EAST LANSING– Michigan State women’s basketball took down No.24 Nebraska on Thursday night in a thrilling showdown. Clutch plays down the stretch led the Spartans to a 73-71 victory in front of a raucous Breslin crowd. The Spartans improved to 17-1 win the win, the best start in program history, while also rising to 6-1 in the Big Ten.
Senior forward Grace VanSlooten started fast for the Spartans, scoring the team’s first six points. Sophomore center Ines Sotelo added seven points in the first and added a block to go along with her early scoring.
Nebraska kept pace with the Spartans from deep, as the Cornhuskers shot 5 for 7 from deep in the opening quarter. Sophomore forward Petra Bozan drilled a shot from beyond the arc with one second left, and the Spartans held a 24-19 after ten minutes.
In the second quarter Offense was hard to come by, with neither team exceeding 15 points. The Spartans committed five in the quarter, while Nebraska had six. Defense was largely the theme of this game, and it dominated the second quarter as neither team shot particularly well in the quarter, with MSU taking a 36-33 lead into the half.
Neither team could gain much of an advantage in the third quarter, as the largest lead of the game was nine, a gap that was quickly closed by the Cornhuskers. VanSlooten continued to contribute, as she would go on to lead all scorers for the night with 22 points.
Sophomore guard Kennedy Blair also had an impressive all-around night, making key plays in the third quarter including a go-ahead bucket seconds after Nebraska tied the game. Junior forward Jessica Petrie provided a spark for Nebraska by getting to the line multiple times. The Spartans took a one-point lead into the fourth, which set up a thrilling finish.
Nebraska sophomore forward Amiah Hargrove led the Cornhuskers with 21 points, scoring nine in the final quarter. Spartans junior guard Rashunda Jones also came alive in the fourth, adding points and making key plays including a block that led to a bucket on the other end. Hargrove’s clutch buckets put the Cornhuskers up three with 90 seconds to go, and the Spartans needed a big shot, sitting at 2-16 from three on the night.
A big shot is what they got, as Jones drove inside and found senior guard Jayln Brown all alone in the corner. Brown drilled the game tying three, sending the Breslin crowd into a frenzy.
MSU head coach Robyn Fralick showed her appreciation for the fans.
”Our fans are awesome, and it was a back-and-forth game. And they came alive, and I love the people that were here. They were awesome. I’m going to challenge more people to come because we had a huge top 25 matchup tonight, and we’re going to continue to have those. I can encourage and challenge people to keep coming out and bring a friend and tell a friend, and bring an aunt and bring a cousin, because there’s going to be a bunch of good home matchups with a bunch of really good basketball teams, and our crowd makes a difference.”
Sophomore guard Britt Prince countered with a score to put the Cornhuskers back in front, giving her 16 points on the night. Jones would hit a pair of clutch free throws to tie the game back up, and a costly turnover would give the Spartans the ball with 27 seconds left and a chance to win. Fralick trusted Jones with the ball, as she has all season. Jones would miss the go ahead shot, but sophomore forward Juliann Woodard would crash the boards, securing a rebound and drawing a foul. Woodard drilled both free throws with five seconds left to give the Spartans a 73-71 lead.
“I knew what we were running. I knew Spider was taking the last shot, and I saw it going up, and I just went for it,” Woodard said. We weren’t in foul trouble at that time, so I was getting the rebound in my head, no matter what.”
Jones would make another clutch play deflecting the ball out of bounds with just 1.4 on the clock. The Cornhuskers had one final chance but would never get a shot off as Jones would deflect the lob pass and end the game.
“We knew they were going to run a live play. They run a down screen lob, and we had Ines on the ball,” Fralick said. “Spider, she’s not that tall, but she can jump. she did a good job of seeing the ball, going up, making a play on the ball, tipping it out and not giving them a chance.”
The victory was the Spartans ninth in a row and sixth straight conference win since the loss to Wisconsin. Nebraska fell to 14-4 and 3-4 in conference play with the loss. The Spartans next game is Sunday at Iowa in what will be another huge test. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET.
