From left to right, sophomore forward Kennedy Johnson, graduate student center Jasmine Hines and senior guard Cara Miller celebrate their victory after the game against Ohio State on Feb. 27, 2016 at Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Buckeyes, 107-105 in triple overtime.
Graduate student Jasmine Hines went out with a blaze of glory Saturday after her performance helped lift the Spartans to a thrilling 107-105 triple-overtime win against No. 5-ranked Ohio State. The game on Saturday was MSU's first triple-overtime game since 1991.
Her performance couldn’t be more well timed, either, with Saturday being senior day at Breslin Center. Hines finished the contest shooting 13-for-17 from field-goal range and 10-for-14 from the free-throw line to finish the day and lead her team with a career-high 36 points in 52 minutes. Hines also had 11 rebounds in the game, which puts her at three double-doubles on the season and four in her career.
"I knew it was my last game at the Breslin," Hines said. "And I just wanted to make the most of it and leave everything on the floor. I had a killer mentality coming into the game. I made my first couple of shots and I just kind of rode that momentum for the rest of the game."
The 6-foot-3 center carried the Spartans in the first half, scoring 17 of MSU’s 34 points against the Buckeyes. Her clutch performance came in the absence of first half offensive contributions from typical players such as junior guards Aerial Powers and Tori Jankoska, who went a combined 2-for-19 shooting in the first half.
"She went beast mode," Jankoska said. "She can do that every game, not just because she's stronger than those guys and she just has to take her time, take what the defense gives her. She played awesome and I'm so happy she got to go out like that on her senior night."
As the Spartans would continue to battle the Buckeyes throughout overtime, Hines would score 15 of MSU’s 35 overtime points. Hines also helped contribute to the rest of the team’s success too. Hines’ six defensive rebounds was second on the team behind Powers and Hines also stole the ball twice and blocked the ball once.
Albeit this isn’t the norm for Hines, she has put up big numbers in a few games this season. The game on Saturday was Hines’ 13th double-digit scoring game of the season. Coming into the game against the Buckeyes, Hines was averaging 6.1 rebounds a game and on the defensive side of the ball she’s averaging 0.6 steals a game and 0.8 blocks per game. Contributions and essential minutes from Hines will be a key for head coach Suzy Merchant and the Spartans as they look forward to the Big Ten tournament.
"This is an interesting team," Merchant said. "They're kind of schizophrenic. They can score a lot of points and then the next night can't. ... One thing that I've found out is that they can morph themselves to any level and compete with the other team."
The Spartans will take a few days off before traveling to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament. MSU is the number three seed coming into the tournament and will play either the number six, 11 or 14th seed on Friday, March 4. Tip off is set for approximately 7:30 p.m. at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
