EAST LANSING– After a struggle in the first half from a fierce Eastern Kentucky squad, Michigan State pulled together a phenomenal finish that led them to a 96-54 victory in their last battle before heading on the road.
EKU started the night with immediate energy on both ends of the court. It all started with fifth-year forward Raphaela Toussiant, who got a nasty block and drilled a triple later on.
The three put Toussiant over the 1,000 career points mark on her career and helped the Colonels jump out to an 11-7 lead. Fifth-year guard Alice Recanati gave the backcourt some juice by scoring eight in the first quarter and going 4-4.
Not to be outdone, MSU senior forward Jocelyn Tate came out with equal aggression by driving the lane and going 3-3 in the first quarter for six points. However, the Spartans only came away with a four-point advantage as EKU worked the MSU interior defense and limited mistakes offensively.
“I thought we played really soft,” MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said. “Just expecting the ball to be given to us. You gotta earn stops, you gotta stay on your feet, you gotta pressure the ball with purpose.”
As the first half carried on, the intensity on both sides never wavered. EKU continued to lean on Recanati, who finished the half 6-7 and with 13 points. She finished as the Colonels leading scorer with 17 on the night.
The emergence of senior guard and Ohio State transfer Kaitlyn Costner also helped carry the Colonels to a 50% shooting performance in the second quarter. She went 3-4 in the period and finished the game with eight points, but fouled out in the second half.
To keep even, the Spartans needed a few big threes from junior guards Theryn Hallock and Emma Shumate. MSU also got to the line a fair amount by drawing fouls inside, converting on 13-17 shots from the charity stripe in the first half.
“Putting pressure on the rim is good basketball,” Fralick said. “If you can relentlessly do that, getting to the free throw line a lot is a thing you wanna do if you wanna be good.”
As a result, the Spartans remained up four despite losing the first-half turnover battle with a minus-one differential and outworked in the paint by six points.
“I didn’t see purpose in what we were doing,” Fralick said. “We were trying to score off one pass, we were trying to minimize the game and if the games played well you can’t do that.”
Out of the half, MSU looked to create some distance and put the Colonels away. They got their kickstart in junior forward Grace VanSlooten, who returned from an illness that took her out against Eastern Michigan.
VanSlooten overtook her first-half scoring output in the third quarter, going 4-5 for eight points and delivering an aggressive rejection defensively. She finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks.
“It felt amazing, obviously no one ever wants to miss a game. Definitely excited to be back out there,” VanSlooten said. “I think the first half we weren’t really playing like ourselves, came together at halftime and just figured it out, and we’re just gonna keep building on that.”
Graduate guard Julia Ayrault then took the wheel by converting on two consecutive and-one lay-ins. Earning ten points for the third quarter and totaling 19, good for the game’s leading scorer.
“I thought Julia really came to life for us in the second half,” Fralick said. “We tried to get them [Vanslooten and Ayrault] the ball in some spots that weren’t so easy to swarm and secondly we just moved the ball.”
Hallock also continued her backcourt dominance, scoring half of her points in the third and finishing with 14 and nine assists.
“One of my favorite things about coaching Theryn is she’s fearless,” Fralick said. “She’s not scared to attack, to make plays, to create, to be creative and I thought tonight she did a good job of being fearless.”
As MSU turned up the defensive aggression and the press started wearing down EKU, the Spartans took a commanding 22-point lead.
“Part of it [pressing] is you just gotta keep doing it,” Fralick said. “I thought their guards did a good job but over 40 minutes is different than over 20 minutes.”
From this point, MSU never looked back. The Spartans forced 12 second-half turnovers for a total of 18, earned 40 paint points and outpaced EKU by 10 for the game, and shot 10-20 beyond the arc.
In the fourth quarter, the bench put on the finishing touches. Led by freshman forward Juliann Woodard, who shot a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc, 5-5 from the field, scoring 16 in seven minutes, and became MSU’s second-leading scorer, MSU laid the win to rest.
“I think the first half, what was really frustrating is we were making the same mistakes,” Fralick said. “Just to be able to identify that and adjust quicker will be a good lesson for us.”
The Spartans will travel to Kalamazoo for their first road test of the season against Western Michigan on Sunday, Nov. 17, with tip set for 5:00 p.m.
