EAST LANSING, Mich. – No. 21/22 Michigan State women’s basketball used tenacious defense and efficient scoring to defeat Penn State, 82-61, Wednesday night at the Breslin Center.
The Spartans have now won four-straight games, improving to 16-3 overall and 6-2 in Big Ten contests. Penn State falls to 10-10 overall and 1-8 in league play. MSU has now won eight of the last nine in the series.
On the defensive end, Michigan State had 14 steals and forced 26 Lady Lion turnovers. It was the 15th time this season that MSU has caused at least 20 turnovers.
The Spartans had four players in double figures led by 17 points from junior guard Theryn Hallock, who has the led the team in scoring for the second-straight game. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault scored 16 points with five rebounds and three steals. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate had a solid game scoring 15 points with five assists, five rebounds and three blocks. Junior forward Grace VanSlooten also added 10 points with five rebounds.
Penn State was led by a game-high 24 points from Moriah Murray.
After the Lady Lions scored the first basket of the game, Michigan State scored the next seven to take a 7-3 lead. Both teams were hitting from long range early on with three treys apiece midway through the first quarter. The Spartans took their first double-digit lead after a Tate layup 23-13 with under a minute left in the period. Tate led all scorers with 10 points in the first 10 minutes of action.
The Spartan offense had a slow start to the second quarter, going three minutes without scoring before a steal and Hallock layup. MSU’s offense started to heat up using an 8-0 run to take a 37-21 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the half. Nyla Hampton’s driving layup at the buzzer gave Michigan State the 41-24 advantage at the break. The Green and White defense was excellent in the first half with 11 steals and forcing 18 turnovers.
Michigan State scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to jump out to a 52-26 lead. After a VanSlooten layup at the 4:36 mark, the Spartans took their biggest lead of the game 60-29. MSU out-scored Penn State 24-13 in the third period due in part to Ayrault and Hallock combining for 14 points. The Spartans were 6-for-8 from beyond the arc in the period, while holding PSU to 1-for-2 from long range.
The teams traded 6-0 runs early in the fourth quarter, as MSU kept a comfortable advantage. With the game out of…
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