Colley’s Career High Pushes No. 24 MSU Past Indiana on NGWSD

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Redshirt-junior guard Shay Colley scored a career-high 32 points as No. 24 Michigan State women's basketball used a stellar second half to stop Indiana, 77-61, on Monday on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

MSU honored its women's sports teams at half time of the game, and the teams signed autographs and did demonstrations of their sports prior to the game.

Michigan State improves to 17-6 overall and 7-5 in Big Ten play, matching their B1G win total from last season. Indiana is now 17-8 overall and 6-7 in league play. The Spartans have now won 16-straight home games, dating back to last season and are now 13-0 at home.

Along with 32 points, Colley added six rebounds and tied a career high with five steals. The 32 points were the most by an MSU player since All-American Tori Jankoska scored a school-record 42 points against Ohio State on Jan. 10, 2017. Junior guard Taryn McCutcheon scored 12 points, while freshman guard Nia Clouden added 11 points to go along with a game-high six assists. The Spartans also out-rebounded the Hoosiers 38-32.

Indiana got a big game from Jaelynn Penn, scoring 19 points. Bendu Yeaney netted 12, while Grace Berger added 10 points.

MSU struggled early on with only two field goals in the first five minutes of action as Indiana took a 10-7 lead. Michigan State tied the score with two minutes left in the period after a jumper by Sidney Cooks and took the lead with a Nia Hollie bucket, 14-12. The Spartans finish the quarter strong and led after one period 18-14.

With 3:01 left in the second period, Colley nailed a trey to up the Spartan lead to 30-24. Michigan State's 8-0 run pushed the scored to 33-24, as MSU kept Indiana off the scoreboard for just under three minutes. The Hoosiers righted the ship and ended the half with a 6-0 run of their own as MSU led going into the locker room 33-30.

In the third quarter, the Hoosiers scored seven of the first nine points of the half to re-take the leads 37-35. The Spartans followed with a 9-0 run over 1:09 to take a 44-37 lead, which led to a Hoosier timeout. With a steal and a fast-break layup freshman guard Nia Clouden gave MSU its first double-digit lead of the game, 55-45 to end the period.

Colley continued to carry the Spartans on her back throughout the fourth quarter, scoring 20 points in the second half alone. The Hoosiers were able to get the lead to single digits several times in the final period, but were never able to get it under eight points. Once again, Clouden helped seal the win from the charity stripe late in the game, as her free throws with 24 second left game MSU its biggest lead of the game 77-59.

Michigan State will now hit the road for two-straight games. The Spartans will play at Wisconsin for a Valentine's Day showdown before traveling to Nebraska on Sunday, Feb. 17.

Post-Game Notes vs. Indiana
• Junior guard Shay Colley netted a career-high 32 points Monday ... She topped her previous season-high of 28 points from at Northwestern (Jan. 3) and her previous career-high of 31 points from at South Dakota (March 22, 2018) in last season's WNIT ... Colley's 31-point outing is the first 30+ game this season by a Spartan and the first since Colley's 31 points at South Dakota.

• Colley's 32 points is the most points scored by a Spartan women's basketball player since Tori Jankoska scored 42 vs. Ohio State on Jan. 10, 2017 ... The 32 points is tied for the 14th-most in a single-game by an MSU women's basketball player.

• The 32 points by Colley on Monday was her fifth 20+ point outing of the season and ninth of her career ... It was also her 13th double-figure outing of the season and 27th of her career.

• The Spartan junior guard also made a career-high 12 field goals, topping her previous high of 11 from at Northwestern (Jan. 3) ... Colley also netted three 3-pointers Monday, one shy of her season and career-high of four treys, and marked the fourth game this season in which she has made three or more triples, as she now has three in a game on three different occasions.

• Colley also swiped a season-high five steals, which ties her career-high for the third time as a Spartan.

• MSU's starting lineup of junior guards Shay Colley and Taryn McCutcheon, sophomore forward Sidney Cooks, freshman guard Nia Clouden and senior forward Jenna Allen was the fifth-straight time this season that the Spartans have started with that quintet.

• McCutcheon made her 23rd start of the season and 88th of her career ... Allen also notched her 23rd start of the season and 51st of her career ... Colley started for the 16th time this season and made the 38th start of her career ... Clouden posted her 23rd start of the season ... Cooks made her fifth start of the season and 27th of her career.

• Allen, McCutcheon and Clouden have started all 23 games this season and are joined by junior forward Victoria Gaines in playing all 23 games.

• The Spartans improved to 13-0 this season at home this season and have a 16-game home winning streak dating back to last year ... MSU continues to have the best home record in the Big Ten for overall games (13-0) and tied with Iowa at 6-0 for the best home mark in the B1G for conference games ... Michigan State and Iowa remain the only unbeaten home teams in the league.

• MSU's 16-game home winning streak is the longest since a streak of 20 games overlapping the 2009-10 and the 2010-11 seasons.

• With 77 points Monday, Michigan State has scored in the 70s in five-straight games ... In four of the last five wins, the Spartans have scored 77 points, after netting 77 in a 77-60 upset of No. 9 Maryland (Jan. 17), a 77-60 victory at home vs. Illinois (Jan. 24) and winning at Michigan 77-73 (Jan. 27) before Monday's 77-61 win over Indiana ... MSU's lone non-77 points in a victory was 74 in a 74-66 win over Purdue.

• Michigan State has scored 70 or more points in all 13 home games this season as part of scoring 70+ points in 19 of the 23 games on the season ... The Spartans are 17-2 this season as part of 135 of its last 150 games when scoring at least 70 points and the Spartans are 153-25 under Coach Merchant when hanging 70 or more points on the scoreboard.

• The Spartans are now 13-0 this season when out-rebounding the opposition ... MSU had a 38-32 rebounding advantage over Indiana, marking the first time in its last four games that the Spartans had out-rebounded the opposition after being out-rebounded in not only the previous three games but four of the last five, marking the first time MSU had more rebounds than the opponent was against Illinois on Jan. 24.

• Michigan State dished out 21 assists for the second-straight victory, as the Spartans improved to 10-0 when dishing out 21 or more helpers as part of 17-0 when distributing more assists than the opposition.

• MSU halted a three-game losing skid to Indiana in the series, but the Spartans have now beaten the Hoosiers in six of the last seven games in East Lansing in improving to 23-11 at home as part of taking a 48-28 all-time series lead.

• Monday's 16-point margin of victory was the largest in the series since the Spartans' last win, a 68-46 victory for MSU on Dec. 28, 2017, as the three losses to Indiana were all by four points or less ... Furthermore, MSU has out-scored IU by an average of 18.7 points in the last six victories.

• Clouden distributed a game-high six assists for her third-consecutive game with five or more helpers ... She now has topped the 100-assist mark for the season, now with 104 helpers, becoming the seventh Spartan freshman to dish out 100+ assists in a season, sitting at No. 7 on MSU's single-season assists by a freshman list, just two behind Kim Archer (1983-84) with 106 assists.

• The 11 points by Clouden on Monday was her third-straight double-digit scoring outing as part of the 15th game this season in double-figures.

• McCutcheon netted 12 points for the second-straight home game as part of her eighth-consecutive game in double-figures as part of the 15th of the season and 36th of her career ... McCutcheon also netted three 3-pointers, as she has three or more treys in five of the last six games, part of 12 games this season with three or more triples.

• Senior center Jenna Allen's three points Monday gave her 994 for her career, just six points shy of becoming the 27th player in Spartan history to reach the 1,000 career points milestone.

Players Mentioned

Jenna Allen

Nia Clouden

Shay Colley

Sidney Cooks

Victoria Gaines

Nia Hollie

Tori Jankoska

Taryn McCutcheon