Pickrel finished the game with 14 points, and even though Bell only had two points, she had 11 rebounds, just two shy of her season high.

In the three games before this, Pickrel scored three, four and five points, respectively.

This afternoon, she scored the last 11 points of the first half for MSU and but gave all the credit to her teammates.

“I felt pretty confident at that point,” Pickrel said. “ I felt like I could pick up the slack that was happening. It was a credit to my teammates for finding me with good passes on flairs. That all goes into a shooters ability to make shots. Credit them.”

Normal playmakers like sophomore forward Becca Mills and Jasmine Hines scored a combined eight points between them.

“We knew we were going to have to play her and get some more offense out of her, mainly because she is capable,” head coach Suzy Merchant said. “We can play her and have played her at multiple positions this year. I think our team did a good job of reversing the basketball and working it inside and out and making the extra pass where she had a direct look at it.”

Even Marist head coach Frank Giorgis had high praise for the junior forward, and said she was one of the toughest matchups the Red Foxes have faced.

It was another sub par night offensively for Bell, who said her shots weren’t falling and she couldn’t drive to the basket like she normally does because of Marist’s stout defense.

“(I’m) trying to find my game back again,” Bell said. “I just decided to turn it into rebounding, and I was able to get some boards defensively and then a couple ones offensively. Just keep myself actually doing productive out there.”

Still, her off-shooting performance allowed her to settle into a different, more defensive role.

Bell spent the game guarding one of Marist’s best shooters, and held her to only six points.

“I always try and still stay aggressive, but it’s kind of like an unconscious thing that just kind of happens where shots that I might have taken I don’t end up taking, or I take too long taking my shot,” she said. “I’ve just got to work on that.”

Merchant agreed with Bell that her defense stood out today.

She said she knows Bell wants it and will work hard at improving her shot, and she’s alright with a less-than-stellar offensive performance as long as the production on the defensive end is there.

“She did a really good job of doing some other things for us,” Merchant said. “She tool care of the ball and had a couple of steals. She had a couple monumental rebounds that kept it in our favor down the stretch. I’m not too worried about it.”

When the Spartans return to the floor to take on Maryland on Monday at 7 p.m., Bell said she expects an offensive explosion.

“Definitely,” Bell said. “I’m ready, it’s about time. Three games? It’s about time.”