Buzzer shot stops Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State guard Christie Pung had a chance to play hero Sunday afternoon in front of 3,416 fans at the Breslin Center. She missed -- twice. \nPung's miss was junior forward Erin McGinnis' gain. The 6-foot-1 forward, in her second start, rattled home a 12-foot jumper with 1.1 seconds left to squeak by Michigan State 52-50.\n"We didn't rebound at the end," coach Kathi Bennett said. "And it tightens up pretty quick. We didn't get tired though. And that was huge."\nIU (16-7, 7-5 Big Ten) led by nine, 50-41, with 3:13 left in the second half, but the Spartans (8-15, 2-10 Big Ten) had a chance to take the lead with 18.3 seconds remaining. Pung drove the baseline past freshman guard Anna Waugh and scored to tie the game. A Waugh foul on the play had Pung at the line for the Spartans with a chance to take the lead, their first since the end of the first half.\nPung, a 75 percent free-throw shooter, missed, but was rewarded a second chance after junior center Jill Chapman entered the lane early.\nIt didn't help.\n"I had another chance," Pung said. "I was just hoping to make the most of it. But I didn't."\nAfter the second miss, IU (16-7, 7-5 Big Ten) inbounded the ball with 9.9 seconds left. The Hoosiers cleared out for junior point guard Heather Cassady, who found McGinnis in the left corner with 4 seconds left. McGinnis faked out MSU freshman Julie Pagel and rolled home the jump shot for the win. McGinnis finished with 15 points, her second consecutive double-digit game.\nBut it was the Spartans who missed a chance for an upset.\n"We have to play 40 minutes to win in the Big Ten," Pagel said. "We can't play 20 minutes here and 10 minutes there, then fall asleep for eight minutes. You can't do that and win."\nIn the first half, Chapman exploited the soft inside of Michigan State's match-up zone. Working a high-low game with a trio of Hoosier power forwards, Chapman accounted for 63 percent of the Hoosiers' first-half offense.\n"In the zone, they can't double-team that much," Chapman said. "They have to focus on the shooters, so I could just sit behind."\nChapman, at 6-foot-5, used her size against Pagel (5-foot-11), connecting on six of her first seven attempts from the field. After consecutive offensive rebounds and lay-ins with 7:21 left in the first half, Chapman had 14 points. The Spartan's (8-15, 2-10)had 12.\n"We had Erin and Jill working very well together," Bennett said. "They were feeding each other. Rainey hit a big outside that really helped, because they had to cover outside, and it created isolation with Jill."\nBut while Chapman was hot from the field, the rest of the Hoosiers weren't in the first half. Minus Chapman, IU shot 13 percent from the floor on 2-15 shooting and found themselves trailing the 10th-ranked Big Ten team by one, 23-22.\nPagel, though ineffective on defense, shined offensively, leading the Spartans with 11 points. Eight came in the half's final four minutes, erasing a 22-15 IU lead. The Spartans went into the locker room leading despite a stretch of nearly nine minutes without a field goal.\n"She's so aggressive. She never quits," Bennett said. "She's relentless. You have to love everything she does. I really like her."\nPagel led the Spartans with 23 points and nine rebounds, both team highs. She scored six points in the game's final three minutes.\n"Pagel was scrappy and played with a lot of heart," MSU coach Joanne McCallie said. "I couldn't believe she had 23. It was such a blue-collar effort"