Spartan Women’s Basketball Earns Season Sweep against Michigan with 70-66 Win - Michigan State University Athletics (2024)

ANN ARBOR Mich. - In a game full of streaks, the Michigan State came out on top, 70-66, against Michigan at the Crisler Center on Sunday afternoon. The Spartans earned their first season sweep against the Wolverines since the 2018-19 season.

Michigan State snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 18-7 overall and 8-6 in Big Ten play. Michigan falls to 16-11 overall and 7-8 in league play. MSU head coach Robyn Fralick becomes just the third Michigan State head coach to sweep Michigan in their first season, along with Mikki Baile and Karen Langeland.

Graduate guard/forward Tory Ozment led the Spartans with 16 points of the bench also adding four rebounds. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann added 14 points and three assists, while graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault had a strong second half to score 13 points. Sophom*ore guard Theryn Hallock was the final Spartan in double figures with 11 points.

Michigan was once again led by 23 points and seven rebounds from Laila Phelia.

The Wolverines made their first three 3-pointers to take an early 9-5 lead. The run increased to 8-0 make it 11-5 with six minutes left in the first quarter. Michigan was hot from beyond the arc early on making their first five of the period. Behind six points from Hagemann, the Spartans trimmed the deficit to 21-19 at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, Michigan State re-took the lead early after a trey by Ozment, 22-21. Michigan State used a 6-0 run to take a 28-23 lead with under five left in the half. The Spartans scored 13 of the first 15 points of the second quarter. Ozment was clutch for MSU with 12 points in the first half. MSU out-scored U-M 16-9 in the period to lead at the break 35-30.

Michigan came out hot in the third quarter using a 13-0 run to re-take the lead, 43-38. Michigan State went over five minutes without a field goal as the Wolverines took a seven-point lead with 4:22 left in the third period. An Ayrault trey tied it at 50 with under two minutes left, giving a jolt to the Spartan offense. MSU responded with a 12-0 run, as the Spartans led 56-50, heading into the final 10 minutes.

Three-straight baskets from Ayrault helped MSU maintain its advantage early in the fourth. The Michigan State defense also came on strong, as steal by Moira Joiner led to a score by Hallock to make it a 65-57 game midway through the period. The Wolverines weren't done fighting, making it a two-point game after a pair of Phelia free throws. After Ayrault and junior forward Jocelyn Tate fouled out, the Spartans got a big jumper from Joiner to seal the win with 10 seconds remaining.

Michigan State now prepares for another busy week, traveling to Purdue on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. MSU will end the week hosting Rutgers on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 2 p.m.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Notes
• For the first time since the 2018-19 season, Michigan State swept the season series with Michigan. In that season, MSU defeated Michigan 77-73 on Jan. 27 in Ann Arbor. The Spartans completed the sweep at home, 74-64, in East Lansing on Feb. 24. Prior to the win in East Lansing this season on Jan. 27, Michigan had won six of the last seven in the series. The win on Sunday was the 100th meeting of the two in-state rivals with MSU leading the series 75-25.

• Michigan State returned to the winning side after suffering its first two-game losing streak of the season.

• Graduate guard Moira Joinertied her career high with six steals against Michigan on Sunday. She previously had six steals against Michigan on Feb. 5, 2023.

• MSU's 70 points was its fewest in the last seven games since being held to a season-low 50 points in a 69-50 loss at Minnesota.

• Sunday was just the ninth time this season that the Spartans have been held under 80 points, now 3-6 when doing so, compared to 15-1 when scoring 80 or more points.

• In a game full of streaks, both the Spartans and the Wolverines had 13-0 runs in the game. Their were eight lead changes in the game and neither team had more than a nine-point lead. MSU had a nine-point advantage in the second quarter, while Michigan had the nine-point edge in the first quarter.

• Sunday's Spartan starting line-up of junior guard DeeDee Hagemann, sophom*ore guard Abbey Kimball junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, graduate guard Moira Joiner and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault was Michigan State's 16th-straight game with those five Spartans on the court for tip-off. MSU has had those five starters in 22 total games this season, now 15-7 with that starting five.

• The Spartans have now evened out its record at 3-3 when scoring 70-79 points in a game. MSU is also now 10-1 when allowing between 60-69 points in a game. Overall this season, MSU is 15-1 when allowing less than 69 points in a game.

• Michigan State's bench out-scored Michigan's 27-8 due in part to Tory Ozment's team-leading 16 points. Theryn Hallock also scored 11 points off the bench. The Spartans improved to15-5 when out-scoring its opponents bench. This season, the MSU bench has scored 661 points through 25 games.

• Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault's 13 points was her seventh-straight game with double-digits in the scoring column, passing her season and career-long for consecutive games in double-figures, which was six in a row from Dec. 17, 2023 - Jan. 9, 2024. Ayrault11 of her 13 points in the second half to help the Spartans seal the win. She has reached double figures in scoring 20 times this season and MSU holds a 16-4 record in those games this season.