MADISON, Wis. – Behind a pair of 20-point performances from graduate guard Kamaria McDaniel and senior forward Taiyier Parks, the Michigan State women’s basketball team got back in the winning column with a dominating 88-63 victory over Wisconsin Wednesday at the Kohl Center.
Michigan State played its fourth-straight game without head coach Suzy Merchant, who missed the game due to a medical incident. MSU captured its first win under acting head coach Dean Lockwood.
The Spartans snapped a three-game losing skid, improving to 12-12 overall and 4-9 in Big Ten action. Wisconsin fell to 7-18 overall and 2-11 in league play.
For the first time this season, Michigan State had a pair of players reach the 20-point mark. McDaniel set a new MSU high with 29 points to lead MSU, netting a career-high six 3-pointers, adding five rebounds. Parks had a career-high 20 points, going 9-for-10 from the field, also adding a team-high tying five boards. Sophomore guard DeeDee Hagemann reached double figures for the fourth-straight game with 13 points and dished out six assists.
For the game, MSU shot a season-high 57.6 percent (34-for-59). The Spartans also shot 80.0 percent from the charity stripe (8-for-10).
Wisconsin was led by 22 points from Julie Pospislova.
The Badgers jumped out to an early 12-5 lead before McDaniel’s second 3-pointer of the game made it a 12-8 deficit. The Spartans went over two minutes without a field goal as the Badgers saw Pospislova score nine points in the period. Freshman Theryn Hallock broke the drought with a much-needed trey. Wisconsin led after the first 10 minutes 20-14, shooting 53.3 percent from the field.
In the second quarter, the Michigan State offense came to life, shooting 45.5 percent for the period. McDaniel led the way for the Spartans with eight points, going 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Michigan State used a 7-0 run to trim the Badgers eight point advantage. After a McDaniel trey MSU took its first lead of the game, 31-30.
Despite still being a tight game in the third period, Michigan State led the bulk of the quarter. The Spartans biggest lead was four, which they achieved on three different occasions. Senior Tory Ozment helped ignite the MSU offense, scoring all seven of her points in the period.
In the fourth quarter, the Spartans came out fast with an 8-0 run that gave Michigan State its first double-digit lead 67-56. The streak increased to…
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