EAST LANSING- No. 21 MSU gets a dominant Big Ten win at home against Penn State, 82-61. The Spartans are now 16-3 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten.
“Proud of our team win tonight,” said head coach Robyn Fralick. “I thought overall we were playing good basketball on both ends of the court.”
The Spartans came out with locked down defense, forcing Penn State to 10 turnovers in the first quarter. This defensive pressure continued throughout most of the game, forcing the Lady Lions to 26 overall turnovers.
“I just thought our kids did a good job with pressuring them in a way that could help us,” said Fralick. “It takes five to do that, and then even if they broke it, I thought we did a good job getting matched up and guarding them half court.”
Junior guard Theryn Hallock had another team high, coming off of a 26-point game against Illinois, Hallock put up 17 against the Lady Lions.
“I thought she took great shots, I mean she got some in transition, she shot it well, she shot good shots, you know, and we have especially, recently we have moved her much more off the ball, and I do think that’s helped,” said Fralick. “I think we’re doing a good job moving it, and she’s doing a really good job of finishing.”
Hallock has stepped in to a position of leadership on this team, and her speed and agility can create momentum on both sides of the ball.

“Next play mentality, it has been a very big working point for me, I think last year I got in my head too much, and this year coach has been on me, on getting the next play and I’m in the gym working so, I know my shots gonna fall eventually,” said Hallock. “I mean you can go back to the Rutgers game I was like one for nine, I didn’t stop shooting and I’m not gonna stop shooting, so I gotta keep my confidence up.”
Graduate guard Julia Ayrault had 16 points with five rebounds, and senior guard Jocelyn Tate had 15 points as well as five rebounds.
“With Jocelyn, she’s such a unique player that you really have to watch to understand the impact, you have to watch to understand the motor, the energy, the deflections, her ability to just guard so many different players and so many different spaces,” said Fralick.
Junior forward Grace VanSlooten put up 10 points and five rebounds while facing the pressure of a double and triple team from Penn State.
“I think she’s been in a crowd a lot, so we’ve had a lot of experience with that, it’s something we watch film on its something we work on in practice, and I think in the live game we’re just getting better at recognizing, just move it, and we’ll get it back again in a better spot,” said Fralick.
The Spartans head to Ann Arbor this weekend for a Big Ten rivalry matchup against the No. 24 Michigan Wolverines.
“It has all the elements, it’s what makes college sports so fun, two top 25 teams, rivalry game, it’ll also be a new matchup, very different from who we played tonight, so we’ll have two days to prepare, we’ll have to be sharp,” said Fralick.
With the pressure of beating the school down the road in Ann Arbor, this game means something different to Hallock, who has been a lifelong fan of the green and white.
“For me, growing up as a Spartan this is a very important game, so practice is different, the weight room is different, locker room talk is different, we’re just excited because obviously the rivalry games are so much fun to be in, but we want to get the wins obviously so, we gotta do a little bit extra this week,” said Hallock.
No. 21 MSU and No. 24 Michigan will tip off this Saturday at noon at the Crisler Center.