Hallock's Career-High Propels No. 22 MSU Past Illinois, 86-68

Champaign, Ill. - Junior guard Theryn Hallock scored a career-high 26 points to propel No. 22 Michigan State women's basketball to a palindromic 86-68 win over Illinois Sunday at the State Farm Center.

The MSU women completed the Illinois sweep, as the Spartan men defeated Illinois at home 80-78 earlier in the afternoon. The Spartans have now won three-straight games, improving to 15-3 overall and 5-2 in Big Ten contests. Illinois had its two-game winning streak snapped and fall to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in league play.

Hallock broke her previous career high of 24 points which was set against Purdue on Jan. 24, 2024, and netted 17 points in the fourth quarter alone. Junior forward Grace VanSlooten scored 24 points off the bench, including 16 in the first half. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault added 12 points. Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons had a well-rounded game with seven points, seven rebounds and a season-high tying six assists.

Sunday marked the second time this season that MSU had two players score at least 20 points, last doing so in the win against Vanderbilt on Nov. 27 .

A 7-0 run put the Spartans on top 9-2 after an Ayrault trey with under seven minutes left in the period. The Michigan State defense was pesky early on, forcing six turnovers. The Spartans were finding success in the first period in the paint with 16 points. Behind six points from VanSlooten, MSU led after 10 minutes, 21-16.

Illinois was taking advantage of the charity stripe, going 8-for-14 in the first half. After a VanSlooten jumper, the Spartans took their first double-digit lead of the game at 32-22, leading to an Illinois timeout at the 4:47 mark. MSU forced three UI turnovers in 51 seconds to extend its lead to 39-28. VanSlooten led the way for the Spartans with 16 first-half points, including going 4-for-4 from the free throw line. At the break, MSU led by the palindromic score of 43-34.

Fouls continued to mount for both teams in the third quarter, as Ayrault was forced to sit with three fouls. A step-back jumper by Van Slooten re-established the MSU double-digit lead, 55-45, with under four minutes left in the third period. VanSlooten led MSU in the third quarter with six points, while three other Spartans added three points.

With fouls adding up, Hallock took over scoring the first 12 points of the period for the Spartans to put MSU back up 74-60. Hallock ended scoring 17 of Michigan State's 24 points in the fourth quarter. An 8-0 run put MSU up by 20 points at 86-66 for its biggest lead of the day. Illinois was held with no field goals the final four minutes.

Michigan State will now return home to face Penn State on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Breslin Center.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• No. 22/22 Michigan State improved to 15-3 overall and 5-2 in B1G action with the palindromic 86-68 Victory for MSU on Sunday . . . the Spartans improved to 3-2 overall in true road games and 6-3 in all games away from home (3-1 on neutral courts).

• Sunday was MSU's second-straight B1G road win after losing their previous two (at No. 8/8 Maryland, 12/29/24; at RV/RV Nebraska, 1/8/24).

• It was MSU's third win in a row, all conference contests, for the Spartans' longest B1G winning streak of the season.

• Sunday was the Spartans' 10th day game and MSU is now 8-2 in games played during the day.

• Michigan State had a palindromic 43-34 lead and won by a palindromic score of 86-68.

• MSU is now 11-0 this season when leading at halftime.

• Michigan State started with the same starting line-up for the fifth game in a row with graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons, senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, junior guard Theryn Hallock and freshman center Ines Sotelo beginning the game on the court for the opening tip . . . it was Sotelo's fifth-straight start after coming off the bench in the previous 13 games . . . the starting line-up MSU opened with was one of six different starting fives that the Spartans have utilized this season . . . MSU is now 4-1 with that line-up.

• Junior guard Theryn Hallock netted a career-high 26 points while junior forward Grace VanSlooten tallied 24 points off the bench, for the Spartans' second game with two 20-point scorers, joining the Vanderbilt game (11/27/24), when VanSlooten had 25 points and Ayrault had 24 points.

• Hallock's career-high 26 points topped her previous career-best mark of 24 points from last season vs. Purdue (1/24/24) . . . Sunday was her second 20-point outing of the season and fourth of her career, topping her season-high of 20 points at Maryland (12/29/24) . . .

• The 26 points was Hallock's third double-digit scoring outing in her last four games as part of her 12th game this season with 10+ points and her 29th of her career.

• Hallock led the Spartans in scoring for the third time this season, joining 18 points vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24) and 20 points at Maryland (12/29/24) . . . MSU is now 2-1 when Hallock leads the team in scoring.

• With two 3-pointers Sunday, Hallock tied a season-high for the seventh time this season, including the fifth time away from home, last making two treys at Nebraska (1/8/25) . . . Hallock's game with a pair of triples have also come at home vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24) and vs. Iowa (12/15/24), while also doing so in true road games at Maryland (12/29/24) in addition to the aforementioned road game at Nebraska and Sunday at Illinois, in addition to neutral court games vs. California (11/26/24) and vs. Alabama (12/20/24).

• Junior forward Grace VanSlooten came off the bench and netted 24 points for her second 20-point outing of the season and was one point shy of her season-best of 25 points vs. Vanderbilt (11/27/24) . . . overall it was VanSlooten's 10th career 20-point outing after eight during her time at Oregon.

• The 24 points was VanSlooten's fifth game in a row with 10+ points as part of her 15th double-figure outing this season in playing 17 of the 18 games, missing the Eastern Michigan game (11/11/24) due to illness . . . VanSlooten has now registered 10+ points 67 times out of 80 career games, logging double-digits in 52 games while at Oregon.

• Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault netted 12 points for the second game in a row and has scored double-digits in all 17 games played this season, after missing the Detroit Mercy game (12/20/24) with an injury . . . Ayrault has registered double-figures in the last 30 games in a row, past of doing so in 41 of her last 46 games played since the start of the 2023-24 season . . . overall, the Spartan has double-digits in her 57th career game . . . MSU improved to 43-14 when Ayrault scores 10+ points.

• With the 12 points Wednesday, Ayrault now has 1,186 points for her career, cracking the top 20 on MSU's career scoring list and vaulting from No. 22 to No. 20, passing both Rene Haynes (2003-07) with 1,181 points and Victoria Lucas-Perry (2003-07).

• Over her last 14 games played, Ayrault is now averaging 17.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, with 241 points and 115 rebounds over that span.

• With four rebounds in Sunday's game, Ayrault now has 660 career rebounds, holding solid at No. 17 on MSU's career rebounding list . . . Ayrault is nine rebounds away from the No. 16 spot, held by Kelli Roehrig with 669 boards.

• Ayrault played in her 125th career game, and needs just two more games to crack the Spartans' Top 20 career games played list, held by former teammate Nia Hollie (2016-20) and former assistant coach Kristin Haynie (2001-05), with 127 career games played.

• With one 3-pointer in Sunday's game, Ayrault has made at least one 3-pointer in her last 14 games played as part of the 15th time in her 17 games played this season, with the two games being held without a make from distance coming in the first three games, doing so in games one and three of the year.

• Ayrault's one 3-pointer moves her career total to 109 3-pointers, holding at No. 18 on MSU's career 3-pointers list, just two treys shy of tying Rene Haynes (2003-07) at No. 17 with 111 3-pointer.

• On the defensive end, Ayrault had one block, now with 157 career blocks, maintaining her spot at No. 3 on the Spartans' career blocks list.

• Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons dished out a season-high tying six assists, marking the third time this season she's distributed a half-dozen helpers, but the first time since game three, as she had six assists in two of the first three games with six assists each in the season-opener vs. Oakland (11/5/24) and vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24).

• Simmons has dished out three or more assists in four of the last five games, with 21 assists over the last five games, averaging 4.2 assists per game over that span . . . overall, Simmons has three or more assists in 11 total games this season.

• With four steals, Simmons tied a career-high, also swiping four steals vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24).

• Simmons also pulled down seven rebounds, tying her second-most of the season, also snaring seven boards vs. Eastern Michigan (11/11/24) and vs. Iowa (12/15/24), and just behind her season-best of nine rebounds that came against Vanderbilt (11/27/24) . . . Sunday was Simmons' seventh game with five or more boards.

Next Event

Team Stats

Theryn Hallock

Grace VanSlooten

Julia Ayrault

Jaddan Simmons

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Theryn Hallock

Jaddan Simmons

Jocelyn Tate

Grace VanSlooten