Wichita, Kan.- With 15:41 left in the second half, senior guard Brittney Thomas capped a 9-2 run with a 3-pointer from the wing pushing the score to 46-32, giving the No. 4 seed MSU women’s basketball team its largest lead of the game against the No. 13 seed Northern Iowa.
But with 8.8 seconds left in the game, the Panthers had the ball trailing 69-66 with a chance to tie the game.
The ball was inbounded to UNI’s leading Jacqui Kalin. The ball was swung twice and ended up in the hands of UNI senior guard Erin Brocka.
Brocka took one dribble, launched a three but not without MSU senior Kalisha Keane getting a hand on it.
The shot fell short and the Spartans advanced to play No. 5 seed Wisconsin-Green Bay at 9:40 p.m. Tuesday.
Four players for MSU (27-5) scored in double-digits and Keane, who was named Big Ten Player of the year, led the Spartans in scoring with 17 points but only two came in the second half.
Though UNI (27-6) had most of the momentum in the last ten minutes, MSU was able to hold off the Panthers thanks to two 3-pointers from junior forward Taylor Alton, both stopping UNI
runs.
“They were huge, let’s be real,” Keane said of Alton’s clutch baskets.
UNI outrebounded MSU 19-18 in the first half, much of it having to do with the absence of junior forward Lykendra Johnson who played only five minutes in the first half because of foul
trouble.
With the absence of Johnson, head coach Suzy Merchant said she had to rely on freshmen Annalise Pickrel to step up.
Pickrel grabbed five rebounds and scored two points while Johnson sat during the first half.
Mechant said she did well but has room to improve.
“(Pickrel is) like 100 miles per hour all the time, which can be good on one side of the ball but not so good on the other side,” Merchant said.
“But I do think she settled in a little bit and gave us really good minutes when we needed that boost.”
MSU and UNI each totaled 20 rebounds in the second half, but Johnson finished the game with seven rebounds and 14 points.
Kalin said UNI’s ability to outrebound the Spartans is what allowed them to keep within striking distance.
“We knew if we could keep (the rebounds) close we could keep the game close,” Kalin said.
“We knew if we could limit them to one shot and done, for the most part we did that.”
Kalin was the Panther’s leading scorer this season averaging 15.2 points per game.
MSU held Kalin to 2-of-9 shooting in the first half for 9 points, but she finished the game leading all scorers with 21 points shooting 4-of-7 on 3-pointers.
Merchant said leadership from Kalin and UNI’s other seniors was difficult to deal with and the Spartans’ mistakes down the line kept the Panther’s in the game.
“They are a veteran team that’s been there and isn’t going to back down and they have too good of shooters to not have opportunities,” she said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
“We had opportunities to make plays and we just didn’t at the offensive end and that’s kind of why they had an opportunity (to stay in the game).
