Four Spartans Reach Double Figures in Dominating Win over Detroit Mercy

EAST LANSING, Mich. - With four players in double figures, the Michigan State women's basketball team returned to its winning ways with a definitive 91-41 win over Detroit Mercy Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center.

With the win, the Spartans snapped their five-game losing streak, improving to 7-5 this season. The Titans fall to 2-8 this season with the loss.

Sophomore forward Isaline Alexander registered Michigan State's first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Off the bench, junior guard Julia Ayrault scored a season-high 13 points, while sophomore guard Matilda Ekh matched Ayrault in scoring. Senior guard Moira Joiner scored in double figures for the second-straight game with 11 points to round out the quartet of MSU double-figure scorers. The Spartans won the battle on the glass, 52-40.

Detroit Mercy was led by 10 points off the bench by Amaya Burch.

The Spartans got the offense going early, using an 17-0 run to jump out to a 19-2 lead. Ekh was off to a torrid start with nine points in the first quarter alone. Michigan State held Detroit Mercy to only four points in the first period, the lowest this season as the Titans shot nine percent. Michigan State led after the first 10 minutes, 26-4, hitting five 3-pointers in the quarter to fuel the offense.

In the second quarter, Michigan State took a 30-point lead, 39-9 after an old fashioned three by Joiner. Graduate guard Kamaria McDaniel led MSU in the second period with seven points, while Joiner added six. The Spartans led at the half, 57-12, behind a balanced scoring attack. MSU capitalized on 16 Titan turnovers scoring 21 points off of those miscues.

The Titans had their highest offensive output in the third quarter with 19 points, as the Spartans went deeper into their bench. Despite the Detroit Mercy surge, Michigan State maintained its advantage. The Spartans took their biggest lead of 51 points after a Taiyier Parks second-chance bucket with 54 seconds remaining in the third period.

In the fourth quarter, Michigan State was able to get even more players involved as all 14 players that got in the game had at least one rebound and 12 scored. Sophomore center Brooklyn Rewers scored four of her six points in the final stanza. She eventually tied her career high with six points.

Michigan State quickly returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 20 against Prairie View A&M at 7 p.m. The Spartans will take a quick break for the holidays before ending the 2022 portion of the schedule against Indiana on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 7 p.m.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes: Detroit Mercy

• Michigan State's starting line-up of graduate guard Kamaria McDaniel, sophomore guard/forward Matilda Ekh, sophomore guard DeeDee Hagemann, sophomore forward Isaline Alexander and redshirt-senior guard/forward Tory Ozment was the Spartans' first game with that starting five ... it was MSU's fifth different starting line-up. Ozment earned her first start of the season.

• The Spartans improved to 24-7 all-time vs. Detroit Mercy and MSU has now won 19-straight games in the series ... Michigan State is also now 18-1 in games played in East Lansing, winning the last 18 games played on the Spartans' home court, after Detroit Mercy won the first-ever meeting not just in the series but also in East Lansing on Feb. 6, 1979 ... The Spartans have scored at least 80 points in the last six meetings as part of eight of the last 10.

• MSU's 91 points Sunday was the Spartans' third game with 90+ points behind a season-high 109 vs. Florida A&M (11/17/22) and 97 vs. Western Michigan (11/13/22).

• Michigan State's 50-point winning margin was also its second-largest of the season behind a 65-point margin in 109-44 victory for MSU over Florida A&M (11/17/22).

• The Spartans pulled down 52 rebounds, their third-highest total of the season, behind the top mark 57 boards vs. Florida A&M (11/17/22) and 53 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (11/10/22) ... MSU had a 52-40 rebounding advantage, moving to 7-1 this season when out-rebounding the opposition.

• Michigan State dished out 21 assists for the Spartans' fourth game this season with 20+ helpers, improving to 4-0 when distributing 20 or more assists.

• The Spartan bench outscored Detroit Mercy's reserves, 45-21, as MSU improved to 7-2 when having more bench points ... the 45 points by the Green & White's bench was its sixth game with 40+ bench points and third-highest of the season behind 53 points, done twice, first in the season-opener vs. Delaware State (11/7/22) and again vs. Florida A&M (11/17/22) ... MSU's bench also scored 42 vs. Central Michigan (11/19/22), 41 against Purdue Fort Wayne (11/13/22) and 40 vs. Oakland (11/15/22).

• MSU limited Detroit Mercy to four points in the first quarter, which was the Spartan defense's fewest in a first quarter this season, bettering the six points in the season-opener vs. Delaware State (11/7/22) ... the four points also tied for the fewest in any quarter, matching the four-point second quarter vs. Oakland (11/15/22).

• The Spartan defense also held Detroit Mercy to just 12 first-half points, bettering the season-low of 16 vs. Delaware State (11/7/22)

• MSU had just 11 turnovers, which is one off its season-low of 10 miscues vs. Oregon (11/24/22).

• A total of 14 Spartan players saw action, with 12 of the 14 scoring, while all 14 players snared at least one rebound.

• Four players posted double-figures, as MSU improved to 3-0 when four score in double-digits.

• Redshirt-junior guard Julia Ayrault recorded a season-high 13 points, her first double-digit scoring game of the season and 13th of her career ... Ayrault also set a career-high mark in made 3-point field goals with three, surpassing her previous career high of two, set on four occasions.

• Sophomore guard Matilda Ekh finished the game with 13 points, her seventh double-figure scoring game of the season and 26th of her career ... Ekh has posted double-digits in four of the last five games as part of five of the last seven contests.

• Redshirt senior guard/forward Tory Ozment earned her first start of the 2022-23 season ... Ozment, who has played in all 12 games this season, now has 27 career starts in 82 career games played ... she scored a season-best seven points in 20 minutes of work ... Her previous season high of six came against Delaware State in MSU's season opener on Nov. 7.

• Graduate guard Kamaria McDaniel tallied a season high-tying seven assists, leading all players in Sunday afternoon's contest ... Her most recent performance with seven dishes came against Oregon on Nov. 27.

• McDaniel shattered her career high in blocked shots, sending back four Titan shots ... Her previous career high of two occurred on four occasions, all during her time at Penn State.

• Sophomore forward Isaline Alexander notched the first double-double of her collegiate career and the first of the season by a Spartan player, hauling in a game-high and career-high 10 rebounds ... she also posted the first double-digit rebounding outing of the season by a Spartan player ... Alexander booked a previous career-high eight boards against Western Michigan on Nov. 13 ... The Keswick, Ontario, native Alexander also dropped 10 points in addition to her strong performance on the glass ... Alexander scored in double figures for the third time in her career.

• Sophomore center Brooklyn Rewers tied her career high in scoring with six points, going 3-for-3 from the field in Sunday's game ... Rewers' previous career-best came against Florida A&M on Nov. 17.

• Senior guard Moira Joiner scored 11 points, marking her sixth game in double figures during the 2022-23 campaign and 19th of her career.

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Team Stats

Matilda Ekh

Julia Ayrault

Moira Joiner

Isaline Alexander

Players Mentioned

Isaline Alexander

Julia Ayrault

Matilda Ekh

DeeDee Hagemann

Moira Joiner

Kamaria McDaniel

Tory Ozment

Taiyier Parks

Brooklyn Rewers