EAST LANSING, MI. – No. 24 Michigan State women’s basketball welcomed the Western Michigan Broncos to the Breslin Center on Nov. 16. MSU handled the Broncos, winning by a score of 98-44 on Sunday night.
The Spartans’ head coach, Robyn Fralick, thought her team played well in three out of the four quarters, and there were moments in the game that her team could build from.
“We have a phrase in our team, that we say, be an every possession player, be an every possession team,” Fralick said. “I think tonight there’s going to be some growth in that, just being on the same page, dominating the details and sustaining throughout 40 minutes.”
In the first quarter, MSU was dominant and opened the game with an 18-0 run. The Spartans were crowding the passing lanes the entire quarter, and this led to easier shots, and the Green and White were scoring in a multitude of ways.
Fralick said that it will be important to have an arsenal of ways her team can score in their possessions, and multidimensional scoring is something that MSU will need as the season goes on.
Heading into the second quarter, Michigan State led WMU 31-5, and throughout the quarter, the Broncos encountered a better flow offensively and were able to put pressure on MSU’s offense.
Western Michigan was able to cut into the Spartans’ lead and scored three more points in the quarter than the Green and White.
Fralick thought her players’ effort in the second quarter wasn’t good enough, and they weren’t playing the right way.
“In these games when you get a lead, there’s this real art to playing the right way, and continuing to share the ball, and continuing to get team defensive stops,” Fralick said. “I just thought we got away from that.”
The third quarter saw a completely different Michigan State team compared to what the second quarter encountered. After being up 45-22 at halftime, the smooth Spartan offense was back, and everyone was sharing the ball.
Redshirt sophomore guard Kennedy Blair seemed like she influenced every play this quarter. Blair put up eight points, three assists, and two rebounds in the eight minutes she played in the quarter.
Blair said she felt the pressure MSU put on the Broncos in the first half was able to tire them out, and she felt the level of all-around play from herself and teammates improved.
“I think we passed a lot better, and we got easy shots,” Blair said. “We weren’t taking difficult shots; we were cutting on time, rebounding and pushing the ball. I think we went back to our basics and what we do well.”
With just a few seconds remaining in the third quarter, senior guard Theryn Hallock created an eruption in the Breslin Center with a halfcourt buzzer beater to end the quarter and extended a comfortable lead going into the final period.
Other than this shot, Hallock struggled from the field, but Fralick credited how she played in other aspects of the game.
“She (Hallock) has great speed,” Fralick said. “She can be an elite disruptive defender… Shooting is obviously a bonus, but she’s so much more than that. She has such a bigger impact on the game than that.”
The fourth quarter saw more of the same MSU dominance. At the beginning of the quarter, the Michigan State lead ballooned to 78-29, and the Spartans never looked back.
Redshirt senior forward Isaline Alexander provided a boost off the bench throughout this game and scored a career-high 20 points.
Alexander tore her ACL last year and missed the entire 2024/25 season. She also missed most of the previous season due to injury, and she was proud about how she’s come back from a difficult journey and produced a terrific performance.
“I had to do a lot to get back to where I am now, and I’m still working to get back to feeling whatever normal is,” Alexander said. “Being able to finish and see myself actually doing it… means a lot to me and I’m so happy that my team has my back and the coaches have my back as well.”
MSU’s 98 points against Western Michigan makes this the fourth time in four games this season that the Spartans scored over 90 points.
Next up for MSU is the Eastern Illinois Panthers. Tipoff is set for Thursday, Nov. 20th at 6:30 p.m. Josh Lee and Brian Rivers will be on the call, and it can be listened to locally on 88.9 FM or streamed at https://impact89fm.org/.
