Six Spartans Reach Double Figures in Victory Over Detroit Mercy Wednesday

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Six Spartans reached double figures as the Michigan State women's basketball team stopped Detroit Mercy, 82-45, Wednesday night at the Breslin Center.

With the win, the Spartans improved to 2-0 for the fifth-straight season. The Titans slid to 0-3 on the young season. MSU also now stands at 23-7 all-time against UDM, winning the last 18 match-ups.

For the second-straight game, junior guard Nia Clouden led the Spartans with 15 points. She also added four rebounds and four assists. Sophomore forward Taiyier Parks had a very balanced game with 12 points and eight rebounds, going 5-for-10 from the field. Sophomore guard Alyza Winston and junior guard Tory Ozment both scored 11, while sophomore forward Julia Ayrault tallied 10 points and sophomore guard Moira Joiner came on late to reach 10 points, rounding out the six Spartans in double-figures. Joiner also added a career-high six assists, Ozment had five assists, while Ayrault matched her career-best with four helpers.

Detroit Mercy was led by a game-high 18 points by Sylare Starks, as the lone Titan in double-figures.

Ozment opened the game with two quick 3-pointers as MSU jumped out to an 8-3 lead, and the Titans called an early timeout. Detroit Mercy used a 6-0 run to trim the Michigan State lead to 10-9 before a Kendall Bostic basket put the Spartans back on track. Twelve of MSU's 21 first-quarter points came from Ozment and Parks.

In the second quarter, Joiner stopped a two-minute scoring drought to get the Spartan offense started. Despite being cold on offense, MSU was able to keep the Titans off the scoreboard for five minutes, creating five turnovers in six minutes. From there, back-to-back treys from Clouden sparked a 10-0 run to put MSU up 36-22. The Spartans held the Titans to only seven second-quarter points.

Michigan State scored 10 of the first 12 points of the second half to take its first 20-point lead, 46-26. UDM fought back with an 8-0 run of its own to cut the gap to 46-34. Ozment and Clouden combined for 10 of the Spartans' 22 third quarter points, as MSU maintained at least a 15-point margin for much of the quarter.

The MSU bench came to life in the final period, as Winston scored nine of her 11 points in the final 10 minutes. Bostic and sophomore guard Julia Ayrault added four points apiece in the quarter, as the MSU reserves had a 31-5 bench-point advantage.

The Spartans will now open Big Ten action on the road at Minnesota on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 9 p.m. ET. The game will be shown live on the Big Ten Network.

Post-Game Notes vs. Detroit Mercy

• All eight MSU players that played in the first half scored, while overall, nine of the 10 Spartans to play scored.

• A season-high six players posted double-figures, led by junior guard Nia Clouden's 15 points.

• Michigan State forced a season-high 25 turnovers, leading to a season-high 33-8 points off turnovers advantage ... MSU's bench also had a 31-5 edge, as the Spartan reserves have out-scored their counterparts, 64-22, through two games ... Michigan State also had a 30-6 fast break points advantage, now with a 58-15 tally through two contests ... after just 10 offensive boards which led to an 8-8 second-chance points scoring last time out vs. St. Francis, the Spartans dominated on the offensive glass Wednesday night with 19 O-boards, which led to a 19-4 second-chance scoring advantage.

• The Spartans had a 36-24 halftime lead for their second-straight halftime double-figure advantage after leading last week's season-opener vs. St. Francis, 42-22, improving to 2-0 this season when leading at intermission.

• Through eight quarters this season, the MSU defense has held the opposition to single-digits in four quarters, including the second and fourth frames Wednesday, limiting the Titans to seven points in the second stanza and eight in the fourth ... the seven points allowed is the new lowest of the season, bettering the previous low of eight by Saint Francis in the both the second and third quarters of last week's game.

• Junior guard Nia Clouden netted 15 points Wednesday, including 10 in the first half, marking her second double-figure scoring game in as many outings this season ... Clouden now has 13-straight career games in double-digits dating back to last year, having posted double-figures in 29 of last 32 games played ... for her career, Clouden now has scored in double-digits in 52 of her 64 games played.

• Clouden drained two 3-pointers, coming on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter, for her first multi 3-pointer game this season as part of her 13th career game with multiple triples.

• Junior guard Tori Ozment netted her first two three-pointers of the game, ending the contest with three 3-pointers, one shy of her career high, for her first game this season and eighth career game with multiple treys.

• With 12 points Wednesday, sophomore forward Taiyier Parks recorded double-figure scoring for the second game in a row and fourth of her career ... Parks' career-high of 15 points came versus these same Detroit Mercy Titans last season, on a career-high six field goals, one more than Wednesday night's total ... Parks had eight points in the first half Wednesday night ... Parks also pulled down a season-high eight rebounds, two shy of her career-best of 10 boards.

• Sophomore forward Julia Ayrault's 10 points and six rebounds were both season-highs, and the 10 points was her sixth career double-figure scoring outing ... Ayrault also tied her career-high of four assists for the second game in a row after four helpers last time out vs. St. Francis.

• Sophomore guard Alyza Winston posted double-figures with 10 points in her season-debut after missing the season-opener with an injury ... Winston scored in double-digits for the third time in her career, as her career-high also came last season vs. Detroit Mercy with 17 points.

• Sophomore guard Moira Joiner tallied 10 points for her first double-figure scoring game of the season and sixth of her career ... Joiner also dished out a career-high six assists, including helpers on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter.

• Senior forward Mardrekia Cook collected a career-high and game-best nine rebounds, topping her previous high of eight boards vs. East Tennessee State (11/11/18).

• Freshman forward Kendall Bostic followed up from her impressive Spartan debut of 15 points in the season-opener with an encore performance of eight points four boards, two blocks and one steal in game two of the season ... Bostic had both of MSU's two blocks on the night, for her first rejections as a Spartan.

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Team Stats

Nia Clouden

Taiyier Parks

Tory Ozment

Alyza Winston

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Kendall Bostic

Nia Clouden

Mardrekia Cook

Moira Joiner

Tory Ozment

Taiyier Parks

Alyza Winston