It wasn't pretty. Far from it.
The No. 16 MSU women's basketball team squared off against Indiana on Sunday in a game that neither team seemed to want to win. The game was marred by poor shooting from the field, an inordinate amount of fouls and turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.
The Spartans and Hoosiers (11-9 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) combined for more first-half turnovers than field goals. They tallied more fouls than assists. Every possession seemed to end with a jump ball, a shot-clock violation or an errant pass sailing out of bounds.
The teams entered halftime with the score tied, 22-22.
By the second half, the two teams had racked up so many fouls that players were dropping like flies. MSU junior guard Victoria Lucas-Perry played with four fouls down the stretch, while freshman forward Aisha Jefferson picked up her fifth foul with 3:02 remaining and had to leave the game. The whistles were even more unkind to the Hoosiers, as four Indiana starters fouled out.
With Indiana's best players confined to the bench, the Spartans finally found their rhythm in the game's last 10 minutes, outscoring the Hoosiers, 32-17. MSU walked away with an ugly 65-59 victory.
"They got inside, and we ended up fouling," Indiana head coach Sharon Versyp said of the Spartans' run to close the game. "That was the big key. We were slapping them rather than just letting them shoot."
Though Indiana's fouling and the resulting MSU free throws were a key, MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said part of the Spartans' late run could also be attributed to the noisy Breslin Center crowd, which acted as a "sixth man" for the Spartans, pushing the team to increase its intensity on the defensive end.
"Breslin is becoming one of the best environments for women's basketball across the country," McCallie said. "It's hard to play here, because that crowd is very, very loud, and we appreciate that."
Senior forward Liz Shimek led the Spartans with 17 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Lindsay Bowen had a rough night from the field, shooting just 2-for-12, but was able to get to the free-throw line 11 times and finished with 15 points. Lucas-Perry chipped in 11 points, and junior guard Rene Haynes contributed 10 points off the bench.
Cyndi Valentin and Jenny DeMuth each notched 24 points for Indiana.
With the win, the Spartans avoided losing their third straight game, and climbed above .500 in the Big Ten. MSU now holds a 15-7 overall record, and a 5-4 conference record.
The Spartans hit the road on Thursday to play Northwestern. The game tips off at 8 p.m. McCallie said the Spartans need to take the same attitude they showed at the end of Sunday's game and use it against the Wildcats.
"We need to get back on the road with more of the mentality we showed in this game, because we haven't exactly been lighting it up, so to speak," McCallie said. "It's back on the road with more purpose, a little bit better focus, and taking the good from this game and trying to go after it on Thursday."
Ethan Conley can be reached at conleyet@msu.edu.
