With the entire regular season ahead and big expectations coming off last year's Final Four appearance, the MSU women's basketball team started the 2005-06 season fresh at the annual Green-White Game Thursday.
"It's preseason — we have a long, long way to go," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "We're trying to get stronger, we're trying to get quicker, we're trying to get deeper and there's so many things that we're working on. I see great potential and great talent."
In order to maximize individual talent and find the best fits, McCallie switched up the teams after each quarter, moving players around to get a feel for who plays well with whom. The game consisted of four 10-minute quarters and the score was reset after each quarter to compensate for the switches.
After a lopsided first quarter win by the white team, McCallie's lineup shuffles proved to be accurate as the remaining quarters were played evenly.
"We're trying to work a lot of different combinations and it will be a great film for us, a great teaching film," McCallie said. "(The film) will give some really important feedback to each individual player."
Senior guard Lindsay Bowen and senior forward Liz Shimek played all 40 minutes of the regulation period on the white team. The two combined for 42 points and called a majority of the plays, helping control the tempo for the younger players.
"We're just really working hard right now," Shimek said. "(We're) working as a team, working reading each other and just learning how to play Michigan State basketball, especially defensively.
"Today was just about getting up and down the court and learning how everybody on the team plays."
A player that Spartan hoops fans saw for one of the first times was freshman guard Tiffanie Shives.
Shives, a Lansing native, was a 2005 McDonald's All-American selection while at Lansing Christian High School. She is the first McDonald's All-American to play women's basketball at MSU.
"This was our first game so it was kind of sloppy," Shives said. "We've got a lot to improve on but it was a good start and we've just got to keep our intensity up."
The team return to preseason action on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
