Second-half Surge Sparks No. 21 Spartans Past No. 24 Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Junior guard Theryn Hallock scored 23 of her 25 points in the second half, as the No. 21 MSU women's basketball team cruised past No. 24 Michigan, 88-58, Saturday afternoon at the Crisler Center. It was the biggest margin of victory for MSU against U-M in Ann Arbor.

The teams battled in front of the fourth-largest crowd in Michigan women's basketball history.

The Spartans have now won five-straight games, improving to 17-3 overall and 7-2 in Big Ten contests. Michigan had its four-game winning streak halted and fall to 14-6 overall and 5-4 in league contests. MSU head coach Robyn Fralick is just the third Spartan head coach to win her first three games against the Wolverines along with Karen Langeland and Mikki Baile.

For the second-straight game, Michigan State had four players in double figures led by 25 points from junior guard Theryn Hallock, who has the led the team in scoring for the third-straight game. She scored 14 points in the third quarter alone. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault and junior forward Grace VanSlooten both poured in 18 points. Ayrault earned her sixth double-double of the season adding in 13 rebounds. Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons was solid in the first half and ended the game with 11 points and six boards.

Michigan was led by 15 points from Olivia Hobbs.

It was a back-and forth battle early on with the game tied at 10-10 at the first media timeout. The Wolverines took advantage of early foul calls going 7-for-7 from the charity stripe in the first quarter. The Spartans missed five-straight baskets as Michigan took a 18-17 lead to end the first quarter. Simmons and Ayrault led MSU after 10 minutes with five points each.

In the second quarter, Michigan took a 27-23 lead after the Spartans were held without a field goal for over three minutes. After four-straight MSU points, the Spartans trimmed the Wolverine lead to 30-27 with under two minutes remaining. Despite not making any field goals in the 2:35, Michigan State only trailed at half time, 33-29.Simmons led the Spartans with nine points at the break, including going 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

The Spartans re-took the lead after a pair of treys from Ayrault and Hallock, 35-33.MSU went on to score the first 15 points of the second half to take a 44-33 advantage, which was Michigan State's first double-digit lead of the game. The Spartan defense got the offense going. The Spartans had four steals in the third period and forced six U-M turnovers. After a steal and a Hallock layup, Michigan State went up 53-48, leading to another Michigan timeout. MSU scored 31 points in the third period, which was a season high in a third period.

A VanSlooten layup put the Spartans up 20, 65-45 with under eight minutes left in the game. MSU used a 7-0 run to increase the lead to 76-49 with 5:52 left. The trio of VanSlooten, Hallock and Ayrault kept the foot on the gas in the final 10 minutes. Hallock led the way with nine points. MSU was able to hold Michigan to only 25 second half points, while scoring 59.

Michigan State returns home to take on Oregon on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• No. 21/22 Michigan State beat No. 24/RV Michigan in the first-ever series meeting when both the Spartans and Wolverines were ranked . . . MSU is now 2-1 against ranked foes this season, while Michigan slides to 1-6 against ranked opponents.

• The 30-point scoring margin in the Spartans' 88-58 Victory for MSU is the largest in the series vs. UM since 33 at 77-44 on Jan. 1, 2006 in East Lansing, and is Michigan State's largest margin of Victory for MSU in Ann Arbor ever, bettering a 27-point win at 82-55 on Feb. 16, 2003.

• The 88 points scored by Michigan State is its second-most ever scored in the series, trailing only 96 points on Valentine's Day, 1977 in a 96-71 Victory for MSU.

• Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick became the third ever Spartan head coach to win their first three games in the MSU-UM series and the first since Karen Langeland in 1976-79, and also joining the first head coach in program history, Mikki Baile from 1972-75.

• The Spartans overcame a 33-29 halftime deficit, scoring 59 points in the second-half alone, outscoring UM's final scoring output of 58 points for the entire game . . . Michigan State outscored Michigan, 59-25 after halftime.

• Michigan State has now beaten Michigan in the last three meetings, MSU's first three-game win streak in the series since 2018-19, winning the second meeting in the 2017-18 season and sweeping both meetings in the 2018-19 season . . . MSU has won 11 of the last 18 overall match-ups with UM . . . the Spartans' increased their overall series lead to 76-25, including 30-16 in games played in Ann Arbor.

• MSU outscored UM, 31-12, in the third quarter . . . it was the Spartans' most points scored in the third quarter alone, bettering a 30-point third quarter vs. Eastern Kentucky (11/14/24).

• The Spartans' 31-point third quarter tied for the third-most in any quarter, behind 33 points in both the fourth quarter vs. Vanderbilt (11/27/24) and the fourth quarter vs. Yale (11/8/24), and 32 in the first quarter vs. Detroit Mercy (11/20/24), while matching 31 points in the first frame in the season-opener vs. Oakland (11/5/24) . . . it's the eighth quarter this season with 30+ points, and MSU has now scored 30 points at least once in every quarter except the second quarter.

• MSU's starting line-up was its same for the seventh game in a row, improving to 6-1 with that line-up, winning the last five in a row, and continues to be the Spartans' 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 is one of six different starting fives that the Green & White 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.

• Hallock's 25 points wasn't only just one shy of her career-best from two games ago, but was her third 20-point outing this season and fifth of her career, with MSU improving to 2-1 this season and 4-1 in her career when she posts 20+ points.

• The junior guard has erupted for 68 points in her last three games, with 17 points last time out squeezed in between the top two scoring outings of her career . . . Hallock is now averaging 22.7 ppg in her last three games . . . she is averaging 15.7 ppg in her last 10 games with 157 points over that span.

• Junior forward Grace VanSlooten came off the bench to post 18 points and eight rebounds . . . it was VanSlooten's seventh game in a row in double-figure scoring, and she now has netted 10+ points in 17 of her 19 games played, missing the Eastern Michigan game (11/11/24) due to illness . . . VanSlooten has now tallied double-digit points 69 times out of 82 career games, logging double-digits in 52 games while at Oregon.

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Team Stats

Theryn Hallock

Grace VanSlooten

Julia Ayrault

Jaddan Simmons

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Theryn Hallock

Emma Shumate

Jaddan Simmons

Jocelyn Tate

Grace VanSlooten