Sophomore forward Kalisha Keane, center, tries to shoot through the defense of Indiana guards Jamie Braun, left, and Jori Davis during the game Monday night at Breslin Center.
The MSU women’s basketball team suffered its first conference loss of the season Monday at Breslin Center as Indiana devoured the Spartans on way to a 62-48 blow out.
Entering the game, the match looked to be formidable with the two teams leading the Big Ten in each of the major statistical categories. The Hoosiers, riding a seven game win streak into the game, lead the Big Ten in points, assists and minutes, while the Spartans led in rebounds and blocked shots.
The Spartans got of to a horrendous start, as Indiana jumped out to a 12-3 deficit before calling a timeout to stop the bleeding.
Indiana eventually built a 20-point lead before the end of the first half, going into halftime up 41-23. Neither strength showed early for the home team as it was outrebounded in the first half 25-14 and only recorded one block.
“(My team) had a look in their eye and I knew they were going to come out of the gates strong,” Indiana head coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “I didn’t know how strong the Spartans were going to come out, but I knew we were ready.”
Much of the Hoosiers’ first half success derived from behind the arc, as Indiana scored nearly half of its points from three, shooting 6-for-11 for the half, getting contributions form six different players.
“It was energy and intensity,” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said. “We made one adjustment in the second half, but the biggest thing to me was we didn’t get those plays.”
In the second half, MSU came out with a lot more energy, especially from junior forward Aisha Jefferson, who scored the first nine points for the Spartans out of the half, at one point cutting the lead to only 13 points. Jefferson finished the game with 13 points, with 11 of them coming in the second half.
But MSU wasn’t able to sustain any of its runs, getting only as close as 11 before giving up another series of runs to the Hoosiers, eventually falling 62-48. The Spartans finished the game shooting 30 percent from the field and 10 percent from behind the arc.
“It just comes down to us,” senior guard Mia Johnson said. “Those shots were there, you got to knock them down. I’m in there, that’s our gym. It just comes down to knocking them down, they were wide open.”
Consistency has been a problem for the Spartans all season, but it boiled over into frustration after the game.
“We have had a great couple days of practice and we cannot translate it over to a game,” junior center Allyssa DeHaan said. “It boggles my mind, boggles the coaches mind why we can’t play with the same intensity. We play three hours a day against guys who are more physical who are stronger who are bigger, faster, taller than all of these girls out there. We don’t know. It’s a lack of mental toughness.”
Indiana’s win marks the 100th victory for Legette-Jack as a head coach.
“I love coming back here and for me to reach my 100th victory at this place, I think God had something to do with that,” Legette-Jack said.
She served as an assistant coach for MSU under Joanne P. McCallie from 2000-02 before taking the head job at Hofstra and eventually Indiana.
The Spartans fall to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten and head on the road for the next two games against the best of the conference, league leaders Purdue (8-4, 2-0) on Jan. 1 and Ohio State (10-2, 1-0) on Jan. 4.
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