Clouden and Winston Guide Spartans to B1G Opening Win Over Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Junior guard Nia Clouden and sophomore guard Alyza Winston combined for 45 points, both topping 20 points, as the Michigan State women's basketball team captured its Big Ten opener, 81-68, over Minnesota Wednesday night at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Michigan State improves to 3-0 overall this season and 1-0 in Big Ten action. Michigan State is now 20-19 in Big Ten openers, having won seven of their last 10.

With the win, the Spartans improved to 3-0 for the sixth-straight season. The Golden Gophers slid to 1-2 on the young season.

Michigan State was as impressive on the defensive end of the ball as they were on the offensive end Wednesday night. For the third-straight game, MSU reached double figures in steals with 17. For the game, the Spartans shot 43.2 percent from the field.

For the third-straight contest, Clouden led MSU in scoring with 25 points, just three shy of her career high of 28. Winston added a career-high 20 points, netting a career-best four 3-pointers. Her previous high was 17 versus Detroit Mercy last season. Junior guard Tori Ozment and sophomore forward Julia Ayraul both added 10 points.

Junior guard Janai Crooms made her Spartan debut after being declared immediately eligible by the NCAA last week, and wasted little time in getting in the scoring column in the first quarter.

After the Gophers scored the first basket of the game, the Spartans went on a 16-0 scoring run to take an impressive 16-2 lead midway through the period. Clouden was hot early on, scoring 12 points in the first five minutes. With 3:39 remaining in the first period, Crooms recorded her first Spartan points with a driving layup to up the MSU advantage to 18-7. Clouden ended the quarter going 5-for-5 from the field with 14 points as MSU led 20-11 after the first 10 minutes.

As stellar as the Spartan offense was in the first half, the defense looked sharp as well, forcing 15 first- half turnovers with 10 steals. Back-to-back treys by Winston and Ozment gave MSU its first 20-point lead of the night at 43-23 with under three minutes left in the half. Minnesota did not go away, using an 8-0 run to cut the MSU lead to 46-36 before a Clouden layup stopped the run. The Gophers ended the half out-scoring MSU, 15-5, as the Spartans headed into the locker room with a 48-38 advantage.

An early 6-0 Gopher run in the third quarter led to a Michigan State timeout after Minnesota cut the lead to 53-46 with 6:32 remaining in the period. Crooms was very active in the period with five points, a rebound and a steal, helping the Spartans right the ship and regain control. Winston's five quick points helped MSU establish a 63-49 lead with under four minutes remaining to keep the home team Gophers at bay.

With 9:45 left in the fourth, Cook took a charge that let to Jasmine Powell to foul out of the game. Powell was the second-leading scorer for Minnesota with 16 points. Michigan State was able to maintain its double-digit lead for the remainder of the fourth period, as the bench emptied.

The Spartans will now prepare for their Big Ten home opener against Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. at the Breslin Center.

Post-Game Notes vs. Minnesota

• Junior guard Nia Clouden's game and season-high 25 points combined with sophomore guard Alyza Winston's career-high 20 points Wednesday for MSU's first game with two 20-point scorers since Feb. 3, 2019 vs. Purdue when Shay Colley and Sidney Cooks netted 20 points apiece.

• After falling behind 2-0 early, MSU went on a season-high 16-0 first-quarter run, and never trailed again, leading Wednesday's game for 38:30, while only trailing for 19 seconds, and was tied for 1:11.

• MSU scored a season-high 48 points in the first half on the way to a 48-38 lead at intermission ... the Spartans' 28 second-quarter points were their most in a quarter this season, bettering the previous quarter-high of 24 points, done twice, first in the opening quarter vs. Saint Francis (PA) in the season-opener on Nov. 27, and again in the fourth frame vs. Detroit Mercy on Dec. 2 ... MSU scored 20+ points three of the four quarter Wednesday for the second game in a row and matching a season-high, having now netted 20 or more points in seven of the 12 quarters this season.

• Michigan State improved to 3-0 this season when leading at halftime ... through three games, MSU has out-scored the opposition, 126-84, in the first half, an average of 42.0-28.0.

• The Spartan bench out-scored the Golden Gopher reserves, 35-7, Wednesday night, which in addition to a season-high point total, also marked their third-straight game with over 30 points, having now out-scored the opposition's bench, 99-29, an average of 33.0-9.7.

• The Spartans' tenacious defense forced 23 Minnesota turnovers, including a 10-3 first-quarter points off turnovers advantage, that swelled to 21-3 at halftime, finishing night at 30-6 ... Wednesday was MSU's third-straight game with at least 30 points off the opponent's turnovers, now having a 93-21 points off turnover advantage this season, a dominating average of 31-7 through three games.

• Michigan State's starting lineup of junior guard Nia Clouden, sophomore guard Moria Joiner, junior guard Tory Ozment, redshirt-senior forward Mardrekia Cook and sophomore forward Taiyer Parks was the Spartans' third-straight game in as many outings with that lineup, and is now 3-0.

• Clouden made her team-leading 66th career start, as she continues to start every game of her Spartan career ... Cook made the 17th start of her career, in playing in her 88th career game, which leads all active Spartans ... Ozment started for the 15th time of her career in playing her 51st game ... Joiner started her 28th career game in playing in her 33rd career game ... Parks made her sixth career start in playing in her 33rd career game.

• Clouden posted double-digits for the third game this season with 14 points in the first quarter alone ... Clouden's 25 points was a new season-high and her 11th 20-point outing of her career, as well as just three points shy of her career-best of 28 points (at Notre Dame, 11/14/19) ... Clouden now has 14-straight career games in double-digits dating back to last year, having posted double-figures in 30 of her last 33 games played ... for her career, Clouden now has double-digits in 53 of her 65 games played.

• Clouden started by making six of MSU's first eight points and 12 of the first 16 points in the opening stanza, tallying 14 of MSU's 20-point quarter ... Clouden was 5-of-5 on field goals in the first quarter on the way to making her first six field goals, making 7-of-8 in the first half, concluding the night 10-of-16 from the field.

• Clouden tied her game season-high of three steals in the first quarter alone, ending game with new career-high of five swipes ... Clouden's five steals led MSU to a season-high 17 steals, as the Spartans have had double-digit swipes in all three games, now averaging 14.7 spg through three games.

• Sophomore guard Alyza Winston netted a career-high tying three 3-pointers in the first half alone, finishing with a career-high 20 points, draining a new career-best four 3-pointers ... Winston also tied her season-best with 11 points in the first half, netting three treys ... Wednesday was Winston's second double-digit scoring outing of the season and third of her career.

• Redshirt-junior guard Janai Crooms, who was recently granted eligibility on Dec. 4 after transferring from Ohio State last summer, made her Spartan debut at 6:18 of the first quarter, checking in ... Crooms wasted little time in making the first bucket of her career in a Green & White jersey, just minutes later, at 3:42 of the first quarter with a layup ... Crooms ended up with three points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in her Spartan debut.

• Sophomore guard Julia Ayrault swiped four steals in the first half, including two steal and scores on fast breaks ... Ayrault's four first-half steals was a new single-game season-high and also tied her overall career-high of four steals, finishing with a new career-best five swipes ... Ayrault ended game with 10 points, her second-straight double-figure outing of the season as part of the seventh double-digit point total of her career.

• With 10 points Wednesday, Ozment posted double-figures points for the third time in as many games this season as part of the 10th double-digit outing of her career.

• Parks pulled down a season-high tying eight rebounds, helping Spartans to a 40-36 rebounding edge Wednesday night, as Ayrault and Cook collected five boards each ... the Green & White improved to 2-0 this season when out-rebounding the opposition, as Wednesday was Michigan State's second-straight game with 40+ rebounds after a season-high 47 boards last time out.

• MSU hit the 70-point plateau for the third time in as many games this season ... the Green & White have won 149 of their last 168 games (.887) when scoring at least 70 points, and the Spartans are 167-28 (.857) under head coach Suzy Merchant when hanging at least 70 points on the scoreboard ... Michigan State is now 3-0 this season when reaching the 70-point mark.

• The Spartans have won 212 of their last 225 games (.942) when leading with five minutes left, including 162 of their last 177. In Coach Merchant's tenure, Michigan State is 247-19 (.929) when holding a lead with five minutes left ... MSU is now 3-0 this season when leading with five minutes remaining.

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Team Stats

Nia Clouden

Alyza Winston

Tory Ozment

Julia Ayrault

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Nia Clouden

Shay Colley

Mardrekia Cook

Sidney Cooks

Janai Crooms

Tory Ozment

Alyza Winston