Allen’s 23 Guides MSU Past Hillsdale in Exhibition Play

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Three Spartans scored in double figures as Michigan State women's basketball stopped Hillsdale, 88-59, Thursday night at the Breslin Center in MSU's lone exhibition. Senior center Jenna Allen recorded a double-double with a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, and was joined by redshirt-junior guard Shay Colley with a double-double, tallying 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman guard Nia Clouden rounded out the three Spartans scoring in double figures, and was one assist and three rebounds shy of a triple-double. Clouden also distributed a game-high nine assists, while Colley added six helpers.

Michigan State shot 49.3 percent (35-of-71) from the field, while holding Hillsdale to 29.4 percent (20-of-68). Both teams shot an identical 27.8 percent from 3-point range, with MSU making 5-of-18 while HC was 10-of-36. Michigan State was 13-of-25 (52.0 percent) at the free throw line, while Hillsdale was 9-of-13.

Paced by Allen and Colley's 10 boards apiece, the Spartans had a 52-42 rebounding advantage. Redshirt-sophomore forward Mardrekia Cook snared nine rebounds, while Clouden corralled seven boards.

Hillsdale was led by a double-double by Brittany Gray with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Allie Dewire tallied 10 points. Dewire dished out a team-high four assists.

All nine Spartans in uniform scored Wednesday night.

MSU ended the first quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 24-14 advantage over the Chargers. Colley led all scorers with 11 first-quarter points. The Spartans stretched their lead to 46-31 at halftime, behind 13 points from Colley and 12 points from Allen in the first 20 minutes.

Michigan State's lead reached 20 points for the first time at 3:57 in the third quarter on an old-fashioned three-point play by Clouden and the gap swelled to 64-39 at the 3:11 mark on a pair of Allen free throws. MSU led 68-47 at the end of the third stanza.

A 3-pointer by Hillsdale's Jaycie Burger cut the margin back to 20 at 72-52 with 6:37 to go, before MSU closed out the game with a 16-7 spurt, with freshman guard/forward Tory Ozment netting a layup with 1:57 left for the largest Spartan lead of the night at 88-57.

Michigan State will begin the regular season with three-straight home games. MSU opens the season hosting Bowling Green on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. On Sunday, Nov. 11, the Spartans will take on East Tennessee State at 1 p.m., as part of a doubleheader with the MSU men's team. Michigan State will close out the homestand against Wright State on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 1 p.m.

Postgame Notes vs. Hillsdale - Exhibition
• All nine Michigan State players that were in uniform Wednesday night scored, including three in double-figures as part of six players with seven or more points.

• Senior center Jenna Allen and redshirt-junior guard Shay Colley both posted double-doubles . . . Allen tallied a game-best 23 points to go with 10 rebounds, while Colley posted 15 points and 10 boards . . . last season both Allen and Colley recorded one double-double apiece.

• Freshman guard Nia Clouden was the third Spartan in double-figure scoring with 13 points, one assist shy of a double-double, adding seven rebounds and three steals.

• Colley dished out six assists, as MSU registered 24 helpers on the night . . . Colley also had two blocks and was joined by junior forward Victoria Gaines with a pair of rejections, part of MSU's seven blocks in the game.

• Sophomore forward Mardrekia Cook swiped a game-best four steals, followed by Clouden and Colley with two steals, as the Spartans had 10 steals in the game, leading to a 15-12 points off turnover advantage.

• Junior guard Taryn McCutcheon netted two 3-pointers, part of MSU's five treys in the contest.

• The Spartans' 88 points Wednesday picked up right where they left off in 2017-18, as they closed out the season with five-straight games scoring 80+ points, part of scoring 80 or more in 16 games, averaging 75.1 points per game.

Players Mentioned

Jenna Allen

Nia Clouden

Shay Colley

Mardrekia Cook

Victoria Gaines

Taryn McCutcheon

Tory Ozment