Dec. 5, 2010

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Head Coach Suzy Merchant Press Conference
Kalisha Keane | Lykendra Johnson | Porsche Poole

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -

Lykendra Johnson and Kalisha Keane had 20 points apiece, helping No. 25 Michigan State beat No. 17 Texas 71-57 on Sunday.

Johnson also had 11 rebounds for the Spartans, who knocked off a top-20 opponent for the second time in five days. Michigan State (7-1) beat No. 15 Florida State 72-64 in Tallahassee on Wednesday night.

Kathleen Nash led the Longhorns with 17 points. Ashleigh Fontenette had 13 and Ashley Gayle finished with 10.

Texas (4-2) committed 27 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle 43-40.

Brittney Thomas also had 13 points for Michigan State, and reserve Porsche Poole finished with 11 points.

The Spartans led 31-27 at halftime.

POST-GAME NOTES

With the win...
- MSU improves to 7-1 on the season and have won five-straight.
- MSU has beaten ranked opponents in back-to-back game during the regular season for the first time in program history.
- Coach Merchant is now 9-9 all-time as a Spartan against ranked opponents.
- The Spartans improve to 4-0 this season at the Breslin Center and 216-78 all-time. MSU has won its last nine at home.
- Under Coach Merchant, MSU is now 52-6 when holding its opponent under 60 points and 33-4 when scoring at least 70 points. The Spartans have won their last 18 games when scoring 70 or more.

Player Notes:
- Junior Lykendra Johnson had her second-straight double-double today with game-highs with 20 points and 11 rebounds. It was the second time in her career that she has had back-to-back double-doubles (Feb. 8, 2009 and Feb. 12, 2009).
- Johnson's points and rebounds were both season-highs. Her point total was the second highest of her career.
- Johnson went 9-of-12 from the field, setting a new career-high for field goals made.
- Johnson had five offensive rebounds and has 16 in her last three games.
- Senior Kalisha Keane scored 20 points, tallying at least 20 points in three-straight games for the first time in her career. She is now tied for the Big Ten lead with five 20-point scoring games.
- The last Spartan to score 20 or more points in three-straight games was Liz Shimek during the 2005-06 season when she had four consecutive from Feb. 23-March 18).
- With her 20 points, Keane moves into a tie for 14th all-time at MSU with 1,181 points. She also moved into 15th place with 421 field goals made.
- Keane led MSU in scoring for the seventh time in eight games, and has scored in double-figures in each game.
- It was the first time since Nov. 28, 2009 that two Spartans scored at least 20 points in a game. Keane and Allyssa DeHaan reached 20 points against Oklahoma State.
- Senior Brittney Thomas scored in double-figures for the third time in the last four games. With her 13 points today, she is averaging 12.5 per game over that span.
- Thomas set a career-high with eight steals, tied for the sixth-most in a single-game in program history. She has 12 steals in her last two games. Thomas moved into 19th place in MSU history with 164 career steals.
- Thomas also moved into 11th place in minutes played with 3,261. Keane jumped into 19th in minutes played with 2,851.
- Junior Porsche Poole scored in double-digits for the second-straight game with 11 points off the bench.

Team Notes:
- MSU forced a season-high 27 turnovers and were +9 in turnover margin. The Spartans have forced over 20 turnovers in each of the last four games (24.5 per game) and are +26 in turnover margin over that span.
- MSU had 13 steals, topping double-figures in steals for the fourth-straight game. - The Spartans held Texas to a season-low 57 points. Texas entered the game second in the nation, averaging 91.2 points per game.
- Texas' leading scorer Chassidy Fussell (18.0 points per game) was held scoreless.
- The Spartans held Texas to 2-of-9 (22.2%) from behind the arc. Over the past five games, MSU's opponents have made only 15 3-pointers and are shooting only 25.0%.
- MSU had a season-high 19 offensive rebounds and turned them into 21 second chance points.
- Michigan State had its third-largest crowd in program history with 13,375.

Series Notes:
- The Spartans even the all-time record against at Texas at 2-2.