Hens bow out in NCAA Tournament first round
by Jason Tomassini
Issue date: 3/16/07 Section: Sports
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EAST LANSING, Mich. - In just its second NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, Delaware lost 69-58 to No. 5 Michigan State Sunday night in first round play.
The Hens trailed 25-20 at halftime, but the margin grew to 10 just over eight minutes into the half after a three-point play by the Spartans' Victoria Lucas-Perry. Michigan State, which hit four of six three-pointers in the second half, led by as many as 15 over the final 20 minutes.
Delaware shot 29.7 from the field for the game, hitting on only three of 15 three-point attempts.
"I thought our kids really competed tonight," head coach Tina Martin said. "It's just unfortunate that we had open looks and we could not hit shots when we needed to."
Senior forward Tyresa Smith led the Hens with 19 points on seven for 25 shooting from the field. Senior forward Chrissy Fisher scored 13 points and a recorded 11 rebounds.
Five Spartans scored in double digits led by Allyssa DeHaan and Mia Johnson. DeHaan, a 6-foot-9-inch freshman center, who already has the NCAA single-season freshman record and Big Ten single-season record in blocks, recorded six on the night.
"She's a big body in there," Fisher said. "We've faced a couple big kids like that but she's the biggest we've come up against. In terms of trying to attack offensively around the rim, it was tough."
The first half was close throughout as it featured four ties and eight lead changes with neither team trailing by more than five points.
Delaware's pressure out of its 2-3 zone forced 11 first-half turnovers and the Hens, despite being outsized, matched Michigan State in rebounds at 28. The Hens held the Spartans to 27.6 percent shooting in the first half, but shot just 19.5 percent themselves, connecting on one of 10 three-pointers and three of eight foul shots. Nine of the Spartans 11 blocks came in the first half.
The game was played on Michigan State's campus at the Breslin Center, which hosted three other first-round games Sunday, in front of 6,780 people, almost all Spartans fans.
"I thought the crowd was great," Martin said. "That's what a women's basketball game should be like in an NCAA Tournament."
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