Underclassmen Fuel Spartan Women’s Basketball’s Victory Over Minnesota, 66-54

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Behind 61 points from underclassmen, Michigan State women's basketball captured a 66-54 win against Minnesota Monday at the Breslin Center. All but five points came from the Spartan freshmen and sophomores. Michigan State held the lead for over 35 minutes.

After losing five-straight games, MSU has rebounded to take two in a row both at the Breslin Center to improve to 13-12 overall and 6-8 in Big Ten action. Minnesota falls to 15-11 overall and 5-10 league contests.

Sophomore guard Nia Clouden earned her second career double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Her previous double-double last season came against Virginia on Nov. 28, 2018 with 10 points and 11 assists. Freshman guard Julia Ayrault tied her career high with 14 points, while adding five rebounds and two blocks. Freshman Moira Joiner why just shy of a double-double with a career-high 11 rebounds and nine points.

Minnesota had one player in double figures with Jasmine Powell scoring 15 points. Taiye Bello was held to five points which was her second lowest in Big Ten action.

At the first media timeout, neither team had gotten its offense going. The Spartans went 2-for-10 to start the game, but only trailed the Gophers, 6-5. The Michigan State offense started to come alive late in the quarter, as McCutcheon led all scorers with five points. The Gophers struggled on the offense side as well, missing their last four shots.

In the second quarter, MSU took a 20-15 lead that was quickly erased by back-to-back buckets by the Gophers. Michigan State responded with a 9-0 run to take a 31-23 midway through the quarter after a Taiyier Parks putback. The Spartans were able to keep the Gophers off the scoreboard for 4:15 during the run. MSU went cold at the end of the half missing its final nine shots, but the Spartans still took a 31-27 lead into the locker room.

Michigan State took its first double-digit lead after pair of Clouden free throws, 40-30. A 6-0 run put the Spartans up 42-30, as MSU scored 11 of the first 14 points of the second half. Minnesota was able to overcome the sluggish start to the third period and cut into the home team's lead. The Gophers trailed heading into the final 10 minutes 52-45.

In the fourth quarter, Minnesota cut the lead to single digits, 55-48, after a pair of Jasmine Brunson free throws. Ayrault hit her second-straight 3-pointer to put MSU back up in double figures 58-48 with 8:57 remaining. From that point, Michigan State's lead remained in double figures. The Spartan freshmen continued their strong night highlighted by a terrific long pass to a sprinting Joiner for the fast break bucket to put MSU up 66-52, capping a 6-0 run. The Gophers went the final 6:19 without a field goal.

Michigan State continues an action packed week traveling to Purdue on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. MSU will then return home to take on Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. for its annual pink game. Both games will be televised on the Big Ten Network

Michigan State Notes vs. Minnesota

• The Spartans used the same starting line-up of senior guard Taryn McCutcheon, sophomore guard Nia Clouden, freshman guard Moira Joiner, sophomore forward Tory Ozment and sophomore forward Kayla Belles for the second-straight game ... This was the fifth game this season with those five starting for the Spartans, as MSU is 4-1 with that lineup ... It is Michigan State's eighth different starting lineup of the season.

• A total of 61 of Michigan State's 66 points were scored by underclassmen, as senior guard Taryn McCutcheon's five points were the lone upperclassmen points.

• Sophomore guard Nia Clouden and freshman guard Moira Joiner combined for 21 rebounds, despite being 5-8 and 5-10, respectively ... Clouden and Joiner also combined for 25 points.

• Clouden collected her first double-double of the season and second of her career with a game-high 16 points and a career-best 10 rebounds ... Monday's double-double was her first with points and rebounds, as her previous only other double-double was with 10 points and 11 assists vs. Virginia (11/28/18) ... Clouden's double-double was the Spartans' third of the season.

• Clouden's 16 points was her sixth-straight game in double-figures and 22nd of the season in 25 games ... It was the 45th double-figure scoring outing of Clouden's career.

• Clouden was a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line, her third outing in the last four games of making 100 percent of her free throws, going 8-for-8 at Maryland (2/3/20) and 3-for-3 at Northwestern (2/10/20) ... Monday was her ninth perfect outing at the free pitch stripe ... Clouden is 30-for-33 (.909) at the charity stripe in her last six games.

• Joiner was one point shy of a double-double with nine points and also snaring a career-high 11 rebounds ... The 11 boards nearly doubled her previous career-high of six rebounds, done twice, most recently vs. Ohio State (1/16/20).

• Joiner netted one 3-pointer Monday night, giving her 34 this season, just two from breaking into the MSU's freshman 3-pointer record list, as Kalisha Keane (2007-08) holds the No. 5 spot with 36 treys.

• Freshman forward Julia Ayrault netted a career-high tying 14 points off the bench ... It was the third time this season that Ayrault has tied her career-best scoring outing, but the first in Big Ten play, as the previous two outings were vs. Hartford (11/24/19) and Morehead State (12/15/19).

• Ayrault's 14 points off the bench helped the Spartan reserves to a palindromic, 21-12, bench scoring over their counterparts from Minnesota ... Michigan State's bench has outscored the opposition in 19 of the 25 games this season, as the Spartans improved to 12-7 when leading in bench points.

• Michigan State improved to 13-1 this season when leading with five minutes left, with its lone loss coming at No. 8 Florida State (Dec. 5) ... The Spartans have won 206 of their last 219 games (.940) when leading with five minutes to play, including 156 of their last 171 ... In Coach Merchant's tenure, Michigan State is 241-19 (.927) when holding a lead with five minutes to go.

• The Spartans had a 28-18 points in the paint advantage, marking just the seventh time this season that MSU has had more points in the paint, improving to 6-1.

• Michigan State also had a 51-44 rebounding advantage, the Spartans' fourth game this season with 50+ boards ... The +7 rebounding advantage was MSU's 10th game this season out-rebounding the opposition, improving to 9-1.

• McCutcheon dished out five assists for the second game in a row and fourth in the last six games ... The five helpers gives the senior guard 85 this season and 557 for her career ... McCutcheon is now just 17 helpers from tying the school record of 574 assists, held by her current assistant coach Kristin Haynie (2001-05).

• McCutcheon's five points Monday gives her 1,141 for her career, just two points shy of the No. 21 spot, held by Julie Polakowski (1982-86) with 1,143 points.

• Freshman forward Taiyier Parks was one rebound and three points shy of a double-double with nine rebounds and seven points ... The nine rebounds is her second-highest of the season and most in a Big Ten game, behind 10 boards vs. Oakland ... Parks' seven points tied her third-highest scoring output of the season, and also her most in a Big Ten contest.

• Belles tallied eight points, five rebounds and two blocks ... The two rejections was Belles' seventh game with two or more blocks this season ... Belles now has 32 blocks this season, just 11 from cracking into the MSU single-season blocked shots list.

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Team Stats

Nia Clouden

Julia Ayrault

Moira Joiner

Kayla Belles

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Kayla Belles

Nia Clouden

Moira Joiner

Taryn McCutcheon

Tory Ozment

Taiyier Parks