IU loses despite Sinclair’s 1,000th point

Senior forward Aulani Sinclair became the 23rd Hoosier to join the 1,000-point club Sunday, connecting on a 3-pointer from the far-right wing with a hand in her face in the second half off of a pass from junior guard Andrea Newbauer.

“I couldn’t ask for a better milestone to hit, but just a little unhappy with the outcome of the game,” Sinclair said. “I was just trying to play basketball, really. I didn’t have that set in my mind.”

However, it was a tale of two halves for the IU women’s basketball team against a top-ranked Michigan State defense.

Despite shooting 57.1 percent in the second half, IU could not come back from its 14-point halftime deficit, falling to the Spartans 56-46 Sunday afternoon at Assembly Hall.

Senior guard Jasmine McGhee led the Hoosiers (10-8, 1-4) in the loss with a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds. She scored 16 in the second half.

Kiana Johnson scored 15 points and dished out five assists while

Klarissa Bell chipped in 12 points in the victory for Michigan State (16-2, 4-1).

IU Coach Curt Miller said he knew his team would be in for a fight against the Spartans, who are fourth in the nation in points allowed, and first in the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense and 3-point defense.

They have also held each of their opponent’s leading-scorers below 30.3 percent from the field and kept them below their scoring average.

The Spartan defense did not disappoint, as the Hoosiers shot their worst field goal percentage of the season in the first half, going 7-28 from the field. They have shot under 30 percent in only six other halves this season.

The resulting 15-point first half output is the lowest point-production in one half for the Hoosiers this season.

“I’m not going to say that we were awful offensively,” Miller said. “Michigan State is good defensively.”

Sinclair, who came into the game averaging 18.8 points-per-game, managed just six points on 2-for-10 shooting, facing constant pressure and double teams. She was scoreless in the first half and IU trailed the Spartans 29-15.

“That team we played is one of the premiere defensive teams in the country,” Miller said.

In the second half, while the game plan stayed the same as the first half, Miller said the results changed dramatically, as the Hoosiers shot more than 50 percent from the field for just the fourth time this season, making 12 of their 21 shots.

“We were a little bit more determined, we got to the foul line a few more times and we put together a really solid half against a talented defensive team,” Miller said.

Miller also said he liked his team’s fight to outscore the Spartans 31-27 in the second half, saying that it showed “baby steps” of growth for the team.

However, a season-high 25 turnovers kept the Hoosiers from inching any closer than a 10-point deficit in the second half.

“We were just trying to play too fast,” McGhee said. “We weren’t playing our tempo and it just got away from us in the first half. We tried to come back in the second half, but they were just pressuring us and pressuring us.”