Austin, Texas - The No. 23 MSU women's basketball team won its first NCAA Tournament game since 1997 and only its third in the history of the program.
The No. 8-seeded Spartans (22-8) defeated No. 9 seed Arizona 72-60 in the first round of the West Regional at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
"It was a very physical game and a very exciting game," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "It had a lot of twists and turns in it, and it was a lot of fun."
The Spartans' relentless rebounding was the difference as they outrebounded Arizona (24-9) by 10 boards in the game and were a plus-four on the offensive side.
Sophomore forward Liz Shimek, junior guard Kristin Haynie and freshman forward Katrina Grantham led the charge. Shimek led everyone with 13 rebounds, while Haynie and Grantham had six each.
Grantham's contributions were a surprise but not to her coaches and teammates.
"Eight minutes and six rebounds - that's almost a rebound a minute," Shimek said. "She's been working really hard, and she just came in and went after the ball."
The Spartans got off to a good start, hitting six of their first eight shots, to take an early 15-8 lead. MSU used the shooting and key six offensive rebounds to hold a 33-27 edge at halftime.
"We came out ready and focused," sophomore guard Lindsay Bowen said. "We controlled the tempo, hit the open player and just really played well together."
MSU was aggressive and got Arizona's biggest player, 6-foot-5 center Shawntinice Polk, in early foul trouble. Polk picked up her first foul in the first 30 seconds of the game and her second foul with 15:52 remaining in the first half. Polk returned to the game a little more than three minutes later and played the rest of the game picking up only one more foul.
A first team All-Pacific-10 honoree, Polk finished the game with a game-high 23 points.
"It was good to attack her," McCallie said. "She played very well for her; we just couldn't get the fourth foul on her."
The Spartans were led in scoring, again, by Bowen, who scored 18 points, with 10 of those coming in the first half. Shimek, Haynie, junior center Kelli Roehrig and freshman guard Rene Haynes joined Bowen in double figures with 16, 12, 10 and 10, respectively.
The balance, which had been there for MSU all season long, showed up again and McCallie couldn't have been happier.
"I liked our balance, with five players in double figures," McCallie said. "We had a good team attack all game long."
MSU withstood numerous runs by Arizona in the second half, but the Wildcats never got closer than three points. Haynie had two steals at the end of the game to seal the win for the Spartans.
"March is a time to let a team go," McCallie said. "I'm just glad they were able to seize the moment."
The Spartans now move on to play the No. 1 seed Texas in the second round at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2. The Longhorns (29-4) beat No. 16 seed Southern University 92-57 earlier on Sunday to advance.
