Michigan State University
6-2,0-0Big Ten
#8 Florida State
8-0,0-0ACC
No. 19 Michigan State Falls Short At No. 8 Florida State in Big Ten/ACC Challenge
12/5/2019 10:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- In a scrappy battle in Tallahassee, the No. 19/21 Michigan State women's basketball team fell to No. 8/10 Florida State 78-68 at FSU's Donald L. Tucker Center Thursday night. For the first time in 13 years, the Big Ten won the B1G/ACC Challenge.
The Spartans led for over 23 minutes, but a strong fourth quarter by the Seminoles helped FSU to improve to 8-0 this season. Michigan State falls to 6-2 overall. MSU is now 1-1 against ranked teams.
After struggling from beyond the arc against Kansas State on Nov. 30, the Spartans made 11 treys against the Seminoles.
Sophomore guard Nia Clouden scored a team-high 22 points for her second 20+ game of the season. She also added eight assists and four rebounds. Senior guard Shay Colley was the other Spartan in double figures with 11 points. Senior forward Victoria Gaines was solid all game with eight points, nine rebounds and a season-high two blocks.
Florida State jumped out to an early 10-6 lead by preventing the Spartans from scoring in the paint. Behind the strength of a 7-0 run the Seminoles jumped out to a 17-8 lead. MSU countered with a 6-0 run of its own to trim it to a 17-13 game. Five different Spartans scored in the first 10 minutes as FSU led 21-16.
Michigan State scored 11 of the first 15 points of the second quarter to take a 27-25 lead, leading to an FSU timeout. The Spartan defense proved to be disruptive for the Seminoles, forcing 13 first-half turnovers. The Spartan spurt became a 10-0 run to give MSU a 35-25 lead as Michigan State kept Florida State off the scoreboard for over five minutes. The Seminoles closed out the second quarter with five unanswered points to cut the Spartan lead to 35-30 at the half.
Freshman guard Moira Joiner ended a three-minute scoring drought in the third quarter as Florida State continued to close the gap.
After trailing the majority of the second half, the Seminoles re-took the lead at 59-58 with under four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. A 7-0 FSU run combined with an over three minute Spartan scoring drought allowed the Seminoles to take as big a lead as 11 points in the final quarter. Florida State kept Michigan State at bay by making a season-high 30 of 36 free throws.
Kiah Gillespie scored 18 of her season-high 24 points in the second half, while Valencia Myers scored 10 of her 12 points after halftime as the Seminoles rallied to outscore Michigan State, 29-16, in the final period. Florida State came into Thursday's match-up average holding opponents to just 10 points in the final quarter.
The Spartans will now take time off for finals and return to action on Sunday, Dec. 15 against Morehead State at the Breslin Center. Michigan State will have only two games at home in the month of December.
Michigan State Notes vs. Florida State
• With three assists, senior guard Taryn McCutcheon now has 497 career assists. She is three away from becoming just the second Spartan to reach the 500-assist mark. Current assistant coach Kristin Haynie is the all-time assist leader at Michigan State with 574.
• Sophomore guard Nia Clouden had a season-high eight assists to go along with 22 points. The eight assists were the most by a Spartan this season. It was her seventh double-digit scoring game of the season and third 20+ point game this year. Overall, she has six 20+ game during her Spartan career.
• With nine points Taryn McCutcheon now has 968 career points and is just 32 points away from becoming the 28th member of MSU's 1,000-point club ... McCutcheon drained three 3-pointers in the game and has now had multiple treys in six of the Spartans' eight games this season.
• With 10 steals against the Seminoles, Michigan State has now reached double-digits in steals in all 10 games this season. Six different players grabbed a steal, led by four from Nia Clouden which tied a career high.
• The Spartans tied a season high with six blocks, also swatting six against Oakland on Nov. 19. Victoria Gaines, Julia Ayrault and Taiyier Parks all had two blocks. The pair of blocks by Gaines was a season high.
