From left to right: sophomore guard Takeya Fortner, sophomore center Lauren Aitch, freshman forward Cetera Washington and senior guard Alisa Wulff watch their teammates during the game against the Purdue Boilermakers Sunday afternoon in West Lafayette, Ind. The Spartans lost to the Boilermakers with a final score of 69-59.
West Lafayette, Ind. — After gaining momentum to put together a train of wins, the MSU women’s basketball team’s streak was halted at four by Purdue on Sunday. The Boilermakers (15-13 overall, 11-6 Big Ten) took revenge and then some against the Spartans (17-12, 9-8) — setting the record straight as they shut down MSU, 69-59, to split the season series.
Purdue dominated the first half — as witnessed by 10,013 fans at Mackey Arena — bursting out of the tunnel for a 21-6 run lasting 11 minutes.
MSU failed to sink the first basket of the game for the first time since Jan. 31 against Michigan.
That proved an early sign of things to come as the Spartans struggled to make things happen from the first whistle, staying stagnant at one field goal for more than 10 minutes while collecting five travel calls.
“(Earlier in the season,) when we traveled, it was because we were driving and drew a couple people instead of jump-stopping and kicking it to a wide-open shooter or travel and just try to throw it up ourselves,” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said.
The first half ended in the Boilermakers’ favor at 33-25, with the Spartans shooting 31 percent from the field while Purdue came in at 45.8 percent.
The second half proved to be no different as Purdue went on a 16-3 run starting at the 17:48 mark to go up by 18 points — squashing any chance of a repeat MSU comeback.
When the two teams met Feb. 11, Purdue mounted various leads only to have them closed by the Spartans every time — ending in a 56-54 MSU victory.
Sophomore center Allyssa DeHaan did what she could with 10 minutes left to play, but even her six-point solo run was too little, too late as the Boilermakers began emptying their bench.
Merchant said the simple layups that were missed, rebounding issues, lack of focus and botched post moves by players that usually execute well all contributed to the ultimate demise in the end.
Rebounding was a nagging issue for the Spartans for the full 40 minutes, resulting in their being outrebounded by 18.
MSU was even outdone on its defensive end, with 10 rebounds at its boards while Purdue counteracted with 18 offensively.
“I’m not surprised (on being outdone at the boards). They were the team that played harder,” Merchant said. “Rebounding is a measure of effort, it’s never about how tall or strong you are.
“But to only get 10 defensive rebounds is embarrassing. It’s not who we want to be.”
Merchant said the players looked as if they were always waiting for someone else to get the job done.
“I don’t feel like anyone on our team really played well on either end today,” she said.
“We got back to a place where we don’t want to be.”
Freshman forward Kalisha Keane led the Spartans with 18 points, followed by DeHaan’s 15-point effort.
MSU takes on Illinois at 7 p.m. Thursday at Breslin Center.
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