Michigan State University
Samford
Women's Basketball Cruises Past Samford, 63-35
12/8/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2000
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Michigan State women's basketball turned in a solid team performance in handing the Samford Bulldogs a 63-35 defeat Friday night in Birmingham, Alabama.
The 35 points allowed was the fewest by an opponent since Calvin College scored 33 in a 66-33 Spartan win on Feb. 20, 1979.
"I thought it was a good, solid team effort," said MSU Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie. "It was good to come out of the blocks hard with a defensive effort. Individually, I thought that Jennifer (Callier) and Julie (Pagel) dictated the tempo for us and came ready to play."
The Spartans, playing for a second consecutive game without leading scorer Becky Cummings, jumped out to an early lead taking a 14-3 lead just 13:35 into the contest. After a layup by Jennifer Callier made the score 16-5, the Spartans held Samford without a basket for nearly six minutes before the Bulldogs converted. After SU's Jennifer Luttrell hit a jumper, MSU's Vnemina Reese scored seven straight points to give MSU a 25-7 advantage with 7:37 remaining in the first half.
Samford closed out the first half on an 8-3 run to pull within 15 (30-15) at the half. The Big Ten's top field goal percent defensive squad held Samford to just 20.0 percent (5-of-25) shooting and picked up eight steals on 12 Samford turnovers. Reese led the Spartans in the first half with 13 points, her second consecutive game in double-figure scoring.
The Spartans continued to pour it on in the second half, going on a 24-9 run in the first 12:36. Seven different players scored in the run as MSU opened up a 54-26 lead and never looked back in posting the win. Once again, the Spartans had a solid defensive effort as Samford connected on just 25.8 percent (8-of-31) of their second-half shots, while MSU hit on 50 percent (15-of-30) of their shots.
Jennifer Callier and Vnemina Reese paced the Spartans with 13 points apiece. Julie Pagel added nine points and 11 rebounds in 18 minutes. Seven different players scored five points each for the Samford (2-6 overall).
Michigan State (5-3 overall) returns to action this Sunday (Dec. 10), at 2:30 p.m. EST, when they face the Crimson Tide of Alabama. The game, which is game one of the Big Ten/SEC Challenge, will be shown live on espn2 and can also be heard on The Fan 730 AM - WVFN and on the internet by logging onto www.msuspartans.com.
