The MSU women’s basketball team’s offense collapsed during Sunday’s game against Minnesota.
Minnesota guard Emily Fox opened the game with a 3-point basket just seconds in, and she continued to score the team’s next four points before ending the game with 29 points.
Minnesota, (15-6 overall, 6-3 Big Ten) dominated both sides of the court with a 21-6 run to open the game and take a commanding lead.
The Golden Gophers remained on top throughout the game to claim the 81-69 victory. The Spartans (12-10, 4-6) never held the lead, or a tie, the entire 40 minutes.
MSU trailed by 14 points at the half after the Spartan squad came together in the closing minutes of the first for a 10-1 run in an attempt to close in on the lead before the buzzer sounded.
After going 8-for-35 from the field and 1-for-9 beyond the arc in the first half, the Spartans were heavily involved in a game of chase as the buzzer sounded at 38-24 for the first half.
“We got off to a poor start offensively,” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said. “We had good looks, but we just didn’t finish them. (Minnesota) came out of the gates strong. I thought their physical play bothered us in the first half.”
The second half didn’t start any better for the Spartans as they failed to convert on many of the Golden Gophers’ turnovers and allowed them to gain momentum in a 12-6 run.
MSU trailed by as many as 20 points at the 15:30 mark in the second half, but would eventually close the lead to six with a minute remaining.
That was as close as the Spartans would come to a victory before Minnesota pulled away once again.
The Golden Gophers gave the Spartans many opportunities to close in on the lead, committing 23 turnovers while MSU had 16.
“There were some loose balls and defensive rebounds that, had we gotten them in the second half, it was close enough that we were within a couple of possessions to turning things around, that things could have gone our way,” Merchant said.
Sophomore center Allyssa DeHaan was held to four points in the first half and finished with 10 points on the game.
Off the bench, sophomore guard Mandy Piechowski led the Spartans with a career-high 14 points in her 19 minutes on the court.
“Mandy had a great game, she really shot the ball well,” Merchant said. “The last couple of weeks she’s been taking some good shots, they all haven’t fallen, but I felt like she was close.”
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