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Women's Basketball Uses Dominant First Half To Beat Eastern Michigan, 79-62
Nov. 28, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's basketball team picked up right where it left off after Wednesday night's pummeling of nationally-ranked Notre Dame, racing to a 46-19 halftime lead en route to a 79-62 victory over Eastern Michigan Friday night at the Breslin Center. The Spartans improved to 4-0 while handing Eastern Michigan its first loss of the season after the Eagles had won their first three games by an average of 42.7 points. Senior Julie Pagel (Utica, Mich.) had 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks to lead the Spartan effort. Sophomore Lindsay Bowen (Dansville, Mich.) was the team's leading scorer for the second straight game, scoring 16 points on six-of-10 shooting, while junior Kristin Haynie (Mason, Mich.) added 10 points and four assists. MSU's frenetic defense helped the Spartans control the game, as MSU forced a season-best 27 turnovers, converting them into 35 points. Conversely, the Spartans had 15 turnovers resulting in 12 Eagle points. Michigan State also hit 54.5 percent of its shots in the first half (18-of-33) to help build the large halftime cushion. The Spartans sank their first three shots to take a quick 7-0 lead and never looked back. Eastern Michigan trailed just 20-14 midway through the period, but MSU scored the next nine points, all on three-pointers, and 13 of the next 14 to take a 33-15 lead. The Eagles scored four quick points to close within 33-19, but MSU ended the half on a 13-0 run, with five different players scoring during the spurt, to take a the 46-19 edge into the lockerroom.
Over the final 11:42 of the first half, Michigan State outscored EMU 26-5. The Eagles hit just 2-of-14 shots during the decisive stretch while committing 11 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Spartans made 9-of-17 shots during the stretch.
In the second half, Eastern Michigan scored the first seven points to cut the margin to 46-26, and got as close as 14 points on two occasions, thanks largely to the three-point shooting of Sarah VanMetre, who hit five of her seven treys in the second half on her way to a game-high 25 points. But MSU had an answer every time, scoring just enough to keep Eastern Michigan at bay despite 30.6 percent shooting in the second period. MSU finished the game shooting a season-low 42.0 percent from the field (29-of-69), but did sink four-of-nine three-pointers and made 89.5 percent (17-of-19) of its free throws. MSU had a 39-36 edge in rebounds, led by Pagel's nine and seven from redshirt freshman Patrice McKinney (Lansing, Mich.), who also added eight points. MSU had 21 offensive rebounds to own a 22-12 advantage in second-chance points, and held a 36-20 lead in points in the paint. MSU will play its first road contest of the season when the Spartans travel to Stillwater, Okla., to battle Oklahoma State Tuesday, Dec. 2. Spartan Notebook: * All 10 Spartans that played scored at least two points. Nine of the ten played at least 10 minutes. * MSU improved to 4-0 for the second time in three years and the third time in five seasons. * Julie Pagel made four free throws, moving her into eighth place on MSU's career free throws made list with 241. * Lindsay Bowen has now made at least one three-point basket in 30 consecutive games. * Candice Jackson, who has been sidelined with a knee injury, dressed for the first time this season, although she was still not healthy enough to play in today's game. |
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