Michigan State women shut down by Arizona State in NCAA tournament
COLUMBIA, S.C. – As she’s done all season long, senior guard Tori Jankoska led the Michigan State women’s basketball team with 26 points and eight rebounds.
But it was her final game as a Spartan, as 9-seeded MSU (21-12) fell 73-61 to 8-seeded Arizona State (20-12) in the first round of the NCAA women's tournament at Colonial Life Arena on Friday night.
“Tori did what she has done all year for us… just the will to win and compete and be up for the challenge, coach Suzy Merchant said.
“I mean I was disappointed for her, but I’m so proud of how she’s represented Michigan State for four years and the season she’s had has been incredible.”
The MSU offense couldn’t find an answer for the Sun Devils’ dominant defense, as it committed 18 turnovers, and shot 49 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the arc. Senior guard Branndais Agee scored nine points, and Taya Reimer and Taryn McCutcheon each added seven.
Before the game, ASU’s frontcourt said it planned to contain Jankoska, and that’s exactly what it did in the first half. Jankoska didn’t make her first field goal until the ninth minute of play, and was held scoreless the entire second quarter.
“Everywhere I went, there was two people on me. If I came off a ball screen, there was going to be two people there,” Jankoska said. “We weren’t getting stops in the first half and I get a lot of my points in transition. When we’re not getting stops, we can’t get rebounds and push the ball.”
The team collectively struggled from all areas of the court early on, shooting 36 percent from the field (4 of 11) and 33 percent from behind the arc (1 of 3) in the first quarter. Six points from ASU freshman guard Reili Richardson led the Sun Devils to a 24-10 first-quarter lead.
ASU had a nearly four-minute scoring drought in the second quarter, but MSU couldn’t capitalize. The Spartans' offensive struggles persisted, particularly with retaining ball possession. In the first half, the Spartans committed 12 turnovers to the Sun Devils' five.
“We were prepared for everything that they were going to run, so I feel like we followed through well, took away (Jankoska’s) space, hedged hard on ball screens," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said.
“We really challenged them. We’ve got to pressure like we know how to pressure. We’ve got to lock down the top scorers… and we finally stepped up and did it.”
With back-to-back 3-pointers from Richardson and freshman guard Kiara Russell, the Sun Devils put together a 10-0 run and jumped out to a 42-20 halftime lead.
Freshman forward Victoria Gaines led MSU with five points at the half, while senior center Quinn Dornstauder led the Sun Devils with 10.
“That first half was not who we were as a team all year. We didn’t get settled in at all,” Merchant said.
“I just didn’t think anybody really wanted the ball, but Tori. We didn’t make good decisions and we turned it over too much.”
MSU’s offense came out more aggressively in the second half, as Agee nailed a mid-range jumper in the first 20 seconds of play. Jankoska worked her way into the paint and scored nine in the quarter. But a 2-minute scoring drought allowed ASU to a 58-35 lead at the end of the third.
In the fourth quarter, the Spartans’ pressure in the paint remained high. But ASU’s 23-point lead was too big to overcome.
Three Sun Devils scored in double figures, including leading scorer Dornstauder with 16, sophomore guard Sabrina Haines with 15 and Richardson with 13.
While the first-round loss was disappointing for Jankoska, who is the all-time leading scorer in MSU women’s basketball history, she said she’s extremely grateful for her time as a Spartan.
“Playing at Michigan State has been a dream come true for me,” Jankoska said. “Playing for coach Merchant, with my teammates for the past four years, I really couldn’t have asked for a better college experience than I got playing for this program.”