The Spartans’ emotions were riding high after senior forward Kalisha Keane hit a last-second shot last Thursday to give the team a victory over a very good No. 16 Iowa team.

With a 14-game winning streak and a 16-1 record, the Spartans were off to the best start in school history.

And more than anything else, their chemistry and the way they were able to regroup on the court went unmatched by any other team in the Big Ten.

It still does. There’s no doubt in my mind the Spartans were the better team Sunday.

Even shooting 29 percent, hitting two of their 23 three-point attempts — 0-for-12 in the second half — and allowing the Buckeyes to go to the free-throw line 25 times, it still was only a 14-point win at the final buzzer.

Here’s where the Spartans truly got derailed. With 7:25 remaining in the first half, junior forward Lykendra Johnson picked up her second foul and had to be benched.

She was the cornerstone of the Spartans’ defensive game plan, especially because she was covering center Jantel Lavender ­— easily one of the best players in the country.

When Johnson was in the game, she attacked Lavender rather than give the three-time defending Big Ten Player of the Year a chance to post up and get to the basket.

Each entry pass was denied. The Buckeyes were panicking and desperately trying to get their star involved in the game.
Then, the Spartans let them off the hook.

Several Spartans took Johnson’s spot and you might as well have fed them to a pack of wolves.

Lavender began calling for the ball on every offensive possession for the Buckeyes.

In 12 minutes against Johnson, she tallied only four points — six, including the two free throws on Johnson’s foul before she left the first half.

In seven first-half minutes against redshirt freshman Kelsey Smith, she doubled that and finished the half with 14 points.

Even with the mismatch and poor shooting, the Spartans only trailed by four at halftime and had a chance to come out with Johnson and take control.

Then they missed their first eight shots and Johnson picked up her third and fourth fouls.

At that point, the Spartans were completely deflated and the game virtually was over.

However, if the Spartans don’t lose Johnson, if Keane and junior forward Taylor Alton hit one or two of those eight shots, this is a completely different game.

MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said it herself after the game.

The team has seen all the defenses Ohio State threw at them.

The Buckeyes really didn’t do anything special, MSU just didn’t execute with nearly the same preciseness as it usually does.

With the leadership on this team and the accountability each one takes, there’s no question that this team will bounce back.

Besides, it’s a Big Ten road loss — one of those isn’t the end of the road.

After this loss we really can see what the 2010-11 Spartans are made of and if after five consecutive years they can dethrone the Buckeyes and become Big Ten champions.

Anthony Odoardi is a State News sports reporter. He can be reached at odoardia@msu.edu