Michigan State women's basketball routs College of Charleston, moves to 3-0

EAST LANSING - Victoria Gaines and Taryn McCutcheon each had double-doubles.

And they helped the Michigan State women's basketball team roll to another victory.

Gaines had 13 points and 11 boards off the bench and McCutcheon had 11 points and 10 assists to help the Spartans to a 107-43 victory over the College of Charleston on Sunday afternoon at Breslin Center. 

Gaines and McCutcheon were among six players to score in double figures for the Spartans, who have hit at least 95 points in all three of their games and hit triple digits for the second time.

Freshman Sidney Cooks scored a game-high 18 points while making her first career start, while Kennedy Johnson also scored 18 off the bench. Shay Colley added 10 points for MSU, which was without Taya Reimer, who sat with a pulled hamstring.

MSU coach Suzy Merchant was annoyed with her squad's first-half effort, but thought it picked things up in the second half.

"We just kind of seemed disinterested at times with our effort and urgency and that's not going to work," Merchant said. "You know what's coming (with our schedule) and we need to do better so I kind of got into them at halftime.

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Johnson was among the players to respond and was active in the second half as MSU, which is averaging 100.6 points through three games, expanded its lead.

That strong finish by the Spartans made for a tough on the court showing in the return home for Everett grad and Lansing native Candice Jackson, who is in her fourth season as the head coach of the College of Charleston women. Jackson played at MSU and was the first recruit landed by former coach Joanne P. McCallie.

"It's exciting to be back here and share this experience with my team," Jackson said. "Some of them had never been to Michigan before so they were shocked by the cold. I think it's a good experience for them as well just to play a team like Michigan State and to play a team like Central Michigan, who are both NCAA tournament capable teams. For us to grow, we need to know what it's like and what the big leagues are like."

Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.