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EAST LANSING - Suzy Merchant and her staff crafted the perfect game-plan. Michigan State's women performed it at a previously untapped level of precision.
Together, they delivered the biggest win in program history and one of the biggest upsets in NCAA history. Together, they rendered P in the past. And together, they're moving on to the Sweet 16 for the first time in three years.
All but counted out in facing former coach Joanne P. McCallie and No. 1 seed Duke, the ninth-seeded Spartans held the Blue Devils without a field goal over the final seven-plus minutes and finished on a 16-2 run for a 63-49 victory Tuesday in the second round of the NCAA Women's Tournament.
"We're going up against Duke. They're a No. 1 seed. We came into this game feeling like we had nothing to lose, and we didn't," junior center Allyssa DeHaan said. "We weren't expected to win, so there's a lot of pressure released off us. And we weren't intimidated by them being Duke and them being a No. 1 seed at all."
It's that sort of confidence the Spartans (22-10) played with all night, somewhat surprisingly considering their tumultuous season of injuries and disappointing losses. And they'll need it again come Saturday, when they travel to Berkeley, Calif., and play No. 4 seed Iowa State in the regional semifinal. Tipoff is 9 p.m. locally.
Tuesday's win in front of a raucous crowd of 5,179 raucous fans - most of whom booed loudly when McCallie was introduced before the game - was the first time a No. 9 seed has beaten a No. 1 seed in the women's tournament since Notre Dame did it against Texas Tech in 1998 and the first time a top seed lost in the second round since 2006, when Ohio State got ousted by Boston College.
And when the final horn went off, fans - including many of the MSU men's players - stormed the court and mobbed the team as McCallie quietly vanished into the tunnel and an unexpected early vacation.
"It's sweet, especially the way this happened and the way things went down," said Merchant, who is now 2-0 in her first NCAA Tournament appearance with the Spartans after leading them to the Women's NIT title game last year.
"Obviously there was a little bit of a game-plan clearly, but the bottom line is the players. ... For us to have 14 turnovers is borderline a miracle against anybody. And for us to do it against Duke is pretty spectacular."
Mia Johnson, who took over at point guard when Brittney Thomas was lost for the season to a knee injury in early February, played as splendid a game as she has in her entire MSU career. The Spartans' lone senior committed just one turnover and provided a steadying presence to a team averaging nearly 21 a game this season.
She also had a game- and season-high 17 points, making three of MSU's five 3-pointers and netting two critical running layups in the game's final three minutes as the Spartans kept pulling farther and farther away from the Blue Devils.
"When we come to play, anything can happen and that is what we were all banking on," Johnson said. "Last night, we got together as a team and we talked about what we wanted to accomplish today. With the grace of God, we are here and executed "
And they did just that from the start, staggering Duke (27-6) with a tenacious blend of defense and offense the Spartans haven't put together often in Merchant's second season.
MSU hit four 3-pointers in the first half, building a lead as large as six and going to the locker room at halftime with a 25-20 edge.
The Blue Devils, with 12 high school All-Americans, pulled back into a tie on a layup by Chante Black and a 3-pointer by Abby Waner to start the second half. They took two brief leads afterward, but never by more than two, with 15:38 to play.
That's when MSU's defense ratcheted up its fervor. The Spartans held Duke without a field goal after the 7:29 mark. The Blue Devils missed their final 17 shots.
Meantime, MSU's offense found its stride in the closing minutes, with two baskets by junior Lauren Aitch - who finished with 15 points - and two from Johnson giving them a 55-47 lead by the two-minute mark. As Duke began to foul the Spartans, and they in turn kept making their free throws, all McCallie could do was watch on, with her hands burrowed in her pockets, in stunned amazement.
"We lost our composure, didn't have poise at that point in time, and that's just not a good thing to lose - especially if you are in a hostile environment," said McCallie, who coached MSU from 2000-2007. "I was really trying to think of ways to get stops and score, but we didn't do either."
Lykendra Johnson grabbed 12 rebounds for MSU.
Duke shot just 26.9 percent from the field, with All-American candidate Black held to just four and Waner to just eight on combined 5-of-18 shooting.
As the Spartans await their next game, they'll have time to ponder their emotions after pulling off what many considered the improbable.
"It was never about playing coach P. She was a great coach and did a lot of great things here," junior Aisha Jefferson said. "It was all about us today. ... We all came out and played with heart and played harder than them. We knew we would be the better team tonight."
DUKE (49)
Player M FG FT R A F Pt
Gay 17 1-3 0-0 3 0 2 4
Mitchell 16 0-4 0-0 5 0 2 8
Black 31 2-7 0-2 8 1 3 9
Waner 22 3-11 0-0 1 3 1 34 Thomas 33 4-11 5-6 2 4 2 0
Scheer 1 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 2
Jackson 24 0-6 0-0 3 0 1 2
Cheek 26 4-14 0-0 10 0 3 0
Christmas 24 4-10 2-4 13 2 4 2
Thomas 7 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2
TEAM 0
Totals 200 18-67 7-12 46 10 18 49
MICHIGAN STATE (63)
Player M FG FT R A F Pt
Washington 31 3-10 0-0 4 2 2 7
M. Johnson 38 6-15 2-4 3 4 1 17
Jefferson 30 2-8 0-0 6 2 2 4
L. Johnson 38 1-5 5-6 12 2 2 7
DeHaan 22 3-8 0-0 3 0 0 6
Keane 23 2-4 2-2 2 1 2 7
Aitch 18 6-9 3-5 6 0 3 15
TEAM
Totals 200 23-59 12-17 36 12 12 63
3-point goals--Michigan State 5-20 (M. Johnson 3-10, A. Jefferson 1-0, Keane 1-2, Washington 1-4, L. Johnson 0-2, Aitch 0-1), Duke 6-21 (Black 0-1, Waner 2-9, Thomas 1-5, Cheek 0-1, Scheer 0-1, Christmas 3-4). Turnovers--Michigan State 14, Duke 15. Halftime--Michigan State 25, Duke 20.
