After beating three straight ranked opponents, the Michigan women’s basketball team was feeling good about itself.

And even though it lost to Purdue on a last-second shot to snap their winning streak on Thursday, the Wolverines played a good game and didn't lose confidence. When the Athletic Department sent out a University-wide email with a video of Michigan coach Kevin Borseth urging people to attend Sunday’s game, the expectations were set.

The winning streak was snapped, but Michigan was still feeling confident going into their highly-touted matchup with No. 11 Michigan State on Sunday.

The game and the crowd did not disappoint, but the Wolverines couldn't pull through, losing to the Spartans, 63-56, in front of a Crisler Arena-record crowd for women's basketball of 5,991 people.

Michigan State has not lost to the Wolverines in the team's last eight meetings, a streak that stretches back to the 2007-08 season. There is only one Michigan player on the roster who has ever beaten the Spartans — senior guard Veronica Hicks — and that win came in her freshman year.

But the Wolverines could not find an offensive rhythm for most of the game. Even though Michigan played good defense, it didn’t matter much. Michigan State had 17 offensive rebounds, including 10 from junior forward Lykendra Johnson.

“It’s like you have to get two defensive stops every time down the floor,” Borseth said. “We get a stop, they get an offensive rebound, and we have to get another stop. Its tough, and it's not easy to play that way.”

To put it bluntly, Johnson dominated. She had 17 points and 17 rebounds. If the Spartans missed a shot, chances were that Johnson was there to grab it.

“She’s got a combination of speed and quickness with the power piece,” Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant said. “It makes her a real tough box out at times.”

Despite Johnson’s performance, Michigan was able to stick around for most of the game. Its offense was not consistent and had issues all game, but the defense played well enough to keep Michigan alive. The Wolverines forced 22 turnovers, which led to 24 points, but the rest of the offense was stagnant. They shot only 38 percent from the floor, including 29 percent from 3-point range, and repeatedly missed open and uncontested shots.

If not for the efforts of Hicks, the game would not have been as close. Hicks scored a game-high 20 points, shooting 48 percent from the floor. She had a quiet first half, scoring only five points, but found a different gear in the second half — single handedly keeping the Wolverines in the game.

“She leaves everything on the floor,” Borseth said. “I guess you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

However, the Wolverines were negatively impacted by the injury to sophomore guard Nya Jordan, especially on the offensive end. Jordan injured her knee against Ohio State two weeks ago, and Michigan's offense has struggled since.

Jordan isn't always a scoring threat, averaging a little more than seven points a game, but she sets up a lot of what Michigan does on offense with her driving ability. She opens up the court for the Wolverines, which makes it easier to shoot from the outside.

“The ability for us to get to the glass really hurts when Nya isn’t there,” Borseth said. “It’s an athlete that is taken out of our lineup and that really hurts us.”

Michigan had opportunities to win the game, but it did not play anywhere near its offense potential and was dominated in the paint.

In 35 days, Michigan will travel to East Lansing, where they will have another chance to snap their losing streak. But whether they can take advantage of that opportunity is an entirely different story.