EAST LANSING- No. 22 Michigan State Women’s Basketball looked to return to the win column after losing back-to-back games against then No. 1 UCLA and No. 4 USC.
MSU hosted Indiana at the Breslin Center, where they handed the Hoosiers a 73-65 loss, putting them at 20-7 overall, and 10-6 in conference play.
Four Spartans finished in double figures, with junior forward Grace VanSlooten leading the pack, putting up 17 points and five rebounds, followed by junior guard Theryn Hallock and senior guard Jocelyn Tate, who each put up 16 points respectively.
MSU’s defense forced Indiana to 18 turnovers, resulting in 24 points scored with 20 fastbreak points.
“Our defense has always been our fuel I feel like, I think once we get a stop it gives everybody a little juice and we just move a lot better, when we get a stop, we get to move faster and go in transition and that’s our favorite game to play,” Tate said.
Tate was an asset on the defensive end for the Green and White, putting up four steals and three rebounds following her performance against USC, where she earned her 1000th career point.
“Credit to Jocelyn, scoring 1000 points at the college level is very hard,” head coach Robyn Fralick said. “Something that she has made good at her whole career is she has always impacted winning.”
The Spartan defense around the perimeter was key to locking down this Hoosier offense, given the fact that Indiana was ranked second in the conference in three-point shooting heading into this game.
“Indiana is arguably maybe the best shooting team in the league, they pretty much have consistently at least four kids on the court who shoot threes at a high rate, so that was very important,” Fralick said.
MSU held Indiana to 6-27 from three, forcing them to get physical in the paint. Graduate guard Julia Ayrault finished with the team high of eight rebounds despite a quiet offensive performance of four points, following her 16-point game against USC.
Playing full team basketball has been a focus of the Spartans throughout the season, and they are at their best when multiple players can step up and impact the game.
“Our men’s team has the phrase, strength in numbers, and I believe in that, I thought tonight, very rarely does everybody play great on the same night, so I thought it takes a team, and I thought we had that,” Fralick said.
The Spartans will head to Ohio to face top ten opponent No. 8 Ohio State before they return home to host Minnesota for the last game of the regular season. No. 22 MSU and No. 8 Ohio State will tip off February 26 with tip-off set for 7 p.m. at Value City Arena.
