East Lansing, MICH. — The Senior game for Michigan State’s lady basketball team was a win for the team’s lone senior, Jenna Allen.
Allen, a center, led MSU with 18 points and seven rebounds in the 64-74 win. Michigan’s Naz Hillman brought in 27 points.
MSU is now 8-8 in the Big Ten and with one game left in the season, the win over Michigan carries a lot of weight. Michigan is 10-7 in conference.
All four periods were won by the Spartans. State was up by nine before Michigan got on the board, thanks to a foul by Nia Clouden. Michigan then went on it’s own run, tieing the game at 10, 13 and 18, but would trail MSU the rest of the night.
The first period ended 18-22. Tory Ozment went 3-3 at the foul line in the second, and with two of her teammates landing three pointers and Allen at the post, MSU led 37-40 at half time.
“Coach told me that confident comes from preparation,” Allen said. “So I was just in the gym and I feel like it really paid off.”
Michigan had been on a seven win Big Ten streak, and MSU had lost its three previous.
Shay Colley scored 12, Mardrekia Cook and Clouden each added 11. Allen scores over 1,000 points in her time at State.
“Overall I thought our kids did a really nice job of knowing what we were looking for,” said MSU head coach Suzy Merchant.
MSU’s final game of the regular season against Penn State will be the first time the two teams will face, their earlier game in January was postponed. Penn State is currently 12-15 while Michigan State is 18-9.