IU can’t close out Spartans

Thursday night was a game of advantages for the IU women's basketball team. Unfortunately, visiting Michigan State held the upper hand in most of them. \nThe Spartans beat the Hoosiers on the glass, in the paint, in points off turnovers and at the free-throw line on their way to a nail-biting 72-68 win at Assembly Hall that saw 14 ties and 16 lead changes over the course of the game. \nUnlike the first match-up in East Lansing, Michigan State dominated IU on the glass. They held a 45-31 advantage on the boards, which included 16 offensive rebounds. The Spartans' 6-foot-9 sophomore center Alyssa DeHaan led all players with 15 rebounds. \nAfter the game, IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said she expected DeHaan to put up big rebounding numbers. She said the troubling statistic was the success Michigan State's backcourt players had on the glass.\n"I thought that we could have done a better job getting those guards off the boards," Legette-Jack said. "We'll get better with that."\nThe Spartans also held a 14-point advantage in points in the paint, and had eight more second-chance points than the Hoosiers. And although the Hoosiers forced 19 turnovers while committing just 18, the Spartans had nine more points from giveaways. \nAfter the game, sophomore guard Jamie Braun, who led all Hoosiers with 15 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the free-throw line, attributed that statistic to a lack of focus and shooting struggles in transition. \n"I think that we just weren't looking to score," Braun said. "I think that we just got a little sloppy with the ball when we did get out in transition, ended up turning it over ourselves or having to set it up."\nIU stayed in the game from behind the arc, hitting 9-of-20 3-pointers. Senior guard Nikki Smith, one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in IU women's basketball history, hit 4-of-6 from range on her way to 12 points. \nJunior forward Amber Jackson stepped up inside for the Hoosiers, particularly with fellow junior forward Whitney Thomas in first-half foul trouble. Jackson scored 13 points and nabbed five rebounds, all in the face of significantly taller opposition. \n"Every team in the Big Ten has somebody who's fairly taller than me, so it's something that I just have to deal with," she said after the game.\nJackson said in cases like that, she emphasizes getting to the basket, drawing fouls and doing "what I can to score."\nThe game's first minutes saw disjointed play and sloppy shooting from both teams. At the first TV timeout, the score stood at 4-4, but half of those points came from the free-throw line, and the teams were a combined 2-of-13 from the floor at that point. \nLegette-Jack said that rough start hurt her team's ability to find an early rhythm.\n"They played some tenacious defense perimeter-wise, and I don't think that we attacked and imposed ourselves on them as a team in the beginning," Legette-Jack said. \nAfter the game, Legette-Jack challenged the notion that her team suffered from any kind of complacency Thursday night after beating Michigan State by 14 on the road earlier this season. She instead credited the Spartans for playing good, tough basketball, something she said makes the Big Ten such a good overall conference.\n"This Big Ten is for real," she said, "and I'm hoping that the country understands that. We played hard, and we played a tough team. Tonight, they had a few more points than us, but we'll get better. We'll get better"