Michigan State hosted its arch rival in East Lansing Saturday afternoon and sent Michigan home following a dominating victory over the Wolverines. The Spartans gave head coach Robyn Fralick her first taste of the heated rivalry and notched a winning record for her start against UM with an 82-61 final score.
The win also marked MSU's first in the past four meetings, the last three being double digit defeats, and the victory is just the second in the last seven. Overall, the Spartans are now 74-25 all-time against their rival and improved to 37-9 in the series in East Lansing. MSU also leads the series in Ann Arbor, 28-16, along with neutral court meetings, 9-0.
"That was a lot of fun," Fralick said after the win. "I'm really proud of our team, what a game. I think there are so many kids on our team from the Midwest, and you grow up watching this game, dreaming to be a part of this game. I thought we played with great tenacity and togetherness for the whole forty minutes. I thought our crowd was unbelievable, so you have to savor that. You have to appreciate it while it's happening. We still have a lot of games in front of us, but this one was special."
In some ways perhaps reminding fans of former MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio in his comments that the rivalry against Michigan matters in East Lansing, Fralick went on to say that it was a "scrapbook day" for her first matchup against Michigan.
"It's a scrapbook day," Fralick explained. "A very memorable day, and the game is different. To put it any other way would be to minimize it. It is a different game for me, it's a different game for our staff, it's a different game for our players. And we played like it was a different game. I was proud of us for doing that."
Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann led the Spartans in scoring Saturday with 20 points, tying her career-high in Big Ten play set last season at Penn State on Feb. 25. Hagemann finished the day 6-for-10 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line while also totaling three rebounds, two assists, a block, and one steal.
Graduate guard Julia Ayrault finished just behind Hagemann and barely missed a double-double with 19 points and nine boards. She was also second on the team in helpers with four assists. The win marked the first time in Ayrault's career she played in a victory over UM. In her five seasons in East Lansing, the program's lone victory in the series (February 2022) came when Ayrault was out for the season due to injury.
Graduate guard Moira Joiner led the team in assists with five alongside five boards, second most for the team, and she finished with 12 points, including a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate also finished Saturday's matchup against the Wolverines in double figures with 14 points along with four rebounds and two assists.
Michigan had just two players finish in double figures scoring with guard Laila Phelia leading all scorers with 21 points. Guard Jordan Hobbs added 11 points and led the Wolverines in assists with five.
The first quarter proved the most competitive on Saturday. MSU got the scoring started first, but UM kept it close throughout and briefly seized its only lead of the game with a layup by Pheila at the 7:14 mark. The Wolverines only held the 7-6 advantage for 18 seconds before Joiner drained a trey to retake the lead.
UM managed to tie the game twice more over the next two minutes of game action, but free throws by Joiner with 5:19 left in the opening stanza would see MSU take the lead for good the rest of the afternoon. At the end of the first buzzer, it was 27-23 MSU.
Between quarters, Michigan State was hosting alumni day and honored the 2014 Big Ten Champions at the break.
That team featured future WNBA stars such as Aerial Powers and marked the fourth and most recent conference champion for the women's program, finishing the season 23-10 overall and 10-3 in league play.
The Spartans shared the regular season title with Penn State, falling to Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament that year.
As play resumed, the second quarter saw the Spartans take control of the game. MSU opened the quarter with a 9-0 run, breaking into a double-digit lead for the first time Saturday. When MSU opened up a 10-point lead with 8:04 on the clock in the second stanza, it never got within single digits again for the rest of the day.
The Spartans were all over the Wolverines defensively in the quarter, holding Michigan to just seven points on 3-for-15 shooting from the field. Michigan State, meanwhile, finished 6-for-17 and went 8-for-9 from the free throw line as an aggressive offense drew shooting fouls against UM while MSU kept its fouling to more off-the-ball contact.
The glass was also a big advantage for MSU as the Spartans outrebounded the Wolverines 16-9.
"We rebounded the ball really well," Fralick said of the second quarter run after the win. "We knew coming in that it was very important. I thought we did a good job applying pressure and sustaining pressure throughout the game. Then offensively, we shared it and I thought we attacked it at the right time, and I thought we moved it at the right times."
Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico noted after the game that she thought the officiating was refed "completely different than the last one" and she was frustrated that her best players were in foul trouble throughout the game.
Fralick, asked about the officiating as well, noted the game was an aggressive one and Spartans got in foul trouble as well.
"Well, we were aggressive," Fralick said. "I had two kids foul out too. I think that it was a high intensity game, it was an aggressive game and I think that's how it was played on both sides."
By the final buzzer, the Spartans had been called for 21 fouls while the Wolverines were whistled for 25. MSU managed to draw shooting fouls more successfully with its aggressive offense, getting to the free throw line and hitting 29-for-34 on its attempts while UM managed just 12-for-17 from the charity stripe.
At halftime, the Spartans led 48-30 over the Wolverines.
Coming out of the locker room to start the third quarter, the Wolverines refused to give up as the visitors scored 11 of the first 15 points, including a 7-0 run to bring the team's deficit down to 13. UM trailed just 50-37 by the 7:04 mark, but the Spartans rattled off a 9-0 run soon thereafter to push their lead out to 20 thanks to a trey by Ayrault with under two minutes left. At the end of the third stanza, it was 62-41 Michigan State.
"They (Michigan) made a great run to start the third," Fralick said of the third quarter run. "They had just come off a game vs. Maryland where they made a good comeback so we had to find a way to stop their scorers and during that time I especially thought that Julia (Ayrault) was big for us in finding a way to get some critical baskets and that we did a good job of getting to the line and finishing."
Michigan again tried to whittle away at the lead to bring it back within striking distance in the final quarter, but only managed to trim it to within 16 thanks to an 8-0 run that ended with a pair of free throws by Phelia with 6:02 remaining and MSU still with a 68-52 advantage.
The Spartans relied on their bench to push their lead back out to 20 as sophomore guard Theryn Hallock, graduate guard/forward Tory Ozment, and junior guard Lauren Ross combined for eight of MSU's 20 points in the final 10 minutes of the game. At the final buzzer, it was 82-61 Spartans.
MSU improved to 15-5 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play with the victory. Meanwhile, UM fell to 14-7 overall and 5-4 in conference action. The win improved Michigan State to 10-1 at home on the season and marks a second-straight victory in a row for MSU after defeating Purdue on Wednesday.
"It is so important," Fralick said of the 10-1 home record. "If you look in the league, it is such an important element. It will remain important, especially tonight. It was a big game for us and we did a good job of taking care of our home."
Michigan State will look to carry the home court momentum on the road next as it visits Rutgers for its next matchup. Start time is set in Piscataway for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30 with the game streaming on B1G+.
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