Hoosiers drop road game to Spartans

Coming off a dominating home win against Illinois last Thursday, the IU women's basketball team traveled to No. 16 Michigan State Sunday in hopes of jumping further ahead in the Big Ten standings.\nThe Hoosiers stuck with the Spartans for most of the game and held a lead as late as 6:10 in the second half, but ultimately lost 65-59.\n"It was a great environment today," IU coach Sharon Versyp said. "We're continuing to grow and get better."\nThe loss dropped the Hoosiers to 5-4 in conference and 11-9 overall and into a tie for fourth place in the Big Ten with the Spartans.\n"Their fans were really tough," senior guard Cyndi Valentin said. "It was a tough environment to play in."\nIU trailed for much of the first half, but senior forward Jenny DeMuth led a comeback with only a few minutes remaining. A Whitney Thomas layup with 3:49 left in the half tied the game. The basket was the only one of the night for the freshman forward, who also pulled down 11 rebounds.\nThe game went into halftime tied at 22. The IU defense limited the Spartans to just eight of 26 shooting in the first half.\nThe Hoosiers wasted no time in the second half, quickly taking the lead on a DeMuth jumper. Michigan State matched IU basket-for-basket before the Hoosiers began to pull away. A Valentin lay-in raised the lead to 42-33, giving the Hoosiers their biggest lead of the night, but it was all downhill for IU after that.\nMichigan State went on a 19-4 run of its own to take a 52-46 lead with 3:59 remaining in the game. IU was never able to regain the momentum, losing as the Spartans held on for the victory.\nDeMuth and Valentin were the only Hoosiers to notch double-digits in the game -- both seniors scored 24 points. The senior combo combined to score all 37 points IU put on the board in the second half. DeMuth also tallied six steals and five rebounds before fouling out in the game's final minutes.\n"We've proven we can play in front of big crowds, and we're going to have to do that in our next three road games," DeMuth said. \nIU will continue its stretch of road games Thursday at Wisconsin.