The Michigan State women’s basketball team returned back to the Breslin Center this Wednesday and defeated Northwestern 91-72 after dropping a close away game against No. 18 Ohio State last Sunday.
Northwestern won the tip-off, but the Spartan’s graduate student guard Julia Ayrault kicked off the scoring with a three-pointer. The Wildcats responded back with a three-pointer of their own, but Northwestern’s defense was no match for junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, who came right back down with an easy layup.
The first quarter held a very fast pace with Michigan State scoring back-to-back buckets and playing aggressive defense, which allowed the team to move ahead early on. With a lead of 7-3, the Spartans did not let up as sophomore guard Abbey Kimball got a steal and scored two points. By the end of the first quarter, the Spartans took a commanding 21-11 lead.
The second quarter started aggressively on both sides: graduate student guard Moira Joiner hit a deep three-pointer and sophomore guard Theryn Hallock hustled the ball all the way back down the court and hit a hard layup to eventually make the score 31-13. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann came right back with a deep three-pointer, which pulled the lead even farther.
A timeout with four and a half minutes left in the half seemed like the answer to stop the Spartans from continuing their streak, but it was not enough to stop Hagemann’s four-point play right out of the timeout, which made the Breslin Center go ballistic.
At the end of the first half, four Spartans had seven points each and multiple players had rebounds, which helped Michigan State stay in control of the game with a 50-28 lead.
The Spartans continued to dominate with great offense into the third quarter. Ayrault opened up scoring with a good hustle layup, followed by Joiner’s back-to-back three-pointers, which brought the lead to 58-30. Northwestern’s energy never matched MSU’s, which caused the Wildcats to fall 25 points behind. However, multiple fouls by the Spartans late in the third quarter led to Northwestern closing the deficit to 71-52.
The fourth quarter started with graduate guard/forward Tory Ozment, who scored an easy two-pointer and then a deep three-pointer, which pushed the team’s lead up to 27 points. With under four minutes left to go in the game, the Spartans put pressure on the Wildcats, regardless of the fact that they missed many shots.
Michigan State finished the game with a strong 91-72 win and was in control of the entire game. Throughout the entire game, the Spartans were always putting pressure on the Wildcats and continued to play aggressively.
Looking ahead, Michigan State women’s basketball with play against No. 5 Minnesota this Saturday at 3 p.m. in Williams Arena, Minnesota.
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