Junior guard Brittney Thomas puts up a shot in the paint. Thomas had 10 points and two assists in the Spartans’ 65-62 loss to Ohio State Saturday afternoon at Breslin Center.
Much like the previous three games the MSU women’s basketball team played against top-10 opponents, Saturday’s tilt with No. 6 Ohio State came down to the wire.
But while the Spartans experienced success in those prior games, a lack of offense when the team needed it the most doomed the Spartans, who recorded just two field goals in the final eight minutes in a 65-62 loss to the Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon at Breslin Center.
“The ball wasn’t dropping for us,” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said. “I thought we did a nice job at points, but I definitely think we were struggling to score a little bit. … It was a hard-fought game. I thought it could’ve gone either way. Down the stretch they were able to get some foul calls and make their free throws, which is good teams do.”
The numbers did not bode well for the Spartans in the second half – 8-of-30 from the field (26.7 percent), including 0-of-8 from 3-point range.
“I don’t think they out-scrapped us or anything or out-hustled us,” sophomore forward Lykendra Johnson said. “I just think they made some shots, some crucial shots at the end. We had some good looks at the end and they just came out with the ‘W.’”
Those good looks came in the final minute.
MSU called timeout down 65-62 with 31 seconds left. The Spartans inbounded and it looked like they were setting up for the tie instead of a quick two and a foul. Junior forward Kalisha Keane badly missed a triple try, but the Spartans caught a break when Buckeyes center Jantel Lavender was whistled for traveling in a scramble for the rebound.
“That wasn’t a good shot, to be honest with you,” Merchant said. “It was not the shot we were looking for. We didn’t have to have a three. With the play we were running, we really could’ve gotten anything at that point. It wasn’t maybe the best opportunity we were looking for, that’s for sure.”
But the Spartans could not make the most of their second chance as senior center Allyssa DeHaan followed with a missed a 3-pointer. The rebound went to junior guard Brittney Thomas, but she turned around and took a shot from inside the 3-point line which was blocked, ending the game.
“I saw the clock out of the corner of my eye and I know we needed a three, but for some reason I felt like I wasn’t going to get out there and get it off in time,” Thomas said. “So I thought I’d tried to get an and-one if anything. A shot is better than no shot.”
But Ohio State would not have been close to anywhere in the game if not for the efforts of sophomore guard Samantha Prahalis and Lavender.
The two combined for 52 of their team’s 65 points, with Prahalis netting a career-high 32 points on 10-of-20 shooting.
Prahalis said MSU sticking in man defense gave her her opportunities.
“If I saw an opening, I went to the basket,” Prahalis said. “The game came to me like that.”
MSU (11-5 overall, 2-3 Big Ten), paced by the 12,412 in attendance and senior forward Aisha Jefferson, got off to a hot start, leading 12-2 in the opening minutes, with seven of those 12 coming from Jefferson.
Ohio State would continually close the gap but could never get over the hump. The Buckeyes brought it to within three, 23-20, but DeHaan hit back-to-back buckets to extend the lead back out. Those baskets would key a run that would see the Spartans take their largest lead at 11, 33-22, on a basket by freshman guard Jasmine Thomas.
But again, the Buckeyes (17-1, 5-0) would crawl back and cut MSU’s lead to 35-31 at halftime.
“We never let it get too far away,” Ohio State head coach Jim Foster said. “We kept plugging.”
What momentum the Spartans had after the 11-point lead was quickly erased by the Buckeyes to start the second half.
Three-pointers by forward Sarah Schulze, Prahalis and guard Brittany Johnson gave the Buckeyes a 43-39 lead.
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Johnson’s triple, with 17:06 remaining, marked the final time someone not named Prahalis or Lavender would score for Ohio State.
“We have two great players,” Foster said. “They’re very competitive and they want to win games and they’re going to put the responsibility (on themselves). They’re not afraid to take the shots that count and the shots to win.”
While Prahalis and Lavender got going exclusively for Ohio State, MSU used a team approach to crawl back from its deficit, which was as much as five.
After the Spartans tied the game at 54, Two consecutive sets of free throws by DeHaan extended the lead to 58-54 with 4:40 to play.
But the game would be won at the line, as the two teams combined for only one field goal the rest of the way, by Prahalis with 2:01 to play, as the Buckeyes hit their freebies to hold off the Spartans.
Johnson picked up another double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds (eight offensive). Jefferson finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, and DeHaan and Brittney Thomas scored 12 and 10, respectively.
The Spartans next challenge comes Thursday at Breslin against Wisconsin.
