Michigan State Women’s Basketball Shows Relentless Intensity in Season Opener

For Robyn Fralick, the off-season presented her and her staff a unique issue, with four out of her five starters for a majority of the season last year, leaving the program.  Three out of the top five scorers for the Spartans did not return either, so it was clear that there were holes in the ship that needed to be fixed.

Fralick’s staff turned to a flurry of international freshman, and transfers in the portal, bringing in crucial players such as Kathy-Emma Otto, a 6-foot-3 freshman from France, and Monique Bobongie, a fellow freshman from Australia.

The new incoming Spartans helped raise the ship back up, but the return of Theryn Hallock to the squad after a season-ending injury last year raised it out of the water.

Hallock, a fifth-year senior, had her season end early last year with a foot injury.  Now back on the court, the guard combo of Hallock and ferocious leader Kennedy Blair project to take the Spartans to new heights in the Robyn Fralick era.

And those projections were not on display until tonight, in Michigan State’s season opener against Valparaiso.  The green and white, coming off of a 23-9 season last year, hosted the Beacons who went 0-32 just a season ago.

On top of all of that, if anyone believed there was any doubt in the Spartan camp that there would be trouble on tuesday night, Fralick’s team squandered that hope away in the first 30 seconds.

On the first possession, Valparaiso got the tip, and immediately proceeded to lose possession of the ball via a Kennedy Blair steal and a lay-in.  Theryn Hallock then forced a turnover on the preceding in-bound, and Blair scored again to put MSU up 4-0 early in the game.

The first quarter ended with the green and white up 23-9, with the intensity really showing off from Blair and a healthy Hallock.  The second quarter was one of the most impressive defensive performances college basketball has seen in a while.

The Spartans held the Beacons to zero total points in the second quarter.  The Beacons had 10 total shots attempted, with none of them landing in the bottom of the net.

By halftime, MSU was up 47-9 going into the locker room.  Blair and Hallock were leading the way for State, and showing off incredible vision and basketball IQ as the game went on.

At the end of the game, the Spartans finished with a firm victory, by a score of 98-44.  Amy Terrian stole the stat sheet with a team-leading 15 points.

Nine total Spartans ended the night with at least six points in the scoring column.  And once again, if anyone had any doubt as to what Fralick and her staff wanted this team to focus on, the 38 forced turnovers might be a good place to look at on the box score.

“We have a poster on the wall in our locker room that say win every possession.  We have to do that all year long.”