Thursday, the spark came from freshmen Courtney Schiffauer and Lykendra Johnson. The two earned the first start of their careers and provided a needed boost to the lineup with hustle plays and great defense, using their length to extend MSU’s zone defense and help the Spartans to a 64-52 win over the Wildcats.

“I think the lineup switch gives us length and athleticism,” head coach Suzy Merchant said. “Those two kids did a nice job in extending our zone and making to pretty challenging. They’re big but they’re also pretty mobile.”

For the first time in a while, MSU jumped out to a quick start, feeding its post players while holding the Wildcats without a field goal for the first eight minutes of the game.

The defense remained strong throughout the half as MSU held Northwestern to only 21.7 percent from the field and 11 percent from 3-point range, going into halftime up 27-20.

The Spartans were lead by junior center Allyssa DeHaan, who seemed to come out of her shell, netting 11 points in the first half and pulling in five rebounds. She finished the game with 19 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

“I just realized I had to step up and lead the team,” DeHaan said. “We did, we came out to a great start and made each other better on the floor and it showed offensively. Everything went a lot smoother.”

Northwestern was limited in what it could do offensively for most of the game as star center Amy Jaeschke got herself into foul trouble struggling with the lenghth of DeHaan. Jaeschke, who averages nearly 17 points per game, was held to seven points and three rebounds in 28 minutes.

“It really hurts, especially against a team that is one of the top two rebounding teams in the league,” Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown said. “They took advantage of that.”

MSU went into the second half with just as much energy, wearing the Northwestern defense down and slowly opening up its lead to 22 points.

“This is a different team,” junior forward Aisha Jefferson said. “We have to start being consistent in the way we’re playing. I think tonight is the team we want to be. It’s unfortunate that we’re still trying to figure out how to get this team together, but we’re still want to go up this time of the season.”

The Spartans move to 10-6 on the season and 3-2 in the Big Ten and head back on the road for their next game to face rival Michigan (9-6, 2-2). The Spartans lost to the Wolverines at Crisler Arena last season and are looking to use their new gameplan to topple U-M.

“We’re going to be in enemy territory, on the road, so we’re going to have to play that much better,” Merchant said. “They pose people problems because they make you play backwards and they spread people out and they can shoot threes. So we’re going to have our hands full but we’re going to enjoy this one tonight and worry about them tomorrow in practice.”