EAST LANSING- No. 16 Michigan State women’s basketball fell short to Oregon, losing 63-59, recording their first loss at the Breslin Center on Thursday. The Spartans move to 17-4 on the season, and 7-3 in conference play. 

Graduate guard Julia Ayrault and junior forward Grace VanSlooten tied for a team high of 14 points, Ayrault putting up nine rebounds and VanSlooten putting up three blocks. 

The Spartan offense was stunned by the Ducks defense, who held MSU to only eight points in the first quarter. 

“Disappointing one for us tonight at home, you know, a lot of credit to Oregon I think they played a good game, they did some things that bothered us,” head coach Robyn Fralick said. “Frustrating, I thought that the game was obviously lost in the first quarter.” 

At the half, the Spartans were trailing 23-35 and could not play catchup in the time remaining. 

“I think, they’ve been very good defensively, (Oregon) so, that is definitely an element, they’re very big, a lot of size especially in the paint, but we knew that,” Fralick said. “We knew moving the ball was gonna be really important, I think we did that.”  

MSU was not getting the open looks they were used to, and they took many uncharacteristic shots, going 25% from the arc.  

“Part of our struggle defensively was bad shots, right, and then all of a sudden, you know, the courts unbalanced, and they’re scoring,” Fralick said. 

The Spartans had trouble controlling the ball throughout this game and could not get past 6’8 Oregon center, Phillipina Kyei. 

“I don’t think we’ve played anyone with that sort of size at the rim,” Fralick said. “I think that’s probably the most rim protection we’ve seen.” 

Despite the battle at the rim, the Spartans fought till the end, at one point closing the gap to six in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough. 

“I thought our fight back was good, you know, but even we fought back, we would get to free throw line and left those points in thin air, especially when, you know, we were clawing back into the game,” Fralick said. 

MSU struggled from the line, going 11-17, halting their comeback and keeping Oregon on top. 

“We gave ourselves a chance at the end, I thought we did some things a little different that helped, but you know that first quarter, it’s just hard to claw out of,” Fralick said. 

The Spartans will head to Illinois to face Northwestern in a must-win game if they have any hopes of securing a top four seed in the tournament. 

MSU vs. Illinois will tip off this Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Welsh-Ryan arena.