Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan St
'Cats Fall to Michigan State in Season Finale
3/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 2, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Syreeta Bromfield scored 14 of her game-high 20 points in the first half as Michigan State avenged an early season loss to Northwestern, winning 75-43 in East Lansing. The Spartans started the second half on a 22-6 run, holding NU to just 11 points in the entire period. NU ends the regular season 8-19 overall and 3-13 in the Big Ten. The Spartans finished 17-10, 10-6.
With a 3-13 conference finish, NU becomes the No. 10 seed in the 2003 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament being played in Indianapolis, Ind., on March 6-10. NU will meet Iowa, the tourney's No. 7 seed, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon at Conseco Fieldhouse. With a win, NU will face second-seeded Minnesota at 5 p.m. the following day.
NU and Iowa faced each other only once during the regular season with the Hawkeyes coming out on top, 72-60. In fact, the last time the Wildcats were the 10-seed--head coach June Olkowski's first season in Evanston--they played Iowa and won (68-59), becoming the second ever No. 10 seed to win a first round tournament game in Big Ten Tournament history. Ohio State beat Penn State in 1997, 80-79. It is also the last time the Wildcats beat the Hawkeyes.
In this afternoon's game, the first half was a back-and-forth battle as both teams shot better than 45 percent in the first stanza. MSU finished the first 20 minutes at a blistering 58-percent from the floor. Both teams shot well behind the arc as well, with each team draining five threes apiece. Michigan native Samantha McComb (Farmington Hills, Mich./ North Farmington) led NU reaching double figures for the 16th time this season, hitting three threes and scoring all 12 of her points in the first half.
The second half was a completely different story. The Spartans came charging out of the lockeroom to score the first nine points on their way to outscoring NU 37-11 in the period. The 11 points is the lowest point total in a single half in any game under Olkowski.
Center Sarah Kwasinski (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) finished with a team-high 13 points and five assists. Kwasinski was 6-of-10 from the floor in 30 minutes of action.
