No. 25 Michigan State tops Michigan 61-50
INDIANAPOLIS -- No. 25 Michigan State beat rival Michigan in the Big Ten quarterfinals, but the Spartans may be without their intimidator as they move forward.
The Spartans won 61-50 on Friday, but 6-foot-9 center Allyssa DeHaan left the game with back spasms in the first half and did not return. Coach Suzy Merchant said the senior is questionable for Saturday's game against either Iowa or Penn State.
"We don't know," Merchant said when asked if DeHaan would play. "She got hit in the back, and it flared up on her so she couldn't come back and play. The thing is, we have 24 hours to kind of manage it and see where she's at."
DeHaan played just eight minutes, and finished with two points, two rebounds and two blocks. Despite the injury, Michigan State won its seventh straight game and seventh straight in the series.
Kalisha Keane scored 11 points and Lykendra Johnson, Aisha Jefferson and Jasmine Thomas added 10 points apiece for the Spartans (22-8), who won all three meetings with the Wolverines this season.
"We always find a way," Jefferson said. "Not the most ideal way to win the game, but a W is a W. And we're not satisfied, but we're definitely happy we won."
Krista Phillips led Michigan (17-13) with 12 points, and Carmen Reynolds added 10 for the Wolverines, who had won two straight. The Spartans outrebounded Michigan 41-29 and scored 14 second-chance points on 17 offensive boards.
"I just think they're just a good rebounding team in general," Phillips said. "I think that was one of the things we kind of wanted to do well. I think in the second half, we didn't do as good a job of taking care of the rebounds. I think that's part of the reason why we kind of lost ahold of it in the second half."
The Wolverines were proud to finish tied for sixth place in the conference after being picked to finish last.
"I think we're realistic to look at a WNIT bid," Michigan coach Kevin Borseth said. "Postseason play is pretty critical as we build our program."
Michigan State shot 50 percent in the second half while holding Michigan to 25 percent shooting.
"That's been our thing," Merchant said. "That's what's helped us get to a point where we're playing really good basketball, and why we've won 11 of our last 12."
Michigan State took a seven-point lead in the early minutes of the second half, but the 6-foot-6 Phillips took advantage of DeHaan's absence by scoring four straight points to pull Michigan to within 36-33.
Michigan State responded with a 10-4 run, and a jumper by Jefferson gave the Spartans a 46-37 edge with 10:24 to play. Michigan State led by at least five points the rest of the way.
Michigan ran out to a 10-3 lead to start the game before the Spartans rallied. Jefferson got a friendly bounce on a 3-pointer to tie the score at 16 with 8:10 left in the first half. The Spartans finally took a 25-23 lead on a layup by Brittney Thomas.
"Halfway through that first half, we decided to play some defense," Merchant said. "We were giving them way too many open looks."
Jasmine Thomas drained a jumper with 7 seconds left in the first half to give Michigan State a 32-29 lead at the break.
The Spartans hadn't played since Feb. 28, and Merchant said it showed. She hopes her team plays better on Saturday.
"We hadn't played in a while, and we were kind of sluggish," she said. "I thought we played 30 good minutes of basketball.