Michigan State University
Northwestern
No. 11 Spartans Shutdown Northwestern, 56-25
3/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 4, 2011
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The last time Michigan State played Northwestern, the Spartans allowed Amy Jaeschke to score 25 points.
That's how many points Jaeschke's entire team scored in the rematch.
The 11th-ranked Spartans turned in a record-setting defensive performance Friday to defeat Northwestern 56-25 in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals. Top-seeded Michigan State (26-4) held the Wildcats to the lowest points total in the 17-year history of the tournament.
Michigan set the previous low, scoring 37 points in a quarterfinals loss to Iowa in 2008.
"I was proud of our team defensively," Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant said. "Today, I thought we were very, very solid."
Porsche Poole scored 11 points and Brittney Thomas and Lykendra Johnson each scored 10 points for the Spartans, whose dominant defensive effort made up for 42 percent shooting.
Jaeschke and Allison Mocchi led Northwestern (18-13) with six points each. Jaeschke, who averaged 22 points per game, was held to single digits for the first time this season.
"They played some great defense, you know, really rattled us, especially me," Jaeschke said. "They did a great job fronting me and not letting me get comfortable at all during the game."
Northwestern shot 22 percent from the field, committed 23 turnovers and missed all 16 of its 3-point shots. Michigan State barely missed the largest margin of victory in tournament history.
Northwestern committed five turnovers in the first four minutes as Michigan State jumped out to a 7-0 lead. The Wildcats rallied while Michigan State went cold from the field, cutting its deficit to three with several chances to edge closer -- but failed each time.
The Spartans closed the half on a 6-1 run to take a 22-14 lead at the break.
Michigan State continued its dominant defensive effort early in the second half, and Northwestern made just one of its first seven shots after the break to fall behind 28-16.
Jaeschke caught Michigan State's Kalisha Keane with an elbow to the face with 14:19 left, and it was called an intentional foul. Minutes later, Thomas made a 3-pointer to spark a 19-0 run that gave the Spartans a 49-19 lead.
The Wildcats went scoreless for 6½ minutes during the run.
"We just didn't execute our game plan the way we should have," Jaeschke said, "and instead of answering their aggressiveness, we kind of backed down."
The No. 1-seed Spartans will face No. 5 seed Ohio State on Saturday night at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET in the second semifinal matchup. No. 2-seed Penn State plays No. 11-seed Illinois in the first game at 5 p.m. ET.
POST-GAME NOTES
With the win...
- The Spartans improve to 26-4 overall on the season.
- Michigan State advances to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament for the ninth time and for the seventh time in the last eight years. The Spartans are now 9-5 in quarterfinal games.
- MSU improves to 72-8 under Coach Merchant when holding opponents to 60 points or less.
- The senior class has now won 94 games, the fourth most in MSU history.
- Michigan State has won 15 straight games over Northwestern, and 25 of the last 27. MSU is 36-22 against NU. It was their first meeting in the Big Ten Tournament.
Player Notes:
- Porsche Poole led MSU with 11 points tonight, the fifth time this season and the seventh time in her career that she has done so. MSU is undefeated in those games. MSU is also 15-1 when she scores in double-figures in her career.
- Cetera Washington tied her career high with a game-high six assists. The total is tied for the second most by a Spartan this season.
- With her eight points, senior Kalisha Keane moved into seventh on the MSU career scoring list with 1,499.
- Keane is tied for fifth at MSU with 133 games played.
- Keane also moved into 18th in career rebounds with 607.
Team Notes:
- The 25 points allowed are the fewest in the 17-year history of the Big Ten Tournament. The previous record was 37, scored by Michigan against Iowa in 2008.
- The total is also the sixth fewest in MSU history, and the lowest since Jan. 30, 1975.
- The Spartans 56-25 victory marks its largest margin of victory in a Big Ten Tournament game (+31). It is also the second largest differential in tournament history, only surpassed by the 34 point victory by Iowa over Indiana (87-53) in 1997.
- Michigan State has held its opponents to 9.0% (5-55) from behind the arc over the last five games. Northwestern went 0-of-16 tonight.
- The 14 points allowed in the first half were the fewest in a first half this season, while the 11 second half points allowed were the lowest in any half this season.
- The Spartans held Northwestern to 21.7% shooting, the lowest by a MSU opponent this season and the lowest by NU this season. It was the lowest opponent field goal percentage since Michigan shot 18.8% on Feb. 19, 2007.
- MSU outrebounded Northwestern, 40-28. The Spartans have outrebounded 21 of their last 23 opponents.
- The Spartans held NU leading scorer Amy Jaeschke to a career low six points, snapping a string of 46-straight games in double figures.
- Michigan State is 31-2 in the last two seasons when going to the line more than its opponent.
- MSU forced 23 turnovers, which led to a 21-6 edge in points off turnovers.
