In a highly anticipated in-state matchup, the Michigan State women’s basketball team took care of their rival Michigan Wolverines, by a score of 82-61. DeeDee Hagemann led the Spartans offensively, scoring 20 points. 

The Spartans protect home court

With the win against Michigan, MSU is now 10-1 in games at the Breslin Center. They have won their last five games at home, outscoring their opponent by at least 15 points in all five games. 

Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick believed protecting home court was the key to being successful. 

“If you look at the league it’s such an important element and it will remain important,” Fralick said. “Tonight was a big game for us and we did a good job of taking care of home court.”

There have been different contributors every game

It seems like every game, a different player is stepping up for the Spartans. In today’s game, it was Joceyln Tate who rose to the occasion. The junior transfer from Bowling Green scored 14 points, the most she has had in B1G play. 

“I feel like a lot of times they play off of me but today they matched the toughness that I wanted and weren’t letting me have any space and I like that,” Tate said.

There was a lot of fouls in the rivalry matchup

There was no shortage of free throws in today’s matchup. Michigan State went to the charity stripe 34 times compared to Michigan’s 17 attempts.

Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico wasn’t pleased with how the game was officiated. 

“We played two nights ago and the game was called completely different than the game was called tonight and I think that really affected us,” Barnes Arico said.

Michigan State will travel to East Piscataway, N.J. to take on Rutgers, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.