Blair Sparks No. 15 MSU Past No. 23 Washington, 82-67

Thursday, January 8

Seattle, Wash.

9 PM ET

Michigan State University

15-1,4-1Big Ten

No. 23/23 Washington

12-3,2-2Big Ten

Michigan St.

Washington

1/9/2026 12:59:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score MSU 82, UW 67 25 26 MSU WBB Combined

The Spartans earn their second ranked win of the season.

SEATTLE - After trailing by as many as 11 points in the first quarter, No. 15 Michigan State women's basketball rebounded to capture an 82-67 win over No. 23 Washington at the Alaska Airlines Arena on Thursday.

The Spartans have now won seven-straight games to improve to 15-1 overall and 4-1 in Big Ten contests. Washington had its three-game winning streak snapped, falling to 12-3 overall and 2-2 in league action. Michigan State is off to its best start since the 2010-11 season, when MSU opened the season 16-1.

MSU is now 2-0 against ranked opponents, as Thursday's match-up with No. 23/23 Washington was the Spartans' second ranked vs. ranked battle this season after beating No. 15/15 Ole Miss, 66-49, on Dec. 22 in the Cherokee Invitational title game in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Michigan State had three players in double figures led by redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair's 21 points. It was her third 20-point game of the season. She also added five assists and six rebounds. Senior forward Grace VanSlooten and junior guard Rashunda Jones both scored 17 points. Jones had her first double-double of the season adding 10 boards to go along with her 17 points.

The Spartans were solid on the boards, out-rebounding the Huskies 40-28.

Washington was led by 15 points from Elle Ladine, who went 5-for-7 from long range.

The Huskies jumped out to a 10-5 lead early on after a pair of Ladine 3-pointers. Yet another trey by Ladine put UW on top 23-14 with less than two minutes left in the quarter, using an 8-0 run. Washington extended the run to 10-0 after a pair of Avery Howell free throws. The Huskies ended the period with five 3-pointers, leading MSU 25-14.

In the second quarter, the Spartans scored the first five of the period to trip to chip away at the Huskies' lead. Michigan State battled back into the game thanks to Jones and a 7-0 run that made it a 36-33 game with 2:34 left in the half. The Spartans forced four turnovers in 2:53 to help get back in the game. The run stretched to 11-0, as Michigan State re-took the lead after a pair of Blair free throws. MSU out-scored UW 25-11 in the second quarter and led at half time 39-36.

Michigan State used another big run, 10-0, to take a 51-42 lead at the 6:26 mark of the third quarter, leading to a Washington timeout. The Spartans took their first double-digit lead 54-42 after an Emma Shumate triple at the 5:51 mark. MSU's defense also stepped up in the second half with five turnovers in five minutes. Michigan State used a 21-5 run over 7:32 to take a 62-47 lead. The Spartans out-scored the Huskies, 23-11 in the period.

In the fourth quarter, a Jones bucket gave the Spartans a 20-point lead 71-51 with under six minutes remaining. Jones and VanSlooten combined for 12 of MSU's 20 points in the final 10 minutes. Ladine scored 12 points in the first quarter, and Michigan State held her to just three the remaining three periods.

The Spartans will now end the trip Pacific Northwest, facing Oregon on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 5 p.m. ET. The game will be on B1G+.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes

• No. 15/15 Michigan State won its seventh-straight game and improved to 15-1 overall and 4-1 in B1G play . . . the Spartans' 15-1 record matches their best record through 16 games since 2010-11 when also going 15-1, on the way to opening 16-1 before losing in game 18.

• The Spartans are now 2-0 against ranked opponents, as Thursday's match-up with No. 23/23 Washington was the Spartans' second ranked vs. ranked battle this season after beating No. 15/15 Ole Miss, 66-49, on Dec. 22 in the Cherokee Invitational title game in Cherokee, North Carolina

• Michigan State's starting five on Thursday night of junior guard Rashunda Jones, sophomore center Ines Sotelo, senior forward Grace VanSlooten, redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair and senior guard Jalyn Brown was the third-straight game with that starting quartet . . . it marks the Spartans' fifth different starting line-up of the season . . . MSU is now 3-0 with that starting five.

• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten, junior guard Rashunda Jones and redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair all started for the 16th time in as many games this season, remaining the only three Spartans to start all 16 games.

• Thursday was MSU's first-ever game played at Washington and only the fourth-ever meeting between the Spartans and Huskies, and Michigan State now leads the all-time series, 3-1, winning the last three after UW won the first meeting in 1987 . . . MSU is now 2-0 vs. UW as B1G opponents after last season's 80-68 Victory for MSU.

• Michigan State played away from home for the eighth time in its last 10 games, as MSU's game last time out on Jan. 4 vs. Illinois and Dec. 28 vs. Rutgers were the lone games not on the road during that span . . . the Spartans are now 8-0 at home, 4-0 in neutral games and 3-1 in road games.

• After finishing December, 4-1, MSU opens January 3-0.

• Thursday's 82 points marked the third-consecutive game that the Spartans scored 80 or more points, scoring incrementally increasing with 80 points at Indiana (1/1/26) and 81 vs. Illinois (1/4/26) and 82 on Thursday night . . . MSU is now 12-0 when hanging 80+ points on the scoreboard.

• The Spartans' 82 points Thursday night was MSU's second-highest scoring outing in a true road game behind the 90 points at DePaul (12/14/25).

• With Michigan State scoring 82 points Thursday, it was the most points scoring on Washington this season, topping their previous high for points allowed by an opponent of 74 by Green Bay (W, 79-74, 12/13/25), and the previous most by a B1G opponent was 73 by Northwestern (W, 94-73, 12/29/25), for the only two opponents to top 70 points . . . UW entered Thursday ranked No. 4 in the B1G and No. 29 in the NCAA in scoring defense (54.5 ppg).

• Three Spartans scored in double-figures, led by redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair with 21 points, followed by 17 points apiece from junior guard Rashunda Jones and senior forward Grace VanSlooten . . . Thursday was the seventh MSU game with three players in double-figures and the Spartans are now 7-0 with a trio of double-digit scorers.

• Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair's 21 points was her third 20-point outing of the season and her career, joining her career-high of 25 points vs. Oakland (11/23/25) and 22 vs. Clemson (11/30/25) . . . the 21 points was a new high in a Big Ten contest this season, bettering her previous best of 19 points last time out vs. Illinois (1/4/26).

• Blair netted double-digits for the fourth game in a row as part of the 11th game this season and the 14th time of her career.

• Blair also dished out a game-high five assists, marking the fourth-straight game with five or more helpers, and has now done so in 13 of the 16 games.

• Junior guard Rashunda Jones registered the first double-double of not only her Spartan career, but her collegiate career as well, with 17 points and a game-high and career-best 10 rebounds, as Jones is in her first season at MSU after transferring from Purdue.

• Jones' 17 points was her seventh-straight game in double-figures and was her 12th game this season in tallying 10+ points.

• The 10 rebounds doubled her previous season-high of five boards, which came vs. Rutgers (12/28/25), and topped her prior collegiate career-best of eight boards done three previous times during her Purdue career, most recently vs. Michigan (3/3/24).

• Jones also distributed four assists, as she has dished out three or more helpers in 14 of the 16 games played.

• Defensively, Jones swiped a team and game-high three steals, and was her 11th game this season with multiple swipes . . . Jones now has a team-leading 39 steals on the season.

• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten was playing Washington for the sixth time in her career, facing the Huskies four times while at Oregon and now twice with Michigan State, and with 17 points Thursday, VanSlooten has now scored 76 points in the six games to average 12.7 points per game against Washington, including double-figures in four of the six contests vs. the Huskies.

• VanSlooten also pulled down eight rebounds Thursday, and she now has 50 points and 31 rebounds in the last three games since being held to eight points and four rebounds vs. Rutgers (12/28/25), averaging 16.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game over the last three outings.

• VanSlooten finished with 17 points to register double-figures for the second-straight contest as well as the 14th time in the 16 games this season . . . she now had posted double-digits in the scoring column in 33 of her last 36 games . . . overall, VanSlooten has posted double-figures in the scoring column in 43 of her 47 total games as a Spartan, being held to single digits twice last season and missing one game due to illness.

• Overall, VanSlooten has now netted double-figure scoring 98 times out of 110 career games, registering 10+ points in 55 games during her time at Oregon.

• With the eight rebounds, VanSlooten has snared five or more boards in 10 of the 16 games played this season.

• Senior guard Emma Shumate netted 2-of-4 behind the arc, as the sharp-shooter has made multiple triples in each of the last four games as part of 12 of the 16 games on the season.

• Shumate is averaging 2.25 3-pointers per game over the last four contests and 2.67 treys per game over the last six games, boosted by her career-best seven 3-pointers vs. Indiana State in the opening game of the Cherokee Invitational in Cherokee, North Carolina.

• Overall, Shumate's two 3-pointers give her a team-leading 36 triples on the season out of 39 total field goals.

• Shumate also added a block on Thursday for her third game in a row with at least one block as part of a total of five blocks over the last three games with a career-high tying three rejections last time out vs. Illinois (1/4/26) . . . Shumate has at least on block in seven games this season.