Looking to finish the year strong, the head coach repeated one word to describe the regular season finale’s level of importance — very.

“You can’t have any letdowns, any lack of focus,” she said. “We have one more regular season game to go, and these wins don’t mean anything if you don’t worry about the next one and have the same intensity and same fire and same focus. It’s a huge game.”

The Spartans beat Northwestern on Feb. 9, 72-58, behind 20 points from senior guard Porschè Poole, but the Wildcats were without center Dannielle Diamant in the second half.

Diamant caused problems for MSU in the first meeting, scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds in the game’s opening 20 minutes, and Merchant said the team has to be prepared for a full game’s effort.

“Our focus has to be going on the road, and you know how hard it is going on the road,” she said. “They only had Dannielle Diamant for one half, not two, and she’s a heck of a player, and they’re very talented and can score the ball.”

The victory over Northwestern is one of six wins in the last seven games for the Spartans, and senior forward Lykendra Johnson said a team meeting helped change the season’s momentum.

“(There were) people that didn’t know their roles,” she said. “And for everybody to change at the snap of a finger after that meeting was a plus for us and … really helped us form our identity.”

The new team identity has allowed the team the opportunity to be in the mix for a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament, and a win on Sunday would almost assuredly seal that accomplishment.

Despite the game’s potential implications, with five teams separated by one game in the conference standings, Merchant said her team needs one singular focus going forward.

“There’s just a lot that can happen with one game to go,” she said. “My preference is, let’s go get a win at Northwestern and fight like crazy to put ourselves in that position.”