Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann (0) celebrates after her teammate redshirt junior guard Lauren Ross (24) scores a three-pointer during the season-opening exhibition game against Davenport University at the Breslin Center on Nov. 2, 2023. The Spartans annihilated the Panthers with a score of 99-45.
Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann took this offseason to master her craft and opened the MSU women's basketball season on a high note.
The Spartans defeated Oakland Wednesday night 87-62 at the Breslin Center. The game was very aggressive, where 12 out of 13 players on the MSU roster had the opportunity to take to the floor.
MSU head coach Robyn Fralick made her season debut against Oakland, where the 87 points scored by the Spartans was the most in an MSU head coach's first games since the 76 points by the Spartans with head coach Joanne P. McCallie in 2000.
Under the new leadership, Hagemann said she felt Fralick came in with a level head and worked well with the team in the offseason.
"With coach Fralick I feel like she came in very open-minded," Hagemann said. "She wants to play fast and very defensively, so I feel like it wasn't a really hard transition. We had the whole offseason to really come together."
Following the win, Fralick said she told Hagemann in the offseason that if she worked on becoming a more consistent shooter, it would help her gameplay.
"That's something she spent a lot of time on this offseason. We talked to her a lot about if you can become a consistent shooter now you're really hard to guard," Fralick said. "A big part of her efficiency is she takes good shots. All her shots tonight were layups or open-rim threes. I thought she did a good job of being efficient but also taking great shots."
Coming off of her great sophomore season last year, Hagemann had a caree-high of 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field Wednesday night. She hit 5-6 of her three-pointers and had four rebounds with five assists.
"I feel like all the work that I put in this offseason to work on my three-point shot and to work on taking good shots displayed today," Hagemann said.
While Hagemann was a big help in defeating Oakland, other players' efforts brought MSU their 25-point victory as well. Graduate student guard Moira Joiner scored 12 points and sophomore guard Abbey Kimball had a career-high of 13 points. Additionally, senior guard Gabby Elliott, returning to the court for the first time since a season-ending injury on Dec. 11, 2022, scored five points with seven rebounds and three assists.
Hagemann said going into Sunday she is just ready to win.
"I'm just happy we got the dub, and I'm ready for Sunday to get another dub," she said.
The Spartans will return to the Breslin Center this Sunday to take on Wright State at 2p.m.
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