Michigan State women's basketball defeated Purdue 97-70 this Wednesday in a dominating performance, days after their blowout loss against Minnesota last Saturday.
MSU won the tip-off, and MSU’s graduate student guard Moira Joiner kicked off the scoring with a layup. Purdue came back down the court with a two-point of their own.
The first quarter had a very fast start with both teams scoring back-to-back continuously. The Spartans started to take over with heavy defense, including a major block by graduate guard Julia Ayrault, followed by Joiner hitting a deep three-pointer to bring Michigan State's lead to seven.
With this three-pointer, Joiner achieved a huge milestone: getting 1,000 career points. She would later finish the game with 14 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Ayrault later on came down and hit a deep three-pointer and made the Breslin crowd go crazy; the fans were ecstatic after a long-awaited dominating game. Purdue began to push back and brought their deficit to just five points. However, with Purdue's last first quarter spurt, the Spartans still ended the quarter leading 24-19.
Junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate came out of the second quarter with a nice layup to start off the scoring for the Spartans. Joiner came back with another layup, but Purdue responded with a three-pointer. Michigan State's sophomore guard Abbey Kimball made a three-pointer and with a quick layup from the Spartans, Purdue called a timeout with under seven minutes left in the quarter. Overall in the quarter, Michigan State again outscored Purdue and went into the locker room at halftime with a lead of 43-31.
In the first half, Ayrault led scoring for the Spartans with 12 points, but multiple scorers and rebounds helped MSU stay in control of the first half of the game.
The Spartans continued to dominate with great offense into the third quarter. Joiner opened up scoring with a deep three-pointer, followed by another three-pointer by Kimball. After a much needed timeout by Purdue, the Boilmakers' defense began to increase and put the pressure on the Spartans. Very quickly, MSU took a timeout to regroup and graduate guard/forward Tory Ozment came out with a three-point play and made the score 54-37. Ozment and Kimball both hit deep three-pointers and pushed the lead to 20 points.
As the quarter went on, both teams began to get more aggressive on defense, constantly fighting for the ball and put pressure on the opposing team. However, Purdue could not diminish Michigan State's lead as the third quarter ended with MSU leading 73-49.
Purdue opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a layup but Michigan State's sophomore guard Theryn Hallock made a three-point play right after. Then Hallock came back with a deep three-pointer making the Spartans lead by 22 points. MSU continued to hustle with layups and free throws to further the lead. With under two minutes left to go, Hallock hit the last three-pointer for the Spartans.
MSU finished the game strong with a 27 point win, winning 97-70.
Looking ahead, Michigan State women's basketball will play against University of Michigan this Saturday at the Breslin Center. Tip-off starts at 12 p.m. and will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.
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