Michigan State University
Iona
No. 15 Women's Basketball Cruises Past Iona, 85-51
12/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 12, 2010
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Head Coach Suzy Merchant Press Conference
Taylor Alton | Lykendra Johnson | Jasmine Thomas
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Lykendra Johnson and Jasmine Thomas scored 12 points each to help Michigan State (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP) beat Iona 85-51 Sunday.
The Spartans (10-1) tied the school record for most 3-pointers in a game with 13, and shot 43.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Anda Ivkovic led the Gaels (2-6) with 16 points. Tomica Bacic added nine points for Iona, which trailed 42-27 at halftime.
MSU won its eighth straight and tied the 2003-04 and 2004-05 teams for the best start in program history.
Playing its fourth game in seven days, State got help from its reserves, outscoring Iona 49-17 in bench points.
POST-GAME NOTES
With the win...
- MSU improves to 10-1 on the season and have won eight straight.
- The start is tied for the second-best start in program history with the 2003-04 team. The 2004-05 team began 12-1.
- The eight game winning streak is tied for the third longest in program history. The Spartans had a 17-game streak in 2005 and an 11-game stretch in 1977.
- The Spartans have won 11 in a row at the Breslin Center and improve to 218-78 all-time in the building.
- Under Coach Merchant, MSU is now 55-6 when holding its opponent under 60 points, including seven of the eight games during the winning streak.
- Meanwhile, when scoring 70 or more points under Merchant, MSU is 36-4 and have won 19 in a row.
- MSU improves to 6-1 all-time on December 12.
- The Spartans has won both all-time games against Iona/
Player Notes:
- All 14 Spartans saw action with 13 of them scoring a field goal and grabbing a rebound.
- With a game-high four assists, senior Brittney Thomas moved into a tie for 10th all-time at MSU with 333 assists.
- Thomas started her 100th career game as a Spartan, tying her for seventh on the school's all-time list.
- Sophomore Jasmine Thomas and junior Lykendra Johnson led the Spartans with 12 points apiece.
- It tied Thomas' season high and was the first time this season she has led MSU in scoring.
- Junior Taylor Alton went 2-of-3 from 3-point range, improving her season totals to 10-of-15 (66.7%).
- Freshman Annalise Pickrel tied a season-high with six rebounds.
- Freshman Bryonna Davis set season-highs with five points, two field goals made, one assist and one steal in 12 minutes.
Team Notes:
- Michigan State tied the program record with 13 made 3-pointers, equaling the mark set last season against Florida Gulf Coast. Ten Spartans hit a 3-pointer today, the most all-time. It is the fourth game this season that the Spartans have made at least 10 3-pointers.
- MSU had a season-low 14 turnovers, while forcing Iona into 18 turnovers. The Spartans had a 20-6 in points off turnovers.
- The Spartans had 11 steals and have posted double-figures steals in six of the last seven games.
- MSU had 17 offensive rebounds and are averaging 17.3 offensive boards over the last four games.
- The Spartans held a 47-32 edge in rebounds.
- MSU had 20 assists, the second most this season.
- The Spartans are 7-0 this season and 21-1 over the past two seasons when shooting more free throws than their opponent.
- MSU limited Iona to one free throw attempt.
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