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Clouden Clutch Down the Stretch as MSU Stops Ohio State Thursday
1/16/2020 10:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The sophomore guard scored 20 points for the sixth time this season.
The Spartans have now won two-straight games for first time since November, improving to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten. Ohio State falls to 10-7 and 3-3 in league play.
Clouden scored 20 points for the second-straight game, adding six assists. Redshirt-junior forward Mardrekia Cook was the only other MSU player in double figures with 10 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter. Senior guard Taryn McCutcheon tied a season-high with seven assists.
Ohio State had four in double figures, led by Aaliyah Patty who scored 12 points.
Solid early 3-point shooting put Ohio State up midway through the first quarter, 12-6. Michigan State used a 6-0 run to end the first quarter to get within a point, 15-14. A Tory Ozment trey at the buzzer put the Spartans within one possession.
MSU re-took the lead after a Kayla Belles layup to start the second quarter to make the scored 16-15. McCutcheon score four-straight for the Spartans to extend the lead to 22-19. Ohio State ended the half with a 7-0 run to take a 31-26 lead into the locker room. The Buckeyes kept MSU off the scoreboard for the final 3:29.
The Spartans scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half to re-take the lead 34-33. A 6-0 Michigan State run gave MSU the 42-36 with under five minutes remaining in the third period. Michigan State held Ohio State without a field goal for over seven minutes. The Buckeyes came on strong in the final minutes of the period, scoring the final four, as MSU led 48-44 heading in to the final 10 minutes.
Michigan State scored six-straight in 56 seconds to up its lead to 58-49, leading to a Buckeye timeout. Ohio State struck fire midway through the quarter, scoring nine-straight to tie the scored 58-58. A trey by Clouden put stopped the run, but the Buckeyes re-took the lead 63-61 after a layup by Dorka Juhasz. Clouden was clutch in the final scoring the final three points of the game and captured a steal with nine seconds remaining to seal the victory.
The Spartans return to the road to take on Rutgers on Monday, Jan. 20 on the Big Ten Network. The Scarlet Knights are currently tied first in the Big Ten standings.
Michigan State Notes vs. Ohio State
• Michigan State improved to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten action with Thursday's victory over Ohio State.
• MSU improves to 8-0 at home this season and has won 10-straight home games dating back to last season as part of winning 26 of the last 27 games on its home hardwood ... the Spartans are 43-9 at the friendly confines of the Breslin Center since the 2016-17 season.
• Michigan State's win snapped a three-game losing skein in the series with Ohio State, cutting the deficit to 56-29 in the overall series ... the Spartans have won three of the last four home games against the Buckeyes ... MSU's last win in the series came with a 94-75 victory for MSU on Jan. 10, 2017, when Spartan great Tori Jankoska became MSU's career all-time leading scorer.
• Thursday's starting lineup of senior guard Taryn McCutcheon, senior forward Nia Hollie, sophomore forward Kayla Belles, sophomore guard Nia Clouden and freshman guard Moria Joiner, was Michigan State's third-straight game with that starting five as part of the Spartans' eighth different starting lineup of the season.
• The Spartans distributed 20 assists for the second-straight game ... it was MSU's fifth game this season with 20+ helpers.
• Michigan State is now 10-1 this season when leading with five minutes to go, with the only loss coming at Florida State ... MSU has won 203 of their last 216 games (.940) when leading with five minutes left, including 153 of their last 168 (.911) ... under head coach Suzy Merchant, MSU is now 238-19 (.926) when holding a lead with five minutes to play.
• The Spartans trailed the Badgers in the rebounding category, 39-31, marking the second-straight game that Michigan State won despite getting out-rebounded and the third time this season when having fewer rebounds, as MSU is now 3-6 when doing so.
• Michigan State's defense swiped 10 steals Thursday, marking its 12th game with double-digit steals in the 17 games this season ... the Spartan defense also limited two-time reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week in OSU's Kierstan Bell to just five points, half of her season average and tying her season-low in a Big Ten game, after back-to-back double-digit contests.
• Michigan State had a 16-14 fast break points edge, as the Spartans are now 8-4 when out-scoring the opposition in fast break points, including the second-straight game.
• Sophomore guard Nia Clouden netted her second-consecutive 20-point game and sixth contest this season with 20+ points ... Clouden posted double-figures in the fourth quarter alone with 12 points ... Thursday was also Clouden's third-straight game with double-digits as part of her 15th game this season in double-figures and 37th career game.
• Clouden also dished out six assists, as she has distributed 29 assists (5.8 apg) over the last five games, with four or more helpers in all five contests ... Thursday's six assists was her 12th game this season with three or more assists ... she now has 64 helpers for the season and 194 for her career.
• Senior guard Taryn McCutcheon notched nine points and seven assists, as she now has 1,073 points, just two behind Jamie Wesley (1994-98) with 1,075 points for No. 25 on MSU's career scoring list ... McCutcheon's seven assists gives her 526 for her career, continuing to close the gap on her current assistant coach Kristin Haynie (2001-05), who holds the school record with 574 assists.
• McCutcheon's seven helpers was her second-straight game and fourth in last the five contests with three or more assists, as part of the 10th game this season with three+ helpers, including eight in the last 11 contests.
• Junior forward Mardrekia Cook had a successful return to action by netting double figures for the season-straight outing, last playing on Jan. 5 at Michigan and scoring 13 points ... Thursday's 10 points, including eight in the fourth quarter alone, was Cook's fourth double-digit game this season and 11th of her career.
• Sophomore forward Kayla Belles swatted a career-high four blocks ... it was her fourth game this season with multiple blocks ... Belles also netted eight points, for her third game in a row with 7+ points ... she also snared six rebounds for her third-consecutive game with 5+ rebounds, along with fourth in the last five games as part of the sixth time on the season ... Belles is averaging 11.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game in the last three games in starting all three contests ... over the last five games, Belles is averaging 9.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in the last five contests.
• Freshman guard Moira Joiner netted nine points, giving her 30 points in the last three games (10.0 ppg) and 42 (8.4 ppg) in the last five contests ... Joiner also tied a career-high six rebounds, matching her six boards vs. Nebraska (12/31/19).