Women's Basketball
Spartans Out-hustle Buckeyes for 60-53 Win
By John Porentas

Allyssa DeHaan scored 18 points and Kalisha Keane added 17 more to pace Michigan State (9-5, 1-1 Big Ten) to a hard fought but ugly win over over No. 17/18 Ohio State (9-3, 0-1 Big Ten) in East Lansing.

The teams combined for a whopping 38 turnovers in a game that was characterized by sloppy play, but in the end it was Michigan State's dominance on the offensive glass that was the difference. The Spartans pulled down 22 offensive rebounds, five by guard Brittany Thomas and four by guard Mia Johnson to help MSU outscore OSU 15-4 in second-chance points.

"Their guards had 12 offensive rebounds," said an obviously upset Jim Foster. "That's just effort. They outworked us, there's no excuse for that," Foster said.

Foster was not happy with his team's effort, particularly that of his guards. He was also impressed with the effort of MSU guard Brittany Thomas. Thomas was guilty of a whopping 11 turnovers, but Foster pointed to her as an example of the the type of determination that it takes to win basketball games.

"A lot of people would hang their head with 11 turnovers, but that's not what she did," said Foster. "She also had five steals and five offensive rebounds, so 10 of those times when she gave the ball up she went down to the other end of the court and got it back. That's the kind of toughness and determination it takes to win games."

OSU senior guard Marcilla Packer said the Buckeyes were acutely aware of what cost them the game.

"It was pretty much about us," said Packer. "We turned the ball over way too many times on unforced errors by ourselves and the offensive rebounding, especially from their guard positions, really killed us," Packer said.

The game played fairly evenly through most the first half, but the Spartans were able to put together a run late in the half to take a 34-29 lead at the intermission. The Spartans then dominated in the early going of the second half to open a 13 point lead at 53-40 with 12:30 remaining in the game. The Buckeyes, however, would not go away.

The Spartans went stone cold from the field and while the Buckeyes didn't exactly light it up, the did have enough to pull back to within four at 54-50 with 6:30 remaining on the clock. There was plenty of time, but that, however, would be as close as they would get.

The Spartans were able to hold the Buckeyes off the rest of the way, helped to a large degree by missed scoring opportunities by the Buckeyes and offensive rebounds by the Spartans the kept the ball away from OSU. The Spartans grabbed five offensive rebounds over the last 3:47 of the game to extend their possessions and frustrate the Buckeyes.

The Spartans also won the battle of the baseline. DeHaan added six rebounds to go with her scoring and Keane came up with six rebounds as well. OSU freshman center Jantel Lavender managed 11 points and six rebounds while forward Star Allen has 12 points and nine boards. Most of Allen's scoring came in early in the game and she was not as effective late in the game when it was on the line. Lavender said the combination of the size of DeHaan and the aggressive rebounding by the MSU guards made her life tough.

"I think our guards have to take more pride in getting offensive rebounds, especially when we're playing against a big kid like DeHaan where she's so big and my main focus is her. When I'm so focused on Allyssa they a really have to take pride,"
said Lavender.

"Twelve offensive rebounds from their guards is just too many. It's just too many," Lavender said.

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