Senior forward Katrina Grantham played Sunday's game with a protective face mask after suffering a broken nose when she collided with senior guard Victoria Lucas-Perry in practice Saturday.
"We almost lost two players before this game," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "It was very odd. Victoria and Katrina collided in practice in such a violent fashion and Katrina broke her nose. Man, did they lock up. Just face to face. It was not pretty, and we are so grateful that they could play today."
Both McCallie and Grantham agreed the injury could have been worse.
"We were working on our presses, and they were throwing to the middle. Vic and I were both going for the steal, and it was a head-to-head collision," Grantham said. "It kind of seemed worse than it was because I started gushing blood immediately, but then when I got the X-rays, it was broken in two spots. The swelling and bruising isn't bad at all because it was straight on."
Grantham, whom McCallie said has broken her nose twice before, finished with four points and five rebounds. Grantham said the mask wasn't too bothersome.
"It was a little uncomfortable at first, but once you get use to it, it's not a big deal," she said. "It's open on the sides so you can still see peripherally, which I think is the biggest thing.
"I haven't looked in the mirror with it on because with the reactions I'm getting from people, I'm thinking I wouldn't want to wear it if I saw myself. I just go with it and figure it's a necessity at this point and it's part of the job."
DeHaan responds again
Sunday's game against South Florida offered MSU freshman center Allyssa DeHaan her — literally — biggest challenge of the season — Stephanie Sarosi, the Bulls' 6-foot-5 freshman center.
But Sarosi was ineffective against DeHaan, finishing 2-of-5 from the field for eight points.
DeHaan, meanwhile, contributed 20 points, nine rebounds and tied her own school record with eight blocks.
"We tried to push (DeHaan) out of her comfort zone as much as possible and tried to double her on post-to-post," South Florida head coach Jose Fernandez said. "She just caught and turned and scored. She's got a very bright future."
DeHaan now has 48 points, 19 rebounds and 13 blocks in MSU's last two games.
"She just gets better every day," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "There's nothing better to say about Allyssa. Talk about a character kid. She's focused, she's coachable, she listens and every day in practice she gets a little bit better. … You don't notice (her blocks) all the time because she's so effective."
On all cylinders
The Spartans' 79 points Sunday were their second-most this season. Lucas-Perry led all scorers with 21 points. DeHaan (20), sophomore forward Aisha Jefferson (16) and senior guard Rene Haynes (14) also hit double digits — the second time this season MSU had four players score 10 points or more.
The Spartans handed out 24 assists in the win compared to 16 turnovers — their best assist-to-turnover ratio of the season.
"I thought it was two good basketball teams going at it," McCallie said. "I thought both basketball teams were pretty aggressive in doing so. I love these assist totals. That's something we've really got to build off of. That's probably why we scored so many points. We were able to find each other offensively."
MSU resumes play Saturday when it hosts Hartford.
