Michigan State women's basketball closed out its non-conference home slate Sunday afternoon with a 91-67 victory over Central Michigan. The intrastate clash returns the Spartans to the win column and improves to 8-2 overall (0-1 in Big Ten) with the victory ahead of a trip to the Cherokee Invitational later this week and improves MSU's record to 31-8 all-time against CMU, as the Chippewas drop to 1-7 on the season.
The win also marks head coach Robyn Fralick"s 200th career victory as a head coach.
Four Spartans hit double figures in scoring Sunday with graduate guard Moira Joiner leading all scorers with a career-high 27 points. Joiner hit a career-high seven 3-pointers on the afternoon along with a season-high three steals, matching Theryn Hallock and Abbey Kimball for the team-high.
Sophomore guard Hallock also hit a career-high in scoring for the day with 17 points and led the team in helpers with a career-best 12 assists. Jocelyn Tate also added 17 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field before fouling out. Julia Ayrault posted a double-double with 12 points and a team-best 10 rebounds along with a team-high two blocks.
The Chippewas saw three players score in double figures, led by Karring Gordon's 13 points.
MSU got the scoring started early on Sunday, opening with a 6-0 run in the first minute of play. It took less than four minutes of play before the Spartans had a double-digit lead over the Chippewas. Later in the first quarter, a 12-2 run pushed Michigan State's lead to as big as 18 before CMU scored on a fast break with under a minute left. At the end of the opening stanza, it was 26-10 MSU.
The second quarter was more even between the teams, with MSU outscoring CMU 22-15 compared to 26-10 in the first. However, the Spartans still continued to push their lead out with a 10-0 run to open the quarter. By the 2:38 mark, Michigan State led by 30 following a fast break layup by Joiner off a CMU turnover, up 46-16. A 9-2 run by the Chippewas brough the visitors' deficit down some to just 48-25 at the half.
Central Michigan opened up the third quarter with a 11-2 run, which helped establish it as CMU's bright point on the afternoon. The Chippewas would finish the stanza with a 27-18 scoring advantage, and trimmed their deficit to as low as 14 four times.
The Spartans rallied each of the first three times, even pushing their advantage back to as high as 21 with 4:03 remaining, up 62-41. That trey by Hallock was the 11th of a total of 12 for MSU in the game. CMU used a late push including a trip to the charity stripe where Taylor Anderson hit the first of two shots to trim it to 66-52 to close out the third.
The final quarter on Sunday saw both teams battle back-and-forth through much of the stanza. The Spartans managed to pull away in the second half of the quarter after CMU went cold from the field. Following a jumper by Lisa Tesson with 6:11 left, the Chippewas did not hit another field goal until just :44 seconds remained on the clock, going 1-for-10 from the field to end the game. MSU used a 15-4 run during that span where the Chippewas were only scoring from the free throw line to help push the advantage.
At the final buzzer, it was a 91-67 victory for MSU.
Michigan State hits the road to take on Richmond in the Cherokee Invitation on Wednesday in Cherokee, North Carolina with start time set for 9:30 p.m. The next day, MSU will face either Coastal Carolina or Tennessee-Chattanooga with the time to be determined based on Wednesday's results.
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