Champaign, Ill. - The No. 18 MSU women's basketball team kept rolling along, collecting their sixth win in a row, over Illinois on Thursday.
The Spartans (16-3 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) and Fighting Illini (7-12, 1-7) had an all out war, with the Spartans winning 58-56.
"It was a very physical game," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "(Illinois) gave us a lot of problems today and we were fortunate to get a five point buffer at the end of the game."
Illinois outrebounded the Spartans 39-25. It was the first time MSU had been outrebounded since Dec. 19 in a win at UCLA.
McCallie said she was not surprised at Illinois' tough play on the boards, and neither were her players.
"It was very challenging to us underneath, getting rebounds," sophomore forward Liz Shimek said. "It was a Big Ten game and we needed to play a little tougher."
Illini senior Cindy Dallas, second in rebounding in the conference, averaging 9.6 rebounds per game, pulled down a game high 15 boards while scoring 12 points. Every time there was a ball up for grabs, Dallas was in the mix.
"I think (Dallas) is a one woman boarding machine," McCallie said. "She's amazing."
For the third straight game MSU trailed at the half, only to gather themselves for another comeback win. The Spartans had previously been 0-2 in games they were trailing at the half.
MSU also added to its powerful road record which now stands at 8-2 on the season. Half of those road wins have now come in conference play, as MSU is 4-1.
"This is the third road game for us in a row," McCallie said. "We had an overtime win at Northwestern, a three point win at Minnesota and a two point win here.
"We've been challenged at every turn and I think it's a real credit to our team to fight hard, execute down the stretch and win these games. And if you ask me about Penn State, I'll tell you we should have had that game too."
The Spartans got off to another slow start, as they found themselves down 7-0 to start. They then trailed 25-13 before ending the half on a 13-2 run.
MSU came back and had a 58-56 lead with senior forward Julie Pagel having a chance to close out the game at the foul line with 9 seconds left. Pagel missed two free throws, though, allowing the Illini one last shot.
At the timeout, McCallie switched to man-to-man defense to confuse the Illini and force them to take a bad shot.
"Down the stretch we just buckle down and play defense and I think we did that tonight," Bowen said.
The Spartans return home for three straight games, beginning this Sunday against Iowa at Breslin Center.
