Junior forward Aisha Jefferson shoots the ball while Saginaw Valley State guard Tricia Everett attempts to defend her during the second half of Thursday’s exhibition game at Breslin Center. The Spartans play their second exhibition game Sunday against Grand Valley State.
After Thursday’s 97-32 drubbing at the hands of the MSU women’s basketball team, Saginaw Valley State’s athletic trainer had better have some extra ice packs prepared for the night’s ride home.
A bruising Spartans women’s squad manhandled the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals in their first of two exhibition games — pouring in more than 50 points in the paint and doubling the Cardinals’ rebound total, 54-27.
The Spartans balanced their power with a speedy transition game, scoring 16 fast break points, most of which came off Cardinals turnovers. MSU converted 29 Saginaw Valley State turnovers into 41 points with 11 blocks and 18 steals.
“We’re athletic and big, and we’re not big and slow,” head coach Suzy Merchant said. “I think you can see our athleticism and our work ethic and our effort is there.”
Redshirt freshman Lykendra Johnson paced MSU with 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting. Johnson, a 6-foot-1 forward from Illinois, missed the 2007-08 season because of academic issues but looked like a seasoned veteran with strong driving abilities and a knack for finishing around the rim.
“I’m still trying to get back in my full swing — I’m not where I need to be,” said Johnson, who moved from power forward to the small forward spot due to injuries. “This is only the beginning.”
Junior forward Aisha Jefferson started for the Spartans in her return, since a torn ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, in an exhibition game last year ended her season before it started.
Jefferson, wearing a knee brace that looked like a contraption out of a “Saw” movie, took a few spills on the offensive end but added 11 points in 19 minutes.
She found the score book in the game’s first minute, catching a cross-court fast break pass from junior guard Mandy Piechowski under the basket and laying it up with a defender on her back.
“I think anytime you take a year off, it takes some time to get back into it,” Merchant said. “It’s just nice to see the cobwebs get off of her a little bit.”
Freshman Courtney Schiffauer, a scrappy 6-foot-1 forward from Ohio, had an impressive debut with 14 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes.
“Coach Merchant said she wants a lot of blue-collar players on her team and I don’t think anyone is afraid to go in and hit somebody down there and get a rebound,” Schiffauer said.
Freshman guard Porschè Poole added nine points and three assists.
With the score secure from the start — Saginaw Valley State never led and MSU ripped off 50 points in the first half alone — Merchant was able to rest her two highest-scoring returning starters.
Junior center Allyssa DeHaan — who averaged 14 points and seven rebounds last season — played 19 minutes while imposing her physical presence with six blocks.
Sophomore forward Kalisha Keane, who broke MSU’s freshman scoring record last season, needed only 22 minutes to get her nine points.
A suffocating Spartans defense held the Cardinals to 23 percent shooting, while allowing one 3-pointer the entire game.
MSU was without starting sophomore guard Brittney Thomas, who suffered a broken hand this week and is expected to miss four to six weeks.
The Spartans’ second and final exhibition game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at home against Grand Valley State.
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