Bloomington, Ind. - Another close game on the road turned into another win for the No. 22 MSU women's basketball team.
The Spartans (20-7 overall, 10-6 Big Ten) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 60-51 overtime win on Sunday at Indiana. The win makes MSU two-for-two in overtime games this season.
"We knew this one was going to be a battle," junior guard Kristin Haynie said. "It just came down to who wanted it more and I believe we did."
The Spartans dominated the extra session. While only making two baskets of their own, the Spartans held the Hoosiers (11-16, 4-12) scoreless, while stringing together a nine-point run of their own.
Sophomore forward Liz Shimek hit a 3-point field goal with 3:19 left in overtime to give the Spartans the lead for good. She ended the game with eight points and 10 rebounds, including eight after halftime.
"I definitely think we were more excited in overtime than they were," sophomore guard Lindsay Bowen said. "We'd been through overtime before and we knew we just needed to buckle down on defense to win."
MSU left Indiana off the hook, allowing the Hoosiers to tie the game as time expired.
Freshman guard Rene Haynes fouled Indiana's Jenny DeMuth on a 3-point shot with 1:26 left. DeMuth made only two of three.
The Spartans went up three on a putback by junior center Kelli Roehrig, but Indiana guard Cyndi Valentin let a 3-pointer fly with one second left. The shot was nothing but net, sending the game into overtime.
"It was a great shot and she's a very good player," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "I was very happy when we went to overtime, from the standpoint that I did not want to win this game on relief.
"We wanted to just take the game on our own."
The Spartans were led by Roehrig and Bowen. Roehrig had 14 points and 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. She scored four of her 14 in overtime to lead MSU in the extra session.
Bowen, who had scored only eight, three and six points in her three previous games, broke out of a slump with team-high 19 points.
"Lindsay attacked more today," McCallie said. "She got going early and that set the tone for her the rest of the game."
MSU outshot the Hoosiers 63-36 for the game, due in large part to the 21 offensive rebounds it collected. The Spartans also outrebounded Indiana 41-26 for the game, giving the home team only six second chances.
After losing three in a row, the focus went back to defense and rebounding. The Spartans cleaned up, holding yet another opponent under 56 points and outrebounding them by a significant number.
A big reason for only giving up 51 points was aggressive defense, which created 24 turnovers and left the Hoosiers out of sync all game long.
"We haven't been as tough as we've needed to be defensively the last three games," McCallie said. "The team really played well together and put ball pressure on Indiana and that was very important."
The win was MSU's 20th of the season, 10th road win of the season and a record sixth Big Ten road win. It also was McCallie's first 20-win season at MSU.
With the win, the Spartans head to the Big Ten tournament on Friday as the No. 5 seed and will face the Iowa Hawkeyes.
