No. 21/22 Spartans Win Fourth-Straight with Victory over Penn State

EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 21/22 Michigan State women's basketball used tenacious defense and efficient scoring to defeat Penn State, 82-61, Wednesday night at the Breslin Center.

The Spartans have now won four-straight games, improving to 16-3 overall and 6-2 in Big Ten contests. Penn State falls to 10-10 overall and 1-8 in league play. MSU has now won eight of the last nine in the series.

On the defensive end, Michigan State had 14 steals and forced 26 Lady Lion turnovers. It was the 15th time this season that MSU has caused at least 20 turnovers.

The Spartans had four players in double figures led by 17 points from junior guard Theryn Hallock, who has the led the team in scoring for the second-straight game. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault scored 16 points with five rebounds and three steals. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate had a solid game scoring 15 points with five assists, five rebounds and three blocks. Junior forward Grace VanSlooten also added 10 points with five rebounds.

Penn State was led by a game-high 24 points from Moriah Murray.

After the Lady Lions scored the first basket of the game, Michigan State scored the next seven to take a 7-3 lead. Both teams were hitting from long range early on with three treys apiece midway through the first quarter. The Spartans took their first double-digit lead after a Tate layup 23-13 with under a minute left in the period. Tate led all scorers with 10 points in the first 10 minutes of action.

The Spartan offense had a slow start to the second quarter, going three minutes without scoring before a steal and Hallock layup. MSU's offense started to heat up using an 8-0 run to take a 37-21 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the half. Nyla Hampton's driving layup at the buzzer gave Michigan State the 41-24 advantage at the break. The Green and White defense was excellent in the first half with 11 steals and forcing 18 turnovers.

Michigan State scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to jump out to a 52-26 lead. After a VanSlooten layup at the 4:36 mark, the Spartans took their biggest lead of the game 60-29. MSU out-scored Penn State 24-13 in the third period due in part to Ayrault and Hallock combining for 14 points. The Spartans were 6-for-8 from beyond the arc in the period, while holding PSU to 1-for-2 from long range.

The teams traded 6-0 runs early in the fourth quarter, as MSU kept a comfortable advantage. With the game out of reach, Michigan State was able to use more of its bench. Fourteen different players saw action for the Spartans, including freshman guard Sinai Douglas scoring her first points in a Big Ten game. Murray scored nine points in the final quarter, as the Lady Lions out-scored MSU 24-17 on the period.

Michigan State will now hit the road for the first of two meetings with No. 24 Michigan. Tipoff at Crisler Arena is set for 12 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes

• The Spartans registered their 12th-straight Victory for MSU at home dating back to winning the last two home contests of last season and 10 home games so far this season . . . over the last season-and-a-half, MSU won 23 of its last 25 home games at the Breslin Center, after starting this season 10-0 at home following logging a 13-2 ledger last season at home . . . overall, MSU has won 34 of its last 42 home games dating back to the 2022-23 season.

• Wednesday's win was MSU's fourth in a row, all B1G games, for Michigan State's longest Big Ten winning streak of the season, and second-longest win streak of the season overall after starting the season with 11 wins in a row . . . the four-straight B1G wins is the most in a row since finishing last year's regular-season with five-straight Big Ten wins.

• MSU's 6-2 start to B1G play is its best start through eight conference contest since 2015-16 when the Spartans were also 6-2 on the way to an 8-2 start to league play.

• Penn State's 61 points scored is the third-fewest points allowed by Michigan State in a Big Ten game this season, behind holding Purdue to 59 points in the 77-5 Victory for MSU on Jan. 1, 2025, and limiting Rutgers to 60 points last week in the 70-60 Spartan road win on Jan. 15.

• MSU has held the opposition under 70 points in each of the last four games and is now 14-0 when holding opponents under 70, including 5-0 in B1G games.

• Michigan State netted a season-high tying 13 3-pointers, matching the baker's dozen treys vs. DePaul (12/8/24) . . . the 13 triples was not only the most in a Big Ten game, but also the first time in double-digits in a conference contest . . . overall, it was MSU's fourth overall game in double-digit treys, joining the aforementioned 13 vs. DePaul, along with 11 in the season-opener vs. Oakland (11/5/24) and 10 vs. Eastern Kentucky (11/14/24), and all four games with 10+ 3-pointers have been home games.

• MSU's 48.1 percent (13-of-27) from 3-point range was its highest in a B1G game this season and the fourth-best overall on the season, behind the season-best 53.8 percent (7-of-13) vs. Detroit Mercy (11/20/24) and two 50.0 percent outings, first vs. Eastern Kentucky (11/14/24) going 10-of-20, and vs. DePaul (12/8/24) with the season-best 13 made 3s on 13-of-26 overall from distance.

• The Spartan defense forced 26 Penn State turnovers, as MSU logged its 15th game this season forcing 20 or more opponent turnovers . . . Michigan State improved to 13-2 when causing 20 or more opposition turnovers . . . the Spartans had 16 turnovers, and are now 14-2 when having fewer turnovers than their opponents.

• MSU's defense also had 10 blocks, for its most rejections in a Big Ten game this season and the second-most overall on the year, trailing the school record 14 blocks vs. DePaul (12/8/24).

• The Spartan defense swiped 14 steals, their second-straight game and third in the last four outings with double-digit steals . . . overall it was the 14th game this season with 10+ steals and MSU is 13-1 when swiping double-digit steals.

• Michigan State has now beaten Penn State in each of the last four meetings and eight of the last night . . . the Spartans now lead the series 14-12 in games played in East Lansing, and cut into the Lady Lions' all-time series lead, cutting the overall gap to 31-26, although MSU leads the series, 22-11 in games played since 2005.

• MSU's starting line-up was its same for the sixth-straight game, improving to 5-1 with that line-up and now the most used line-up . . . graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons, senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, junior guard Theryn Hallock and freshman center Ines Sotelo were on the court for the opening tip . . . the starting line-up MSU opened with Wednesday is one of six different starting fives that the Spartans have utilized this season, and is now the most starts, topping the five games of starting with Hallock, Tate, Ayrault, junior forward Grace VanSlooten and junior guard Emma Shumate.

• Tate continued her mark of being the only Spartan to start all 19 games, and made her 50th start in 50 games played at MSU, along with 87th collegiate career start in her 120th career game played.

• Ayrault started for the 18th game in 18 games played this season and 62nd start of her career . . . Hallock made her 15th start in 19 games played this season and 16th career start . . . Simmons made her 14th start of the year in playing her 19th game as a Spartan as part of her 121st career start in 127 career games played . . . it was Sotelo's sixth start in a row after coming off the bench in the previous 13 games in playing in all 19 games.

• Junior guard Theryn Hallock led the Spartans with 17 points, marking the second-straight game that she's had high points honors, as part of the fifth overall time this season, with MSU improving to 4-1 this season and 9-3 in her career when she either leads or shared the team lead in scoring . . . Hallock scored 13 of her 17 points in the second half, including six in the third and seven in the fourth, after erupting for 17 points in the fourth quarter last game, a school-record for most points in the fourth frame.

• The 17 points is Hallock's fourth game in the last five outings in double-figures as part of seven times in the last nine games . . . overall, Hallock has tallied 10+ points in 13 of the 19 games this season and posted double-digits for the 30th time in her career.

• After netting a previous season-high two 3-pointers seven previous times, Hallock broke through with a new season-best three triples, and just one shy of her career-best of four 3-pointers done twice in career, most recently last season at Purdue (2/21/24).

• Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault tallied 16 points, including 11 points after halftime . . . Ayrault has netted 10+ points in all 18 games played so far, missing the Detroit Mercy game (12/20/24) with an injury . . . the Spartan forward has now notched double-digit points in the last 31 games played in a row, part of 42 of her last 47 games played since the 2023-24 season-opener . . . overall, the graduate has 10+ points in 58 career games . . . the Spartans moved to 44-14 when she nets double-figures.

• Ayrault's 16 points moves her career total to 1,202 career points, moving up to No. 16 on MSU's career scoring list and becoming the 16th player in program history to reach the 1,200 points plateau . . . Ayrault passed Mary Kay Itnyre (1977-80) with 1,189 points, Aisha Jefferson (2005-10) with 1,194 points, in addition to former assistant coach Kristin Haynie (2001-05) and former teammate Taryn McCutcheon (2016-20) both with 1,199 points.

• With five rebounds in Sunday's game, Ayrault now has 665 career rebounds, holding solid at No. 17 on MSU's career rebounding list, but is just four rebounds away from the No. 16 spot, held by Kelli Roehrig with 669 boards.

• Ayrault played in her 126th career game Wednesday night, just one game away from cracking 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 the three triples, Ayrault is now at 112 career 3-pointers, passing Rene Haynes (2003-07) with 111 treys for the No. 17 spot on MSU's career 3-pointers list . . . Ayrault is now just four triples away from the No. 16 spot held by Taylor Alton (2008-12) with 116 3-pointers.

• On the defensive end, Ayrault swatted two shots, now with 159 career blocks, maintaining her spot at No. 3 on the Spartans' career blocks list.

• Junior forward Grace VanSlooten came off the bench to register 10 points and five rebounds . . . the 10 points was her sixth-straight game with double-digit points . . . VanSlooten has double-figures in 16 of her 18 games played, missing the Eastern Michigan game (11/11/24) due to illness . . . VanSlooten has now tallied 10+ points 68 times out of 81 career games, logging double-digits in 52 games while at Oregon.

• Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate tallied 15 points, her second-highest scoring outing on the season, trailing her career-high tying 19 points vs. Purdue (1/1/25) . . . she notched double-figures for the fifth time this season.

• Tate also netted a career-high tying three 3-pointers, matching her triples total from the aforementioned Purdue game, and are her only two games with multiple 3-pointers . . . she has only made a 3-pointer in seven games, with just 11 made treys on the season.

• Tate added to her noteworthy night with a season-high and career-best tying three blocks, matching three rejections from last season's Big Ten Tournament contest vs. Nebraska (3/8/24).

• Additionally, Tate registered a new season-high with five assists, tying graduate guard Jaddan Simmons for top honors in assists.. . . it was Tate's 10th game this season with three or more helpers . . .

• After never leading MSU in assists in her Spartan career for her previous 42 games in the Green & White, Tate has led the Spartans in assists in four of the last eight games played, and Wednesday's assist-topping outing was the second in which Michigan State won, joining the win at Rutgers (1/15/25), as her other previous two times came in MSU's two losses in back-to-back games, vs. Alabama (12/20/24) and at Maryland (12/29/24).

• Simmons has dished out three or more assists in five of the last six contests, with 26 assists over the last six games, averaging 4.23assists per game over that span . . . overall, Simmons has three or more assists in 12 total games this season.

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Team Stats

Theryn Hallock

Julia Ayrault

Jocelyn Tate

Grace VanSlooten

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Sinai Douglas

Theryn Hallock

Nyla Hampton

Emma Shumate

Jaddan Simmons

Jocelyn Tate

Grace VanSlooten