Women's basketball drops game to in-state rival Michigan 72-59
An instate rivalry that has been historically commanded by MSU saw a different chance in scenery on Thursday night when a prolonged streak was shattered. Michigan, who haven't swept the Spartans in the regular-season since the 1999-00 season, squandered the historic run thanks in part to four of their starters finishing in the double-digit mark in scoring, silencing MSU on the road, 72-59. Despite being loaded with two of the top five leading scorers in the Big Ten in Aerial Powers (No. 2) and Tori Jankoska (No. 5), the duo was held to a combined 31-points, 25 of those recorded by Powers. Jankoska, who is the reigning Big Ten player of the week after scoring a career-high 28-points last week against Indiana, shot a mere 2-of-8 from the floor, failing to sink her first field-goal until the 10-minute mark in the second half. Coming into their 11th conference game of the season, Michigan's last win outside of Ann Arbor was back in January, 17 against Northwestern. On Thursday, a 20-2 run in the first half was enough to hold MSU's comeback late in the second, led by Powers. The Detroit native, who played the entirely of the game due to a lack of numbers on the bench for head coach Suzy Merchant, was able to keep the motor running, cutting the deficit to as low as nine with more than four minutes remaining. Anna Morrissey, the 5-foot-10 senior guard, followed suit by pulling up for a wide opened three-pointer to decrease the Wolverines' lead to six two minutes later, her only bucket of the evening. Powers also led the Spartans in rebounds (15) and finishing second behind Jankoska in assists (four). Katelynn Flaherty and Cyesha Goree were the leading scorers for the Wolverines, finishing with 19 and 17-points each. Goree also led the maize-and-blue with 10-rebounds. MSU's Becca Mills contributed 10-points, seven of which came in the first half. The frustrating loss at the Breslin Center for the Spartans ends their two-game home win streak, which began with a victory over Wisconsin on the 25th of January. They'll have a couple days off before hitting the road to face Minnesota, who have lost just twice this season in front of the home crowd.
