Freshman guard Porschè Poole scores two points with a lay-up Friday night at Breslin Center. The Spartans beat the Purple Eagles 116-50, setting the MSU record of most points in a game.
One game into the MSU women’s basketball season, the record books already need to be re-written.
The Spartans throttled Niagara 116-50 in their season opener Friday at Breslin Center, breaking MSU’s single-game scoring record by eight and its greatest scoring margin by five.
The previous mark for most points in a single game by MSU was set in 1990, when the Spartans beat Georgetown at home, 108-71.
MSU (1-0 overall) had previously shelled two teams, Northwestern in 2005 and Notre Dame in 1985, by 61 points, the most in school history, before walloping the Purple Eagles (0-1, 0-0 MAAC) by 66 on Friday.
The convincing victory stretches MSU’s streak of season-opening wins to 10 and kickstarts a three-game homestand to start the year.
“Especially in the second half, I thought we were executing our plays pretty well,” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said. “We can’t tell them not to score but we got to play everybody and a lot of people got minutes, so it’s good.”
MSU overpowered the undersized Purple Eagles, who went 8-22 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last year, while tallying more than 100 points for the first time in three years. The Spartans outrebounded Niagara by 28, scored 76 points in the paint and poured in 65 points off the bench to the Purple Eagles’ 21.
Six Spartans scored in double figures, including three off the bench, to lead MSU’s balanced scoring output.
“I think we certainly have a lot more options (this year),” Merchant said when comparing her team to last season’s offensive attack. “I think the biggest thing when you can put the ball in the basket a lot of different ways is that you continue to execute.”
Niagara, which doesn’t have a player taller than 6-foot-1, could only muster 22 points in the first half and shot 27 percent from the field.
The second half offered little reprieve for the Purple Eagles, who scored 28 points and appeared worn out from MSU’s strength inside and relentless fastbreak off turnovers.
MSU was able to dig deep into its bench in the second half, sitting junior center Allyssa DeHaan, junior forward Aisha Jefferson and sophomore forward Kalisha Keane for much of the final 20 minutes.
As a result, reserve center Lauren Aitch led the Spartans with a career-high 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds in 21 minutes.
“Usually, when you go against teams and the bench comes in, there’s always a lull in the game. Well, we don’t have that,” Aitch said. “We have scoring across the line and that’s going to help us out this year.”
Freshman forward Courtney Schiffauer added 21 points and eight rebounds off the bench while Jefferson led all starters with 16 points in her first return to regular season action since 2007 after missing last year with a torn ACL.
With starting point guard Brittney Thomas out for possibly the entire nonconference schedule with a broken hand, the Spartans used Keane and junior shooting guard Mandy Piechowski to initiate the offense with the starters on the floor. The pair combined for 18 points, 12 assists and seven turnovers in 37 minutes.
Merchant said Keane, Piechowski and freshman Porsche Poole will lead the offense by committee until Thomas returns.
“Coach is really just looking to rotate us all in at the point guard,” said Keane, a 6-foot-1 Ontario native who has played power forward before at MSU. “Brittney would be the first option at the point guard because that’s her natural position but it just offers up more depth in the point guard position.”
The Spartans will look to carry over their record-breaking performance at 1 p.m. Sunday against America East Conference foe Stony Brook at Breslin.
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