The win extends MSU’s winning streak to 11 consecutive games in the rivalry and 19 of the past 20 games.

Poole finished the game with 23 points, a career-high nine rebounds, and five assists, and Johnson added 16 points along with 11 rebounds and three assists.

As soon as they stepped on the floor, the Spartans made their presence known.

MSU opened the game with three straight 3-pointers and as the final one sailed through the net off the fingertips of Kiana Johnson, the freshman guard clapped her hands.

The Spartans streaked to out to a 13-3 start, but it didn’t take long for Michigan to find its comfort zone from behind the arc.
The Wolverines responded with an 18-2 run to take the lead 21-15 behind four 3-pointers of their own.

But Poole continued to fill it up for the Spartans, recapturing the lead, and sending MSU to halftime in front, 30-28.

The Wolverines opened the first half in a similar manner to MSU, knocking down back-to-back 3-pointer’s to take a 34-30 lead, but Lykendra Johnson kept the Spartans close.

After being held scoreless in the first half, Lykendra Johnson responded in the second half by scoring her team’s first nine points to put MSU ahead by one.

It was back-and-forth the rest of the way, but Michigan was able to gain a long-standing lead after guard Jenny Ryan’s two free throws put the Wolverines up 53-52 with 7:21 to go in the game.

It wasn’t until there were 53 seconds left in the game that MSU managed to even the score with a layup from Johnson, and after Michigan guard Courtney Boylan missed an open 3-pointer, the Spartans grabbed the rebound, called timeout and set up the play for Poole’s game-winner.