Michigan State University
Richmond
No. 25 Spartans Beat Richmond, 76-52, in Orlando
11/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Kalisha Keane scored 26 points and Michigan State (No. 25 AP) used some suffocating second-half defense to beat Richmond 76-52 Saturday in the UCF Thanksgiving Classic.
Brittney Thomas added nine points and Courtney Schiffauer had eight for the Spartans, who improved to 4-1 after outscoring the Spiders 37-21 in the second half.
Brittani Shells led Richmond (4-3) with 16 points. The Spiders played even with the Spartans for the first 16 minutes of the game, but couldn't maintain the pace.
"We expected Richmond to come out with a lot of fire and intensity," Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant said. "Fortunately, we had Kalisha there to match it, and then the rest of the team picked things up defensively to help us pull away."
Michigan State opened the second half with 11 straight points to take a 50-31 lead with 15:27 left. Shells finally ended Richmond's drought with a fallaway 8-footer with 14:38 to play that made it 50-33, but the Spiders never got closer than 14 the rest of the game.
Keane scored 22 points in the first half, hitting four 3-pointers and going 9 of 12 from the field. The Spartans needed all of her offense to break away from a Richmond team that harassed Michigan State all over the court.
The Spiders led 25-23 after a layup by Shells with 5:20 left in the half, but Michigan State finished the half with a 16-6 run to lead 39-31 at halftime.
"That run at the end of the half was really when our defense perked up," Merchant said. "The girls started getting in the gaps, taking away passing lanes and that helped us create some turnovers that led to easy baskets."
POST-GAME NOTES
With the win...
- MSU improves to 5-1 on the season.
- Under Coach Merchant, MSU is now 33-4 when scoring over 70 points and have won its last 16 games.
- Under Coach Merchant, MSU is now 53-6 when holding its opponent under 60 points.
- MSU improves to 8-4 in games played in the state of Florida.
Player Notes:
- Senior Brittney Thomas moved into a tie for 11th with 322 career assists. She also tied for 10th all-time with 95 games started and 12th with 3,183 minutes played.
- With her career high 11 field goals made, senior Kalisha Keane moved into 17th all-time with 409 field goals. Keane also tied her career high with four made 3-pointers, going 4-of-6.
- Keane scored a game-high 26 points, it was her fifth time leading the team in scoring in six games. She has scored in double-figures in all six games. Keane had 22 points in the first half.
- Keane also tied her career high with six steals.
- Junior Porsche Poole led MSU with four assists, tying her career high.
- Redshirt sophomore Courtney Schiffauer scored a season-high eight points off the bench.
- Junior Lykendra Johnson had two blocks, two steals and six offensive rebounds.
- Junior Taylor Alton went 2-of-2 from behind the arc. She has made all five attempts over the last three games.
Team Notes:
- The Spartans shot 11-of-21 from 3-point range (52.4%), its third game this season with 10 or more 3-pointers.
- MSU grabbed a season-high 18 offensive rebounds that led to a 19-5 edge in second chance points.
- The Spartans held a 46-32 edge in rebounding.
- Michigan State forced 22 turnovers which led to 26 points off turnovers.
- MSU is 18-1 the last two years when shooting more free throws than its opponents.
- MSU has won its eighth straight game in regular season tournaments and improve to 73-40 all-time.
- MSU and Richmond met for the first time.
