Michigan
14-8, 6-5B1G
Michigan State
11-12, 3-9B1G
Wolverines Sweep Spartans for First Time Since 1999-2000
2/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2015
• Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Site: East Lansing, Mich. (Breslin Center)
Score: Michigan 72, Michigan State 59
Records: U-M (14-8, 6-5 B1G), MSU (11-12, 3-9 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Feb. 8 -- vs. Rutgers (Crisler Center), 2 p.m.
• Kornacki Postgame Feature: Tide Turns in Michigan-Michigan State Rivalry
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball team used a 20-2 first-half run to record its first season sweep of Michigan State since the 1999-2000 season with a 72-59 victory over the Spartans on Thursday night (Feb. 5) inside the Breslin Center.
Senior Cyesha Goree recorded her 13th double-double of the season, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead U-M. Freshman Katelynn Flaherty scored a team-high 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting, with sophomore Siera Thompson chipping in 16 points and six rebounds, and senior Shannon Smith going for 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Michigan shot 49.1 percent (28-for-57) from the floor and was outrebounded by just one, 40-39.
MSU led 12-9 with 13:28 left in the first half but scored just two more points over the next 9:48 as Michigan used a 20-2 run for a 29-14 lead. A Goree free throw, followed by a Flaherty triple with 12:11 remaining ignited the run and gave Michigan a lead it kept the rest of the half.
A junior Madison Ristovski lefty layup with 8:36 left pushed Michigan's lead to 20-13, with Thompson canning her third triple of the stanza at the 7:28 mark to push Michigan's lead to nine, 23-14.
Flaherty and Thompson hit back-to-back triples for Michigan's next points, pushing the Wolverine advantage to 15 points at 29-14 with 4:49 before the half.
The Maize and Blue took its largest lead of the first 20 minutes on a Smith steal-and-score with 22 seconds left, going up 37-18.
Michigan hit the break with a 37-21 halftime lead behind 12 points from each Flaherty and Thompson. U-M led by as many as 19 in the first frame, using 50-percent shooting (15-for-30) and 60-percent shooting (6-for-10) from three-point range. MSU shot just 26.7 percent (8-for-30) and had nine turnovers during the first 20 minutes of play. U-M outrebounded the Spartans, 21-18, in the first half.
U-M scored the first six points of the second half to push its lead to 22 points, 43-21, early in the second half. MSU went on a 10-4 run to cut the Wolverine lead to 14 points, 49-35, with 12:07 left to result in a U-M timeout. Goree scored out of the timeout on a designed play, followed by another bucket on the next Michigan possession to nudge the Wolverine lead back to 18 points, 53-35, at the 11:25 mark.
MSU trimmed the Michigan lead to 11, 57-46, on a three-point play with 7:08 left. Flaherty hit a triple on Michigan's next possession to increase the Wolverine advantage to 14, 60-46, with 6:57 left. Thompson made a reverse layup after an MSU turnover as the Maize and Blue regained a 16-point lead with 6:23 left.
Michigan called timeout with 4:04 remaining as Michigan State closed within single digits for the first time since the first half, 64-55. Ristovski came up with a huge block to save a layup with 3:16 remaining to keep the Wolverine lead at nine.
The Spartans cut the lead to six with 2:31 remaining, but senior Nicole Elmblad hit the first of four straight free throws on her part for the Wolverines, who went 8-for-8 at the line down the stretch to preserve the 13-point win.
Michigan is back in action on Sunday (Feb. 8), hosting Rutgers at Crisler Center at 2 p.m. [ Tickets ]
