TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Indiana State stood toe-to-toe with No. 23 Michigan State for the better part of Saturday afternoon's (Dec. 8) women's college basketball game, but the Sycamores hit just 27.4% of their shots as they fell 83-58 to the Spartans in front of 4,492 fans at Hulman Center.
ISU dropped to 5-3 on the season, while Michigan State improved to 7-2.
The Sycamores trailed just 36-29 at the half, despite hitting only 25% of their shots. The Spartans' halftime advantage was nearly trimmed to just four points as Leah Phillips' mid-court shot at the buzzer rimmed in and out of the basket. Phillips posted all of her game-high 12 points in the first half.
Indiana State trimmed the Michigan State lead down to 45-38 on a basket by Kara Schilli with 15:54 left in the game, but the Spartans went on a 7-0 run to push the lead out to 52-38 at the 13:52 mark. The margin reached a high of 28 points at 83-55 with 41 seconds on the clock. Freshman Heather Seyfred connected on a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left for the final margin of 83-58.
In her first collegiate start, sophomore Maria Olsthoorn posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Olsthoorn hit 7-of-8 free throws in the game as she missed just one charity toss for the first time this season. Olsthoorn hit her first 23 free throws on the season, including a mark of 11-of-11 in the season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Joining Phillips and Olsthoorn in double figures scoring was Annie Bankhead, who scored 11 points. The loss to Michigan State marks the first time this season that Indiana State was not victorious when putting at least three players in double figures scoring.
For the game, Indiana State mustered just a 27.4% shooting effort, while the Spartans were able to counter with a 49.3% mark from the field. Leading the way for Michigan State was the play of 6-9 sophomore center Allyssa DeHaan, who connected on 9-of-17 shots from the field and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line for a game-high 24 points.
The Sycamores were attempting to defeat two nationally-ranked opponents in the same season with a win over Michigan State. On November 14, Indiana State downed No. 17 Vanderbilt by a score of 77-72 in overtime.
Indiana State will take a week off now for final exams and are not scheduled to return to action until next Saturday, December 15 when they travel to Marquette. Tip-off is slated for 5:00 p.m. (ET), and can be heard live on WISU-FM as well as GoSycamores.com.
