Michigan State women's basketball outlasts Minnesota rally in 71-67 victory

After having to move the game up several hours as a result of inclement weather hitting the East Lansing area, Michigan State was able to send its seniors out with a victory despite a late rally by Minnesota Wednesday evening. Michigan State defeated Minnesota 71-67 on Senior Day and hold a post-game celebration of departing seniors Jayla James, Kamaria McDaniel, and Stephanie Visscher in style.

The victory moves the Spartans to 14-13 overall and 6-10 in Big Ten play while the Golden Gophers fell to 10-18 overall and 3-14 in league action.

The three seniors got the start Wednesday with McDaniel leading the team with two blocks and also in scoring with 15 points alongside Matilda Ekh. Visscher added seven points and six rebounds, matching Moira Joiner for second most of the day for MSU. James had her first start of her career in East Lansing and saw four minutes on the floor, her most since matching her season high six minutes against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 20.

Other Spartans notching big numbers for the day were DeeDee Hagemann's 11 points and six assists, Moira Joiner's 11 points, and Taiyier Parks 11 rebounds.

Mara Braun led all scorers with 17 points for the Gophers. Alanna Micheaux added 15 points and Isabelle Gradwell added 12 for Minnesota players in double figures.

Scoring was hard to come by in the opening minutes of this one, taking until the 7:33 mark in the first quarter before either team was on the board. Hagemann finally hit a layup to get Michigan State up first and almost a minute later the next basket was by Braun for a 3-pointer to give Minnesota the lead 3-2.

It was a 13-0 run for MSU from there before Micheaux finally hit a pair of free throws to halt it and bring it to 15-5 Michigan State. Micheaux finally ended the field goal drought for the Gophers with a layup in the closing moments, the team's first in almost seven and a half minutes to make it 17-7 MSU at the end of the opening stanza.

Minnesota finally found its stride on offense as the Gophers mounted a 7-0 run to cut the Spartans' lead to just 21-18 with 6:20 remaining. A pair of free throws by Ekh halted the run, but only for a moment as the Gophers mounted another mini run, this one 5-0, to tie it up at 23-23 with 4:27 left.

A second-chance layup by Hagemann gave MSU the lead back moments later, but the teams traded scores down the stretch capping the period off with a 3-pointer by Minnesota's Gradwell to make it 33-30 Michigan State heading into the locker room at halftime.

After continuing to trade shots for the first half of the third quarter, Minnesota found its groove to make a 6-0 run and take its first lead of the game since the 6:15 mark of the first quarter thanks to a 3-pointer by Gradwell.

The two teams traded the lead back-and-forth three times through the middle of the third stanza before a well timed 3-pointer from Ekh with 1:43 remaining would give Michigan State a lead it would not surrender to Minnesota again. By the end of the quarter, it was 51-45 MSU.

The Spartans were unable to open up a comfortable margin over the Gophers in the final quarter, but found the buckets to win. Minnesota was able to quickly tie the game up on a mini 5-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Braun with 7:18 remaining, but McDaniel answered two possessions later. In fact, McDaniel was responsible for a 6-0 run for MSU to open the Spartans' lead to 59-53.

Minnesota was able to twice cut the lead to three from there with 3-pointers by Braun and later a 3-pointer by Borowicz made it just a two-point game with 4:06 remaining, MSU leading just 64-62. Michigan State dug in and found the buckets to keep it no closer than four for the remainder of the game, notching a 71-67 victory.

Ball security was certainly a factor as the Spartans were able to score 20 points off 12 Gopher turnovers and found success pushing the pace with 14 fast break points. The Spartans also cleaned up on the glass, getting 12 second chance points on 12 offensive boards while limiting the Gophers to just five points on nine offensive boards.

Michigan State closes the regular season with a road trip to take on Penn State Saturday, Feb. 25 in University Park. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. Eastern Time and the game will be streamed on B1G+.

Be sure to join in the conversation around the win now on the Spartans Illustrated message boards!