DeeDee Hagemann sets new career high, leads MSU women's basketball to record night
EAST LANSING — DeeDee Hagemann proved her ability as a facilitator during her first two seasons in the Michigan State women's basketball program.
The point guard ranked among the Big Ten leaders in assists while earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors in both seasons.
In the early stages of her junior season, Hagemann is showing the ability to be a big-time scorer as well.
The latest example came Thursday as Hagemann set a new career-high in scoring while helping the Spartans to a 105-44 victory over Detroit Mercy at Breslin Center.
Hagemann finished with a career-high 24 points, knocking down 8-of-10 shots from the field and going 5-for-6 from 3-point range. She also added seven assists.
The performance marked the second 20-point game of the season for Hagemann, who had none in her first two seasons. Hagemann exceeded her previous career-high of 23 points, which she set in the Spartans' season-opening victory over Oakland.
"I feel like all the hard work I put in over the offseason gave me a lot of confidence to take those shots," Hagemann said. "I'm just taking those shots and I'm very confident and now they're going in."
MSU grad student Tory Ozment has noticed a different confidence in Hagemann because of her offseason preparation and believes she's proved a point in the season's early stages.
"She's definitely made a statement," Ozment said. "You have to guard her. She obviously can dish the ball out, but she's able to get to the rim and she's able to shoot the 3 now. She's proved it every game so far."
The strong shooting game by Hagemann was part of a record-shooting night for the Spartans (3-0). MSU shot a program-record 70.9%, knocking down 39 of 55 attempts from the field. That included hitting 14-of-19 shots from 3-point range (73.7%).
"That's incredible," MSU coach Robyn Fralick said. "A lot of credit to Detroit Mercy. (They) are an incredibly improved team from last season and we knew that coming in. They've had two big wins and they took Butler on the road right down the wire. For us to shoot that high of a percentage — I think it's when you take good shots and move the ball and you get shots that you work on, you shoot the ball better.
"I thought we did a lot of those things well and the shooting percentage was a byproduct of that."
Thursday's performance beat the old school record of 67.2%, which MSU shot in a game against Bowling Green in 1986. Moira Joiner was 7-for-10 from the field while adding 17 points and Ozment knocked down her three shot attempts from the field while finishing with 11.
"(I think) 70% is crazy, but I think that's just a testament to the hard work that we put in in the preseason." Ozment said. "We've had more people in the gym than in the past five years that I've been here. That's super exciting to see that hard work pay off."
East Lansing graduate and former Miss Basketball winner Jaida Hampton went scoreless while playing six minutes off the bench for Detroit Mercy (2-2)
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: DeeDee Hagemann proving ability as scorer for Michigan State hoops
