Michigan State women's basketball challenged No. 13/14 Maryland on the road for one half before a disastrous third quarter dug too big of a hole to climb out of. The Spartans fell 94-85 in College Park, dropping to 10-6 on the season and 2-3 in Big Ten play.
Strong defense down low by the Terps forced outside shooting to be a heavy focus for MSU, making 44 total attempts from outside the 3-point arc. That accounted for 57.9% of shot attempts from the field by the Spartans.
Matilda Ekh led MSU in scoring with 20 points, going just 5-14 from 3-point range. Moira Joiner was also hot from deep, scoring 19 points overall with 5-8 shooting from deep while leading the team in steals with two. Kamaria McDaniel added 15 for scorers in double figures for Michigan State.
DeeDee Hagemann added nine points while tying Joiner for team lead with five helpers apiece. Taiyier Parks led MSU on the boards with 12 rebounds while adding a block. Joiner was second on the glass with eight boards.
Maryland's Diamond Miller led all scorers with 25 points while four other Terps hit double figures in scoring.
Michigan State won the tipoff and got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 7-2 lead before Maryland sparted a 10-0 run of its own. The Spartans responded with a 6-0 run of their own after an extended scoring drought of over four minutes and the quarter closed out with the Terps narrowly leading 17-16.
The second quarter saw MSU fight to keep the game within striking distance and prevent UMD from running away with it. Five times the Spartans managed to cut the lead to three or less by Maryland before finally tying it up at 40-40 with under a minute remaining. The teams failed to score on ensuing possessions and headed into the locker room all tied up at half.
The Spartans resorted to plenty of wide open looks from deep in the first half, going 8-18 from deep while the Terps focused more on the short range game, going 11-23 from inside the arc. Both teams struggled with ball control with eight turnovers by Michigan State and seven by Maryland, most as unforced errors.
The third quarter fell apart for the Spartans. Maryland mounted a 23-3 run while MSU had a streak of just 1-7 on field goals and two separate scoring droughts of over two minutes. Overall, Maryland more than doubled up in scoring over Michigan State in the third, outscoring the Spartans 30-11.
Michigan State was able to rally thanks to finding a spark on offense in the fourth. The Spartans quickly mounted a 10-0 run to cut Marylandβs lead to 11, trailing 72-61 with 6:46 remaining. Another run, this one 15-5 late in the fourth helped cut UMDβs lead to just six with :23 remaining. MSU finished the final stanza with 34 points in the quarter, but it wasn't enough to overcome the third quarter hole the team dug for itself.
Michigan State returns to the court on Wednesday, Jan. 11 with a visit by the Wisconsin Badgers. The matchup tips off at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and will be MSU's first ever Pride Night event.
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