Michigan State University
Vermont
No. 12 Spartans Match Best Start in Program History
12/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2010
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Head Coach Suzy Merchant Press Conference
Lykendra Johnson | Kalisha Keane
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Lykendra Johnson scored 14 points and No. 12 Michigan State beat Vermont 67-33 Tuesday night.
The Spartans (12-1) won their 10th in a row. They got 12 points from Klarissa Bell and 10 from Kalisha Keane.
MSU, which led 36-15 at halftime, put the game away early in the second half with a 13-2 run during the first five minutes.
Lauren Wheeler and Lauren Buschmann led the Catamounts (0-10) with eight points apiece. Vermont converted just 12-of-43 field goals in the contest.
Michigan State begins the Big Ten season at home against Illinois on Jan. 2. The Spartans scored 35 points off of 26 Vermont turnovers.
POST-GAME NOTES
With the win...
- MSU improves to 12-1 on the season and have won 10 straight.
- The record ties the best start in program history with the 2004-05 and 1973-74 teams.
- Since the inception of the Big Ten Conference for women's basketball for the 1981-82 season, the 12 non-conference wins are the most in MSU history. The 2004-05 team held the previous record at 11.
- The 10-game winning streak is 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 13 in a row at the Breslin Center and improve to 220-78 all-time in the building. The 13-game winning streak is tied for the third longest home winning streak in program history.
- MSU finishes the month of December undefeated (7-0). It is just the fourth time in program history that MSU has had a perfect month when playing over four games (Dec. 2004, Feb. 2005, March 2005).
- Under Coach Merchant, MSU is now 57-6 when holding its opponent under 60 points, including nine of the 10 games during the winning streak.
- MSU is 133-4 all-time when holding opponents below 50 points.
- The Spartans has won all three all-time games against Vermont.
Player Notes:
- Freshman Klarissa Bell became the 11th different Spartan to score in double-figures this season, scoring a season-high 12 points. Bell was perfect from the field going 5-of-5 and hitting both of her 3-pointers.
- It was Bell's first 3-pointer since the season opener, as she had missed her last 12 attempts.
- Bell and junior Taylor Alton each tied their career highs with two steals apiece.
- Junior Lykendra Johnson went 6-of-7 from the field for a game-high 14 points. Johnson is 30-of-43 (69.8%) from the field in the last six games.
- With her five field goals made, senior Kalisha Keane moved into 13th place on the MSU career field goals list with 440.
- Senior Brittney Thomas played a team-high 23 minutes and moved into seventh place on the MSU career minutes list with 3,385.
- Junior Porsche Poole tied her career high with a game-high four assists.
Team Notes:
- The Spartans held their opponent to 33 points for the second-straight game. The total is tied for the ninth fewest in a game in program history and the second lowest since 1975.
- The 66 points allowed over the last two games is fifth fewest in back-to-back games in program history.
- MSU had 14 steals and have posted double-figure steals in eight of the last nine games.
- The Spartans are 9-0 this year and 23-1 over the past two seasons when shooting more free throws than their opponent.
- MSU forced 26 Vermont turnovers which led to a 35-9 edge in points off turnovers. The Spartans are averaging 27.0 turnovers forced and 37.5 points off turnovers in the last two games.
- The Spartans have had a double-digit edge in rebounds in each of the last four games, after posting a 40-29 edge on the boards tonight. Over the last four games, MSU is +55 in rebounding.
- MSU had only 13 turnovers and have committed only 24 total in the last two games, after averaging 19.0 a game over the first 11 games.
