Michigan State University
Purdue
No. 19 Spartan Women Holds Off Purdue, 65-64
3/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Aerial Powers scored 26 points and corralled 12 rebounds to help lead the No. 19 Michigan State women past upset-minded Purdue 65-64 in the Big Ten tournament Friday night.
Branndais Agee scored 13 points and made six steals for the third-seeded Spartans (23-7), and Jasmine Hines added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Michigan State advances to meet No. 2 Ohio State in Saturday's semifinals.
No. 6 seed Purdue (20-11) raced to a 32-25 halftime lead, and had a chance to tie late. April Wilson missed a trey with five seconds left, and Bree Horrocks drove for a layup for the final score.
MSU is the first team to beat Purdue when the Boilermakers led at the half, and also notched its first tourney win over Purdue in five meetings.
Purdue made just three third-quarter field goals as MSU caught up. Led by Powers, the Spartans outscored Purdue 36-22 in the paint.
Bridget Perry led Purdue with 18 points.
B1G Tournament Quarterfinals Post-Game Notes vs. Purdue (March 4)
• Michigan State is the No. 3 seed in the B1G Tournament for the first time since 2007 and the third time overall after also being the third seed in 2006. All three times that the Spartans have been the No. 3 seed, the tournament has been played in Indianapolis and the Spartans have advanced to the semifinals all three times.
• MSU improves to 12-7 all-time in the B1G Tournament quarterfinals, winning three of the last four trips to the quarters. Under head coach Suzy Merchant, MSU is 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
• Michigan State advances to the B1G Tournament semifinals for the third time in last four years as part of the sixth time in nine seasons under Coach Merchant. Overall, this will be MSU's 12th trip to the B1G Tournament semifinals, logging a 2-9 mark, advancing to the finals in 2005 and winning the B1G crown, as well as 2013, losing to Purdue.
• The Spartan-Boilermaker match-up in the B1G Tournament was third match-up in the last five years and fifth overall, as they last met in the 2013 championship game. Of the five meetings, this was the first time that MSU was the lower-seed, as the Spartans been the higher-seed in all four previous B1G Tourney match-ups.
• MSU is now 1-4 against Purdue in neutral court match-ups with all five coming in the B1G Tournament including 1-3 in Indianapolis and now 1-2 in the quarterfinals.
• The Spartans have beat the Boilermakers in five of the last six meetings, improving to 12-5 overall against Purdue under head coach Suzy Merchant. MSU also cut the gap in the all-time series with Purdue to 38-31.
• MSU trailed at halftime, 32-25, which tied for the Spartans' second-lowest first-half output of the season behind 23 vs. Iowa on Jan. 16, and matching 25 points each at Indiana (Jan. 13) in the game before the Iowa outing and versus Rutgers (Jan. 19) in the game following the Iowa game.
• Michigan State's halftime deficit was its 11th of the season, rallying in five of those and is now 5-6 when trailing at the break. Michigan State opened the second half with a 10-2 run to go up 35-34 at the 6:05 mark of the third quarter. Jasmine Hines scored six of the 10 Spartan points during the run.
• The Spartans are the first team to beat Purdue after trailing at the half in 19 games.
• The Spartans led 56-53 with five minutes left on Friday, and are now 20-1 when leading with five minutes remaining. MSU has won 89 of its last 93, winning 138 of the last 142 games when leading at the five minute mark. In Coach Merchant's tenure, Michigan State is 174-8 when holding a lead with five minutes left. MSU's only loss came against Penn State on Feb. 11, when the Spartans led 54-52 with 5:12 left in the game.
• MSU trailed Purdue, 44-43, at the end of the third quarter, which was just Purdue's third loss in 17 games when leading after three periods, as the Boilermakers entered Friday 14-2 when leading after the third quarter.
• With 26 points and 12 rebounds, junior guard Aerial Powers boosted her career school record for double-doubles by posting her 46th of her career. Powers has registered a double-double in each of the last three games and five of the last seven as part of 12 on the season.
• The 26 points by Powers are tied for fourth in Spartan history for single-game scoring in the B1G Tournament, while the 12 rebounds is also tied for No. 4 for MSU's B1G Tournament single-game records
• Powers scored in double-figures for the 59th-consecutive game, reaching double-digits in the first half alone with 13 points, finishing the game with 26 points.
• The 12 double-doubles this season is tied for seventh on MSU's single-season double-doubles list, as Powers now has three marks on that list, including the school record 24 last season and 10 as a freshman. Of the 21 spots on the list, Powers is one of just two players with three marks on that list, joining Mary Kay Itnyre (1978-80), whose record of 19 in 1978 was the mark that Powers broke.
• Powers' 26 points is her fifth-straight game with 20+ points as part of 18 this season and 42 for her career, as MSU is 15-3 this season and 27-15 for her career when Powers logs a 20-point game.
• With 12 rebounds, Powers now has 900 career rebounds, which ranks sixth best in school history. She is 20 rebounds from cracking the top-five on the list.
• Powers has 617 points for her season, her second straight season with at least 600 points. The 617 points rank second in Spartan history for points in a single season. Powers owns that record with 652 scored in the 2014-15 season.
• Powers now has 1,737 career points, which ranks third on the Michigan State all-time list for career scoring. Powers is two points from tying for second on the career scoring list.
• Powers connected on 8-of-10 from the free-throw line and has made 152 free-throws this season, which ranks second on the Spartan single season list. Powers is seven free-throws from breaking her own school record for free-throws made in a season, which she set in the 2014-15 season.
• With 13 points, redshirt-junior Branddais Agee tallied double-figures for the second game in a row, fifth in the last six and 14 of the last 16 as part of 25 on the season with
• Agee tied MSU's single-game B1G Tournament record with six steals, matching Kristin Haynie's six swipes vs. Ohio State on March 7, 2003.
• Senior forward Jasmine Hines posted in double-digits for the fourth-straight game and 15th this season with 11 points, all in the second half.
• Hines now has 930 career points, closing in on becoming the 26th player in MSU history to reach the 1,000 career plateau.
