No. 23 Spartan Women Break School Record with 125 Points in Season-Opening Win

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Seven Spartans reached double figures, as the No. 23 Michigan State women's basketball team opened the season with a wire-to-wire win over Mercyhurst, 125-39, Tuesday night at the Breslin Center.

The Spartans broke the school record for points scored in a game, smashing the previous record of 116 against Niagara on Nov. 4, 2008. MSU also set the record for fewest turnovers with three with the previous record being five three times with the most recent coming in 2008.

Senior guard Theryn Hallock led the seven Spartans in double figures with 19 points and career-high six steals. Senior forward Grace VanSlooten scored 18 points with a career-tying five steals. In her Spartan debut, junior guard Rashunda Jones added 15 points, while freshman guard Amy Terrian scored 15 points in her collegiate debut. Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair had her first double-double with 14 points and a career-high 12 assists. Senior guard Emma Shumate and senior guard Jalyn Brown rounded out the double-figure scoreres with 13 and 13 points, respectively.

Mercyhurst was led by nine points from Lena Walz.

The Spartans scored the first nine points of the game to jump out to an early lead. MSU took its first double-digit lead 13-3 after a Blair layup with just over five minutes left in the quarter. Michigan State used a16-0 run to pull away 25-3 with 2:46 left in the first period. After a Shumate jumper with nine seconds left, MSU led after 10 minutes, 36-6.

In the second quarter, the Spartans took 40-point lead 46-6 after a 3-pointer by Amy Terrian. The basket was the first collegiate points for the Spartan freshman. Michigan State continued to spread out the scoring and get several players minutes.

The Spartans headed into the locker room with a 66-18 lead. The 66 points was a Breslin Center record for points in a half, passing the 2016 record of 60 against Minnesota. At the break, VanSlooten led all scorers with 13 points, while Jones, Hallock and Amy Terrian all had nine.

In the third period, the Spartans scored 20 points off of turnovers and 20 points in the paint. Hallock led the way with seven points.

MSU scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter. Michigan State ended up winning the game by 86 points, which shattered the school record scoring margin, which was set in 2008 against Niagara.

Michigan State will continue its six-game homestand to start the season against Eastern Michigan on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.

Michigan State Women's Basketball
Post-Game Notes: vs. Mercyhurst

• Michigan State broke a school record for points in a single-game with its 117th points of the night on a free throw by senior guard Abbey Kimball, topping the previous record of 116 points, which also came in a season-opener, in a 116-50 win over Niagara on Nov. 14, 2008 to open the 2008-09 season.

• The Spartans' 86-point margin of victory topped the previous school record of 66 points in the aforementioned 116-50 win over Niagara on Nov. 14, 2008.

• MSU's 24 steals Tuesday night tied the program record for the third time in school history, first in an 80-64 Victory for MSU over Grand Valley on Dec. 23, 1980 and most recently in an 81-61 win at Minnesota on Feb. 2, 1996.

• The Spartans only had three turnovers Tuesday night, also setting a school record for fewest turnovers, bettering the previous record of five done three previous times, first done in a 56-55 win at Northwestern on Jan. 22, 1989, then again in a 76-69 win vs. Standford on March 29, 2005 and most recently in a 68-66 win over Toledo on March 18, 2018.

• With 49 field goals Tuesday night, MSU just missed the school record for field goals made of 50, in a 108-71 home win over Georgetown on Nov. 24, 1990.

• The Spartans were also one assist shy of the school record of 34, done twice, first vs. Minnesota in a 114-106 win on Feb. 21, 2016, and most recently vs. Detroit Mercy in a 105-44 win on Nov. 16, 2023.

• After scoring 107 points in last year's season-opener vs. Oakland in a 107-42 Victory for MSU on Nov. 5, 2024, the Spartans have scored 100+ points in back-to-back season-openers for the first time in school history . . . the closest MSU had been to reaching the century back in consecutive lid-lifters to a season was in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 season-openers when the Spartans scored 100 in a 100-58 win over Robert Morris in on Nov. 11, 2017, and then 99 the next year in a 99-69 win over Bowling Green on Nov. 6, 2018.

• Eleven players of the 15 players on Michigan State's roster saw action . . . all 11 players that saw action scored and 10 of the 11 players made a field goal, while seven players scored 10+ points . . . 10 of the 11 Spartans played 10:00 or more, with only one player, senior guard Theryn Hallock, played over 20:00, playing 21:09.

• MSU had a 16-0 run and a 24-0 run as part of a 40-3 run over the first and second quarters . . . leading 9-3 in the first quarter, junior Rashunda Jones made a bucket at 6:13 of the first quarter to spark the 16-0 run, capped by a lay-up by redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair at 2:46 of the opening frame . . . Mercyhurst's CiCi Hernandez made a 3-pointer at 2:23 of the first quarter to make the score 25-6 . . . Blair hit a jumper at the 1:44 mark to ignite the 24-0 run, spanning the rest of the first frame and the start of the second quarter, when senior forward Grace VanSlooten capped a three the old-fashioned way at 6:51 of the second quarter to open a 49-6 lead . . . MU's Imani Frazier put an end to the 24-0 run with a pair of free throws at the 6:06 mark.

• The final margin of 86 points was MSU's largest lead of the night, coming on a layup from senior forward Isaline Alexander with 46 seconds left in the game.

• MSU had a 62-0 advantage in points off turnovers, a 50-0 advantage in fast-break points, out-scored MU, 70-10 in points in the paint, a 31-5 second-chance points advantage and 55-14 in bench scoring.

•The Spartans had a dominating 39-18 advantage on the glass, and MSU had more offensive rebounds (19), than Mercyhurst had total rebounds (18).

• Seven Spartans scored in double-figures, led by senior guard Theryn Hallock's game-high 19 points, followed by 18 points by senior forward Grace VanSlooten, 15 points by freshman guard Amy Terrian in her official Spartan and collegiate debut, 14 points from redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair, 14 points from senior guard Emma Shumate and 13 points from senior guard Jalyn Brown in her Spartan debut after transferring from Arizona State.

• The last time that MSU had six or more players scored in double-figures was with six Spartans netting 10+ points in last year's season-opener vs. Oakland (11/5/24).

• Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair registered her first career double-double, tallying career-highs for points and assists with her 14 points and 12 assists . . . Tuesday was Blair's fifth career double-figure scoring outing, topping her previous career-high of 12 points, reached last season vs. Yale (11/8/24) . . . the 12 helpers bettered her previous career-best of three helpers, dished out last year vs. Montana (12/19/24).

• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten's 18 points was her 20th-consecutive game in double-figures, as part of posting in 30 of her 31 games played as a Spartan, after missing one game due to illness last season and held to single digits twice . . . for her collegiate career, VanSlooten has now tallied double-figures scoring 82 times out of 95 career games, registering 10+ points in 52 games during her time at Oregon.

• VanSlooten tied her career-high for the third time in her career with five steals, last doing so last season vs. Vanderbilt (11/27/24).

• Senior guard Theryn Hallock's game-high 19 points was her 42nd career double-digit scoring outing . . . it was her second career season-opener in double-figures, after scoring 14 points in last year's season-opener vs. Oakland (11/5/24).

• Hallock swiped a game-high and career-best six steals, topping her previous career-high of four steals, accomplished eight previous times, doing so most recently last season vs. Iowa (3/6/25).

• Hallock also registered a game-high +58 in plus-minus, while VanSlooten was +55.

• Junior guard Rashunda Jones was making her official Spartan debut Tuesday night after transferring from Purdue . . . Jones netted 15 points in her Green & White debut, to register her 24th career double-figure game, after tallying 10+ points a total of 23 times during her two-year career at Purdue (11 in 2023-24, 12 in 2024-25).

• Freshman guard Amy Terrian had a smashing Spartan and collegiate debut, netting five 3-pointers on the way to 15 points, also dishing out four assists, including one to her twin sister and fellow freshman guard, Anna Terrian, for her first 3-pointer and bucket as a Spartan, coming with 4:59 remaining in the game.

• Senior guard Emma Shumate notched 14 points, coming on 4-of-8 from 3-point range . . . Shumate's season-high last season was four 3-pointers, done three times . . . Shumate has scored in double-figures four times in her two-year Spartan career.

• Senior guard Jalyn Brown also made her Spartan debut after transferring to MSU from Arizona State . . . Brown logged 13 points, while pulling down eight rebounds and dished out three assists . . . with her 13 points, Brown tallied double-figure points for the 15th-straight game of her collegiate career, ending the 2024-25 season at ASU with 14-consecutive games in double-digits . . . overall, Tuesday night was Brown's 52nd game of her collegiate career in scoring 10+ points after doing so 51 times during her time at Arizona State (25 in 2024-25 and 26 in 2023-24).

• Brown pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, including six on the offensive glass, also a game-best, as her six offensive boards were more than MU's highest rebounding leader (5).

• Senior forward Isaline Alexander had a successful return to action after missing the entire 2024-25 season with a knee injury . . . Alexander swatted a career-high tying three blocks, matching her career best for the second time in her career, last doing so on Feb. 10, 2022 vs. Michigan . . . she also scored eight points and pulled down six rebounds.

No. 23 Spartan Women Break School Record with 125 Points in Season-Opening Win

Next Event

Team Stats

Theryn Hallock

Grace VanSlooten

Rashunda Jones

Amy Terrian

Players Mentioned

Isaline Alexander

Kennedy Blair

Jalyn Brown

Theryn Hallock

Rashunda Jones

Abbey Kimball

Emma Shumate

Amy Terrian

Anna Terrian

Grace VanSlooten