EAST LANSING— In an important conference matchup after a road loss to Nebraska, with an electric crowd behind them, No. 20 Michigan State found a way to close it out against a solid Washington squad on Sunday afternoon. As MSU looks to start a new streak and rise in the Big Ten, UW had a five-game win streak snapped.
“This team is worthy of your support, they’re worthy of your Sunday,” MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said. “We have a group that cares a lot about each other, plays hard, works hard, and we get to share that.”
The win also put the finishing touches on a special alumni day at the Breslin Center, as former Spartans of all eras and the 2005 national runner-up team made appearances at the matchup.
“When you have the greatest team in school history also a part of the night that makes it pretty special,” Fralick said. “We were able to talk about that with our team, what that means, what that looks like, what it means to be a Spartan.”
To start the game, the Huskies came out winning the intensity battle. UW kept the Spartan offense out of rhythm by forcing eight turnovers in the opening quarter and freshman guard Sayvia Sellers established herself early.
She got into double figures early by going 50% from the field and commanded the Huskies offense with 11 of their 18 points in the first quarter. Sellers cooled off but remained a problem throughout, finishing as the game’s leading scorer with 21.
However, the Spartans found their spark plug in junior forward Grace VanSlooten off the bench. She led the way by finishing around the rim and in the paint with seven points.
VanSlooten went for 19 points and 12 rebounds in the end, earning another double-double on the season. The newfound momentum led to an increase in defensive aggression and a greater focus on the glass, giving MSU a four-point advantage.
“What I try to do is just come in, do whatever needs to be done,” VanSlooten said. “I’m not really going in there looking to do anything special but just kind of whatever the team needs and that’s what I do.”
VanSlooten, a transfer portal addition from Oregon, had a little extra emotion in the victory.
“I had a lot of fun getting a win against them, I hadn’t beaten them a lot in the past so that was fun for me,” VanSlooten said. “Definitely weird playing them in the Big Ten and playing them all the way out here in Michigan.”
Through the rest of the half, each team continued to trade blows without finding any separation. To end the second quarter, MSU made five of their last six while UW went three for three from the field and six for six from the free throw line.
Two clear advantage points for the Spartans came from depth and inside physicality. MSU outscored the Huskies by 11 in bench points and 14 in the paint.
“We did feel like, if we moved the ball enough, we could score inside,” Fralick said. “It did feel like we could find a way to get some points in the paint, and we did. You can think you’re gonna do it but then to actually execute it was really good for us.”
However, while the squads both committed ten turnovers, UW took full advantage by scoring 17 off of them. This all evened out to a one-point lead for MSU going into the half.
Out of the locker room, the intensity in this battle never wavered but the Spartans found an important edge. MSU moved the turnover battle in their direction by creating havoc in the half-court and taking care of the ball.
UW only forced three giveaways and came up with two points, while the Spartans forced six and turned them into nine points. This difference pushed the Spartans to a seven-point lead going into the fourth.
“As a lot of people know our defense turns into offense,” junior guard Theryn Hallock said. “I think that once we get those steals, deflections, blocks, whatever it is, and we push it with our guard it gives us really big motivation to go and score.”
An evenly matched duel between UW guard sophomore Elle Ladine and MSU guard graduate Julia Ayrault allowed for this to be the key. The pair exploded in the third for 11 and nine in the third, essentially canceling each other out and letting the rest of the Spartans take care of business.
“For our team to be successful we have to play good team basketball. We don’t rely on one player to carry the load,” Fralick said. “We do it together, we get stops together, we create good shots together.”
Ayrault finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, and a perfect eight for eight from the line. On the other side, Ladine ended with a productive 17 points, four boards, and three assists. While Ladine and Sellers had their way offensively and combined for 38 on the day, the rest of the Huskies only combined for 30.
As MSU pushed into the fourth looking to close out the conference victory, Hallock made sure to build on her performance against Nebraska and took over late. She earned nine of her 11 points in the final period and went three of five from the field.
“If I don’t have a great start, it’s a 40-minute game, still got a lot to go and I can impact the game in a lot of ways whether it’s scoring, steals, deflections, whatever it is,” Hallock said. “I’ve just been really focusing on my next play mentality, and I think that’s been helping me, and the coaches have had my back, and my teammates have had my back too.”
Not only did Hallock make her mark, but the gap in bench points widened to 18 in the second half. Behind this strong finish, the Spartans were able to ice the game away through their defense and on the free throw line.
“We strung stops together,” Fralick said. “Washington’s been a very good offensive rebounding team, and I thought we also did a good job guarding and, not always, but did a pretty good job keeping them to one shot.”
With the win, MSU improves to 13-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play. The Spartans will make the road trip to Piscataway, New Jersey to take on Rutgers with hopes of staying on track. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. with the broadcast being available on Big Ten Plus.
