With Jenna Allen on cusp of milestone, MSU women's basketball aims to get her on track

EAST LANSING - Jenna Allen has been a major factor this winter for the Michigan State women’s basketball team 

The senior captain's strong final season has keyed several big wins that have led to the No. 24-ranked Spartans spending the last two months in the top 25 of the Associated Press and coaches polls. 

But as MSU pushes for a strong finish over its final six regular-season games, it is focused on getting Allen going again 

Allen, who is just shy of 1,000 career points, has been quiet the past couple games for the Spartans. That included being held to two points while fouling out in just 12 minutes in a loss at nationally ranked Iowa last week. And she was held to three points on 1-of-9 shooting in Monday’s win over Indiana. 

"We've got to get her back going again," MSU coach Suzy Merchant said. "She will (get going). She's a great kid and she's a hard worker and she's in the gym a lot of time and wants to be that go-to guy down the stretch. We wouldn't be in the position we're in right now if it wasn't for how she put the team on her back. Now maybe some other people have to step up and we'll get her back going again."

Allen has performed like an All-Big Ten player this winter and is MSU's second-leading scorer at 13.5 points and averages a team-leading 7.0 rebounds. That success has her entering Thursday's contest at Wisconsin six points away from becoming the 27th player in the program's history to reach 1,000 points.

MSU junior Taryn McCutcheon doesn't think the 1,000-point milestone is weighing on the mind of Allen, and believes she's just going through a small drought that players endure during the course of a long season.

"We put a lot of pressure on her as the lone senior to step up every game and I think she's feeling a little bit of that pressure," McCutcheon said.. We've just got to talk to her and tell her she's fine. 

"(She just needs to) play basketball because she's been phenomenal all year and nobody has been able to stop her. Once she gets back going we'll be fine."

More:Changed approach in offseason has Jenna Allen poised for strong finish for MSU women

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