With the regular season winding down, the No. 9 MSU women's basketball team heads out on the road for three games with the Big Ten Championship in sight.
The Spartans (20-3 overall, 9-2 Big Ten) open up the road trip with a game at Minnesota (18-4, 8-2), a place where the Spartans have had success in recent years.
"Minnesota is a very good team and probably playing their best basketball right now," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "They have some very good outside shooters that complement their strong post game and they are going to be a very good challenge for us."
The Spartans have won their last three games at Williams Arena in Minnesota and have won four of the last five meetings overall.
The Golden Gophers also have won the last four out of five games, finding themselves in the thick of the Big Ten Championship race. They are just a half game behind the Spartans and a full game behind leader Ohio State.
The Spartans are led on offense by junior forward Liz Shimek, who is averaging 14.9 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game. Overall, the Spartans have three players averaging double figures in points with junior guard Lindsay Bowen averaging 14.7 and senior center Kelli Roehrig scoring 14 per game.
"All around, they are a great team and it is going to be a great battle on their floor," Bowen said. "Although, I feel that if we play our game and play as a team, we can do whatever we want and will get the results we are searching for."
The Gophers are led on offense by center Janel McCarville, who is averaging 16.2 points per game and grabbing 10.4 rebounds per game. McCarville also is one of 20 midseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award for player of the year. Bowen is on that list representing MSU.
"We have to make sure we keep her off the boards as much as we can," Shimek said. "We are going to have to focus on team defense and shutting down their outside shooters, too."
The Spartans' win against Illinois on Sunday marked just the second time in MSU history that the team had back-to-back, 20-win seasons. They are on pace to set the single-season record for wins, which currently is 23 by the 1976-77 team.
"It bothers me a little bit, because I think the team feels that they have achieved something and I can tell by practice a little bit," McCallie said. "I want us to be hungry all season and we want to be a blue-collar team and get after other teams. None of the records really mean anything right now."
"What means something is now. Going after the games we have now and that is what we are going to plan on doing."
