Michigan State University
Florida International
Women's Basketball Falls to Florida International, 69-56
11/24/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2001
MIAMI, Fla - A slow start and poor shooting hampered the Spartans on Saturday night at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic Championship game. MSU dropped its first game of the year, 69-56, to Florida International in Miami. MSU fell to 4-1 overall with the loss, while FIU improved to 4-1 overall.
Michigan State struggled early on, falling behind by seven (15-8) with just under 12 minutes to play. MSU was struggling from the field, shooting just 33.3 percent (3-of-9), early on. FIU extended the lead to 11 (21-10) on a basket by Cormisha Cotton and opened up a 20-point advantage (32-12) after a transition basket by Cheryl Moody.
Six straight points by Vnemina Reese cut the FIU lead to 16 (36-20) with 21 seconds left in the half. FIU's Milena Tomova added a pair of free throws with 2.2 seconds left to give the Golden Panthers a 38-20 lead at the half.
Florida International continued to add to its lead in the second stanza, taking a 50-27 lead with 12:50 to go in the game. Back-to-back buckets by Syreeta Bromfield and Reese helped MSU cut the deficit to 21 (54-33) with 10:30 to go.
Michigan State closed the gap to 16 (57-41) on a layup by Bromfield and pulled to within 13 (65-52) on a three-point basket by Reese with 2:03 to play. However, FIU answered each Spartan basket and walked away with the 69-56 victory.
For the game, FIU shot 46.0 percent (23-of-50) from the field while MSU shot just 40.0 percent (22-of-55). One of the big differences was free throw shooting. MSU shot 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from the charity stripe, while FIU shot 72.0 percent (18-of-25).
Reese led MSU with 20 points, while Bromfield added 13. FIU was led by Mandy Shafer with 20 points and Gregana Slavtcheva with 16.
MSU heads to Detroit Wednesday (Nov. 28) to face the Titans. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Spartan Notebook
Vnemina Reese was named to the FIU Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament team. Reese finished with 20 points against FIU and added 10 points against Monmouth.
