Michigan State Women’s Basketball: Spartans Play Their Tempo In Senior Night Victory

“The main message for this week was to get the train back on the tracks,” was what Michigan State women’s basketball head coach Robyn Fralick said in her postgame press conference after her Spartans took their 21st victory of the season.

After two consecutive losses against top six teams, Michigan State looked like a completely different team during their 104-68 victory against Northwestern. The green and white won the game on both sides of the ball, with an overall 52% shooting percentage, as well as 10 total forced turnovers in just the first half.

MSU head coach Robyn Fralick took the opportunity to play her senior Spartans, Grace VanSlooten, Abbey Kimball, Emma Shumate, Jalyn Brown and Marah Dykstra a total of 107 minutes as well as senior Theryn Hallock, who has been out with an injury for a while, supporting on the sidelines.

The main storyline of the night however was the fouls. The green and white drew 17 total fouls, most of which had Northwestern head coach Joe McKeown throwing his hands up in disagreement.

The Spartans had a lot of help though, with 32 total bench points, which helped propel MSU to their fifth 100-point performance this season.  To that point, only four players came off of the bench, which means four players, who did not start, scored 32 total points.

As the game winded down, it was time for the Spartan tradition of kissing the MSU logo at the center of the Breslin Center floor. Shumate was the first, as freshman Amy Terrian checked into the game. Then Brown, Dykstra, VanSlooten, and finally Kimball after her final triple with 1:18 left on the clock.

After the game, Fralick hosted the Lady Spartans senior night celebration. All seniors took the court again, but this time, fellow senior Hallock got her chance to kiss the logo as she walked out with her family.

The Spartans now are looking towards No. 23 Minnesota on Sunday, February 22.  Tipoff is at 6:00 p.m. EST.