lindsay Bowen and junior guard Kristin Haynie combining for 49 points against the Fighting Irish. The 29-point conquest over Notre Dame was the greatest margin of defeat for the Irish in a regular season game in 10 years.
After downing the Irish, MSU hosted Eastern Michigan to conclude the weekend and came out with a 79-62 win.
MSU's next challenge lies outside of Spartan country.
The Spartans face their first away series of the year with five straight road games. The road trip begins tonight at Oklahoma State and concludes on Dec. 19th against UCLA. MSU also faces Kent State, Toledo and Pepperdine within the three-week stretch.
Posting an early 4-0 start to the season has given MSU a No. 24 ranking in the latest Associated Press women's college basketball top 25 poll. The national ranking is the first time the Spartans have been aboard the top 25 since the 1996-97 season when they were ranked No. 21 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and No. 24 by the AP in the final poll of season.
Kent State, Toledo, Pepperdine and UCLA did not make the top 25, but UCLA received four votes.
Coach Joanne P. McCallie said this is the perfect time of year to test her team with a grueling schedule and boost the team's confidence with road wins.
"We're getting better game by game and I think everything we do is about us - our team - and how we need to get better as a team," McCallie said. "We'll be challenged every game out. Our schedule is very, very challenging, and I don't see a difference between any of the games - they're just all hard."
Last year, the Spartans were 6-6 on the road and 10-4 at home. MSU has never faced Pepperdine, and is 0-5 combined on the road against Oklahoma State, UCLA, Toledo and Kent State.
Haynie said going into any game on the road is difficult, but the momentum crowds on the road bring often inspires her to play harder.
"It feels good going into someone else's house and beating them, especially if they have a good crowd," Haynie said. "It motivates you to take the crowd out of the game when we play away. Just to go and play our hardest like we play at home - it shouldn't matter if we're home or away."
Sophomore forward/guard Liz Shimek said after winning the Spartan Classic tournament, the challenge of being victorious on the road seems within the team's grasp.
"Just having a game two days in a row is tiring and it takes the team to help you get through it," Shimek said. "I think with every game we're going to get closer and closer.
"If you take any team for granted, you'll get hurt."
McCallie said her team is eager to sweat out the road challenge and face the fierce competition that awaits them.
"Every team is beatable on any given night - without question," McCallie said. "We've beaten a lot of very good teams, and we just need to keep getting better.
"We've got work to do, and we respect teams, but we don't fear anybody."
Along with the challenging basketball schedule, players are learning how to balance a challenging life schedule as well. With exams and the semester break approaching, a road series poses the difficulty of studying on long flights and being away from family during the holidays. Junior center Kelli Roehrig hails from Papillion, Neb. and said she has advice for the rookies to cope with time spent away from family during the holiday season.
"It's always tough, but my advice to them would be to seek the rest of your teammates -
