Four years, two teams and 126 games later, all the hard work on the hardwood has paid off for senior forward Grace VanSlooten.
With the ninth pick in the third round of the 2026 WNBA Draft, the Seattle Storm selected VanSlooten, as she becomes the ninth Michigan State women's basketball player ever to be selected in the draft and first since 2017.
The former five-star prospect spent her first two seasons at Oregon before transferring to MSU, putting her trust in head coach Robyn Fralick, who had just finished her first season in East Lansing. From that point on, VanSlooten became the team’s offensive anchor over the past two years, helping Fralick not only rebuild the program but also take it to new heights.
She scored 962 points for the Spartans — bringing her career total to 1,849 — and led the team in scoring both years. She also became a better all-around player, earning All-Big Ten second team honors in both seasons.
This past season she averaged 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 50% from the field, making her presence felt on both ends of the floor.
She not only filled stat sheets while in East Lansing, but was a winner too, leaving with a 45-19 record over two years. Those 64 games included two trips to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament and, perhaps most monumental, helping MSU to the best start in school history this past season at 17-1.
VanSlooten helped set the blueprint for success under Fralick as the program gradually improved each season. It all began with a top-ranked transfer putting her faith in a coach in the midst of turning the program around. It is only fitting that VanSlooten becomes Fralick’s first player drafted in the WNBA Draft.
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