This season, the No. 25 MSU women's basketball team has made a name for itself with its defense.
After putting on arguably their best defensive effort in a game against Ohio State last week, the Spartans (13-3 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) bettered the effort against Michigan in a 67-33 win Sunday.
"It might have looked like it was easy, because the score got wide, but I don't think it's ever easy," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "It was a lot of hard work, focus and intensity on the part of our team."
The intangibles helped the Spartans to hold U-M (9-9, 2-3) to a 17-minute stretch without a field goal. The drought spanned from 3:35 left in the first half all the way to 6:35 left in the second half.
During that time, the Wolverines scored only three points, all free throws from center Jenny Smith.
"I kept looking up at that score and it said 22 forever," sophomore guard Lindsay Bowen said. "I was like, man, we're playing some good (defense)."
One of the keys to the game was to shut down Smith, the Wolverines leading scorer. MSU did just that, holding her to seven points and seven rebounds.
Smith came into the game averaging 22.1 points per game, but couldn't get going as the Spartans' matchup zone limited her touches.
"We double-teamed her very well," junior center Kelli Roehrig said. "(Smith) is a very good player, but Liz (Shimek), Julie (Pagel) and I, we knew what we had to do to stop her."
U-M shot just 22 percent from the field as a team, and had only one player score in double figures, forward Tabitha Pool, who had 10 points.
"They did a great job of taking away what had been our strengths," U-M head coach Cheryl Burnett said. "They understood what players and things they needed to take away from us."
The Spartans dominated every aspect of the game. They had more assists, less turnovers and held a 12-board advantage.
Pagel, a senior forward, set the tone off the bench, slamming into the scorer's table, hustling down offensive rebounds and playing tough defense.
"The work ethic of this team is really extraordinary," McCallie said. "We just play for the moment and I think Julie really embodies that as a senior and it trickles down from there."
The 33 total points was the lowest by an MSU opponent since Calvin College was held to 33 in 1979.
"I heard there was going to be a lot of people here and I guess it was true," Bowen said. "Our fans give us so much energy, they get into it and that gets us more into it, they're great."
MSU now hits the road for three Big Ten games. The Spartans play at Northwestern, No. 6 Minnesota and Illinois before returning to Breslin Center Feb. 1 against Iowa.
