Spartans able to overcome DeHaan injury

Senior center misses most of game due to back spasms

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Indianapolis — The MSU women’s basketball team found a way to win without Allyssa DeHaan.

The senior center left Friday’s Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal game with Michigan midway through the first half with back spasms. She went to the locker room and did not return to the bench until about midway through the second half.

DeHaan was first injured Wednesday in practice, head coach Suzy Merchant said. It flared up with about nine minutes to play in the first half Friday when she got tangled up with U-M center Krista Phillips. DeHaan immediately started holding her lower back.

“It kind of re-spasmed my back,” DeHaan said. “I’m doing OK, so hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow.”

DeHaan said the training staff used heat, manipulation and stretching to help stop the spasms.

With DeHaan out, the Spartans had to lean on senior center Lauren Aitch as its go-to post presence. She played a season-high 26 minutes, scoring four points with seven rebounds. More importantly, she locked down Wolverines center Krista Phillips offensively.

Things weren’t made any easier for MSU when junior guard Brittney Thomas found herself in foul trouble in both halves.

“I think it really showed our poise offensively, and defensively I think Lauren Aitch came in and had great minutes for us, playing really hard defense, showed we can play multiple positions at all levels,” junior forward Kalisha Keane said.

DeHaan’s injury made for some interesting lineups for Merchant.

“it’s definitely different not to have our normal rotations out there,” Merchant said. “But to the kids’ credit, I thought they didn’t allow that to get out of whack in terms of their composure.”

At one point, she had junior guard Brittney Thomas, sophomore guard Porsche Poole, junior guard Cetera Washington, sophomore forward Taja Wilson and Aitch on the floor.

“They were great,” DeHaan said of her teammates. “Everybody stepped up. I’m out on the court a lot, so to not have me out there is a different feeling and they all did really well playing together.”

Aitch said the team is used to playing with the different lineups.

“In practice, we definitely play with different rotations all the time,” she said. “When game time comes, we have a rotation that we stick with, but because we practice with all different kinds, it’s not unnatural when you get on the floor.”

Inside glory

The Spartans hammered the Wolverines inside, overcoming their recent rebounding woes with a 41-29 edge on the glass and keeping U-M from getting high-percentage looks in the paint — even without DeHaan.

It was MSU’s physical play that helped keep the Wolverines at bay.

“They’re in you the whole while,” U-M head coach Kevin Borseth said. “It’s body to body. It’s a very physical game in the Big Ten. I think that’s probably got a lot to do with it. Modify some of our movement, perhaps. But they’re a pretty strong team. Physical.”

At halftime, MSU was plus-1 on the boards. The Spartans finished at plus-12 as the Spartans pulled away to victory.

“We ended up really getting after them on the boards,” Merchant said. “I thought that was big. I think that was something that they couldn’t – they just couldn’t match. So we kept harping on that. I knew that was a big focus for them. He called a couple of timeouts just because we got an offensive rebound. I knew that was big at both ends for us.”

On top of that, MSU turned 17 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points.

Milestone marker

Keane scored her 1,000th career point with a free throw in the second half, becoming the 21st player in program history to reach that milestone. She finished with 11 points.

She called hitting the mark “sweet.”

“That’s exciting,” Keane said. “It’s a great milestone to overcome. I’m just glad we won, to be honest. If I didn’t score the 1,000 today but we got the ‘W,’ I’d be as smiley as I am right now.”

Borseth said Keane, the Big Ten’s Sixth Player of the Year, was a “heck of a difference.”

“Let’s face it, it’s 10-2 and they insert her in the game and it turns the game around,” Borseth said. “She’s a pretty good player in this league. Very good player in this league. I’m surprised that she’s not in the first five personally.”

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