No. 23 Michigan State Women's Basketball Crushes Indiana State, 83-58

DeHaan records ninth career double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Led by Allyssa DeHaan’s near triple-double with 24 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks, No. 23 Michigan State handed Indiana State its worst home loss in five years with a dominating 83-58 win Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 4,492 at the Hulman Center. The Spartans (7-2) had five players score in double-figures, including Kalisha Keane’s career-best 20 points and 11 rebounds, marking her first career double-double. The Sycamores (5-3), who defeated No. 20 Vanderbilt at home earlier this season, entered the game winning 35 of their last 40 games at home.

The Spartans played one of their most efficient games of the season, outscoring the Sycamores 40-12 in the paint and dishing out 25 assists against a season-low seven turnovers. Courtney Davidson collected a career-high seven assists, while Keane had five. MSU, who leads the Big Ten in field-goal percentage, shot 49 percent from the field (33-of-67) and 90 percent (9-for-10) at the free-throw line.

DeHaan, the nation’s leading shot blocker, swatted eight shots against ISU, tying her own mark for the second-most blocks in a game in MSU history. DeHaan now has 193 career blocks, just one shy of MSU’s all-time record (194 set by Kristen Rasmussen). The 6-9 sophomore center, who set the Spartan single-game record with nine blocked shots against Indiana on Dec. 28, 2006, has blocked eight or more shots on seven occasions in her career. Not only was DeHaan 9-of-17 from the field and 6-for-6 at the line, she also tied her career high with five assists.

As if the defensive effort wasn’t enough, DeHaan limited Sycamore forward Laura Rudolphi, the team’s second-leading scorer with nearly 15 points a game, to one point on 0-for-12 shooting. MSU’s defense held Indiana State to 28 percent shooting and halted the Sycamores’ potent fast-break attack to just four points.

“We had some concerns going into the game,” said MSU head coach Suzy Merchant. “They have a balanced offensive attack and can hurt you in many different ways. Taking them out of their transition game was big for us. We didn’t want to allow them to have any easy looks. I really think Allyssa’s length was causing problems for them down low.

“Offensively, in the second half we wanted to get the ball inside first, then go outside. We took too many quick outside shots in the first half. We definitely had more patience in the second half, and that opened up our outside shot.”

Michigan State scored a season-high 47 points and hit eight of its season-high nine 3-pointers in the second half. The nine 3-pointers tied a season best; MSU also hit nine against Evansville on Nov. 11.

Keane took over in stretches of the second half, scoring 12 of her 20 points and going 5-for-6 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range after the break.

Davidson added 11 points for MSU, while Alisa Wulff and Lauren Aitch each scored 10. It marked the first time MSU has had five players score in double-figures this season.

The Spartans led most of the game and took a 36-29 advantage into halftime, but completely dominated second-half action and outscored the Sycamores in the final 20 minutes, 47-29. MSU led by as many as 28 points in the second half.

Michigan State returns to action to face No. 9 Oklahoma next Sunday, Dec. 16 at noon in East Lansing.

NOTES:
- Sophomore guard Mandy Piechowski tied a career high with two 3-pointers and six points.
- Junior guard Mia Johnson, wore tore the ACL in her right knee during summer workouts, saw her first action of the season. She played the final two minutes of the game, missing one 3-point shot and recording a foul.
- MSU now leads the overall series against Indiana State, 4-0.
- The last time Indiana State lost at home by more than 25 points came during the 2001-02 season against Creighton, a 76-49 loss to the Bluejays.