With the shot clock winding down and just 12 seconds left in the game, sophomore forward Juliann Woodard found the ball in her hands and was forced to chuck up a prayer and hope it went in. It did — and the crowd was left in awe, as she could do no wrong Thursday night.
Woodard checked in at the 3:55 mark of the third quarter, seeing the court for the first time all game, but came off the bench blazing. She scored 17 points in just under 14 minutes on 5-for-6 shooting from 3-point range, helping power a 101-53 win for No. 22 Michigan State over Eastern Illinois.
"To be honest, I did not know the time," Woodard said regarding her last-second shot. "I heard 'shoot it,' and I turned around, saw the shot clock at one, and I pulled it and it went in. That’s all I got."
It was another inspiring performance for the Spartans, and Woodard’s first time scoring in double figures since tearing her left ACL 302 days ago.
She led MSU’s scoring alongside senior forward Grace VanSlooten, who has been doing it all season. VanSlooten wasted no time, scoring nine points in the first quarter and accounting for a large portion of the Spartans’ 25 points in the opening frame. Her offense has been one of the most consistent factors for MSU this season, alongside its pesky defense.
Once again, the Spartans’ steal total reached north of 15, finishing with 20 and turning their opponent’s 27 turnovers into 33 points. 10 different Spartans recorded a steal, with senior guard Theryn Hallock and VanSlooten leading the way with four apiece. Meanwhile, MSU committed just six turnovers — bolstering a turnover margin that is already the best in the nation.
VanSlooten also filled the stat sheet with two blocks, but the only player to make a similarly widespread impact was redshirt sophomore guard Kennedy Blair. Blair finished with a team-leading 15 rebounds to go with eight points. Her career-high 15 boards were especially impressive for a 5-foot-9 guard and helped her team win the rebounding battle 43-27.
"She has an instinct for the ball. She's not a watcher, she's not an observer, she's always in the mix," MSU head coach Robyn Fralick said. "We made a big deal about our guards being better rebounders, and she did a great job with that tonight."
After taking a 45-28 lead into halftime, the Spartans’ hot shooting in the second half officially put the game away. Led by Woodard’s 5-for-6 second-half performance, MSU shot 45.5% from 3-point range on 22 attempts and scored 56 points after halftime — 11 more than in the first half.
43 of those 56 second-half points came from the bench. Most were scored in an explosive 29-point fourth quarter, where 27 of the 29 came from nonstarters.
Woodard’s 17 points led the charge, but senior guard Jalyn Brown added 14. Redshirt senior forward Isaline Alexander and senior guard Abby Kimball were close to double figures as well, with nine and eight points, respectively.
"Depth is a competitive advantage if it's productive," Fralick said. "There's one thing to just play people. It's another thing to play people who are productive. We’ve gotten a lot of good production out of a lot of players. We've got to be able to keep that up, because when we do it right, it's a competitive advantage."
While joy filled Breslin Center after the 48-point win and 101-point night for the Spartans, it was not all positive. VanSlooten went down in the fourth quarter, limped off the court and did not return.
"We’ll see more as we go," Fralick said. "Hopeful, but we’ll see more tomorrow and as we get more information."
The Spartans now turn their attention to the final game of their six-game homestand, hosting Oakland (2-3) on Sunday at 2 p.m. in East Lansing.
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