Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Host Grand Valley State in Season-Opening Exhibition
10/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 30, 2006
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EAST LANSING, Mich.- The Spartans tip-off their 2006-07 season with Thursday's exhibition game with defending Division II National Champion Grand Valley State.
The Spartans finished last season 24-10 under head coach Joanne P. McCallie, and took third in the Big Ten with an 11-5 mark. The team made a run to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament and the Regional Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, before falling to No. 1-seed Duke.
The Lakers finished 33-3 en route to the team's first national championship. Head coach Dawn Plitzuweit coached the team to a school-record 22-game winning streak as the season concluded, capping it with a 58-52 win over American International.
Michigan State holds a 10-3 advantage in the all-time regular-season series, winning the last eight meetings, concluding with an 80-64 win in Allendale on Dec. 23, 1980. The Spartans moved on to the Big Ten in 1981 -- the first year of women's championships for the conference, concluding the rivalry.
The teams met in an exhibition game last fall, with the Spartans walking off the Breslin Center floor with an 84-77 win. Aisha Jefferson had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Spartans.
Spartan Notables
• The Spartans and Lakers were once schedule mates, playing each other regularly until 1980. The Spartans won the last eight matches between the schools.
• Head coach Joanne P. McCallie enters the 2006-07 season eight wins shy of 300 in her career.
• Freshman center Allyssa DeHaan, at 6-9, is the tallest woman to ever don a Spartan jersey.
• The Spartans have made four consecutive NCAA Tournaments and appeared in five straight postseasons.
• MSU is one of just 10 teams in the nation to have made trips to the NCAA Regional Semifinals in each of the last two years.
• Senior Rene Haynes is three takeaways shy of entering the top 10 in school history in career steals.
• MSU is just 11 wins shy of reaching 550 wins in program history.
• Assistant coach Al Brown is entering his 37th year as a collegiate coach, having served as an aide for 32 campaigns and a head coach for five.
• The Spartans are ranked third in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches and Media polls and have also received preseason national rankings from CBS SportsLine.com/Basketball News (15th) and Lindy's (20th).
