The No. 9 MSU women's basketball team used an early second-half burst to take over the game against Wisconsin and held off a late charge by the Badgers to get their seventh straight home win, 74-66.
The Spartans (14-2 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) have had the best start to a season in MSU history.
The Spartans led by as many as 26 in the second half behind a strong game from junior forward Liz Shimek, who led all players with 22 points.
"Liz did what Liz does," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "There is no limit to what Liz can do. She is a very talented and hard-working player. A rare combination of both."
The Spartans were up by 15 in the first half before they saw their lead dwindle away as the Badgers (6-8, 1-4) came back to tie the game. Junior guard Lindsay Bowen sent the Spartans into halftime with a three-point lead as she knocked down a 3-pointer with nine seconds left to play in the half.
"We were playing awesome at times," Shimek said. "We were not consistent, though, and it showed. We need to get everything out of every player for the entire game, and there were some points of the game when that didn't happen."
The first 12 minutes of the second half were dominated by the Spartans, but they seemed to go back to sleep at that point and let the Badgers walk back into the game.
The Badgers ended the game on a 22-4 run, but it wasn't enough as they were only able to get as close as the final margin of eight points.
"Our team got down and they didn't quit all game," Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. "The effort was there all game. We just came up a little short against a very good basketball team tonight."
The Spartans bench was outscored again, 24-12, and turned the ball over 13 times, which did not impress McCallie.
"We only turned the ball over 13 times, but they were some of the worst turnovers I have ever seen," she said. "We gift-wrapped them and basically handed them to the other team. We were beating ourselves with the turnovers."
McCallie said she isn't sure what it says about her team that they can come out and play for only part of the game and still win, but she hopes that this inspires them to go and become a "great team."
The Spartans got a little bit of a spark off the bench from sophomore guard Rene Haynes who had 11 points.
"I loved seeing Rene slow down when she got the ball," McCallie said. "She slowed down all aspects of her game and if she continues to change her speed during the game, she will be absolutely ridiculous for somebody to guard."
The Spartans outrebounded the Badgers, 36-30. MSU also had 11 steals and 19 assists, but according to McCallie, the team is going to have to play a more consistent game.
"I saw some great stuff out there tonight," McCallie said. "We went up by 20 points before you could blink, but a championship mentality is to pour it on and we didn't do that consistently tonight."
Chris Barsotti can be reached at barsott1@msu.edu.
