Three in Double Figures Not Enough As MSU Falls to No. 16/15 Indiana Sunday

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Facing its second ranked road team of the week, the Michigan State women's basketball team fell to No. 16/15 Indiana on Sunday afternoon, 79-67.

After losing to No. 7 Maryland on Thursday, MSU took on another tough team in Indiana. With the loss, Michigan State falls to 9-4 overall and 4-4 in Big Ten play. Indiana rebounded from a loss earlier in the week to improve to 10-4 and 8-2 in league play.

After topping 70 points in the first nine games of the season, MSU has been stymied and held under 70 in four of the last five contests.

Once again, junior guard Nia Clouden led the team in scoring with 19 points to go along with two assists and two steals. Clouden moved up to No. 26 on MSU's career scoring list, as her 19 points Sunday gives her 1,081 points, passing Jamie Wesley (1994-98) with 1,075 points. Junior forward Alisia Smith added 17 points and a team high eight rebounds and two steals. Junior guard Janai Crooms, who has been hot of late, was also in double figures with 19 points.

The Spartans got off to an efficient start jumping out to an early 8-3 lead. Starting the game 6-for-7 from the field, Michigan State upped its lead to 16-6, leading to a Indiana timeout. The Hoosiers responded with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 16-15 with less than two minutes left in the period. A Julia Ayrault trey put a halt on the run and put the Spartans back up 19-15.

In the second quarter, Indiana took its first lead after a 3-pointer by Aleksa Gulbe, 23-20. The Spartans bounced back and re-took the lead 38-32 after a Crooms driving layup. Michigan State's tough defense kept the Hoosiers of the scoreboard for the final 2:07 to take a 41-33 lead into the locker room.

The third quarter belonged to the Hoosiers, as they out-scored the Spartans 25-15. Indiana tied the score 56-56 after an Ali Patberg bucket. With four seconds remaining in the third period, the Hoosiers took the lead 58-56 after a Danielle Patterson layup. Indiana would not relinquish the lead from there.

In the fourth quarter, Indiana used a 6-0 run over 51 seconds to expand its lead to 67-58. Despite five fourth-quarter points from Clouden, the Hoosiers were able to maintain a double digit for much if the final period.

After nearly a month, the Spartans will return to the friendly confines of the Breslin Center for two games. Michigan State will host Illinois on Thursday, Feb. 4 before taking on No. 23 Northwestern on Feb. 7.

Post-Game Notes vs. Indiana

• For the third-straight game, Michigan State's starting five was junior guard Nia Clouden, sophomore guard Alyza Winston, sophomore guard/forward Julia Ayrault, junior forward Alisia Smith and junior guard Janai Crooms ... these last three games are the only three games that the Spartans have started that way.

• Clouden is the only Spartan to have started all 13 games this season ... Clouden started for the 76th time in her career in playing in her 76th career game.

• Crooms and Smith both made their third starts in a row of their Spartan career, as the duo both transferred to MSU from Ohio State and Penn State, respectively, in the offseason ... Crooms played in her 11th game in a Green & White jersey, while Smith was playing in her seventh Spartan game on Sunday.

• Ayrault and Winston started their 10th games of their career, and have started the last 10 games in a row ... Winston played in her 42nd career game, while Ayrault made her 41st career start.

• MSU's 67 points were the second-most scored on Indiana's defense, which entered the game ranked second in the B1G, allowing just 57.8 ppg ... the Spartans' 41 points in the first half was their third-highest in a B1G game this season behind 68 at Minnesota (12/9/20) and 44 vs. Iowa (12/12/20) in back-to-back games.

• After topping 70 points in the first nine games of the season, MSU has been stymied and held under 70 four of the last five contests.

• With 19 points Sunday, Clouden continues her streak of netting double-figures in each of the 13 games this season ... her 13 double-digit scoring outings this season is part of 24-consecutive contests in a her career with double-figures, including netting double-digits in 40 of her last 43 games, doing so in all but three games a year ago ... for her well-decorated Spartan career, Clouden has now scored in double-figures in 63 of 76 career games played ... Clouden's 19 points Sunday led MSU, as she has led the Spartans in scoring in 11 of the 13 games this season, as part of a total of 33 times in her career.

• Clouden moved up to No. 26 on MSU's career scoring list, as her 19 points Sunday gives her 1,081 points, passing Jamie Wesley (1994-98) with 1,075 points, and closing in on the Top 25 of the last, as Bella Engen (1994-98) holds the No. 25 spot with 1,088 points.

• Clouden now has 287 career assists, just four away from the No. 17 spot on MSU's career assists list, as Maxann Reese (1996-2000) is No. 17, and Clouden is just 13 helpers from the 300-assists plateau, and would become just the 17th player in MSU women's basketball history to reach the 300 helpers mark.

• Smith posted double-digits for the third time in her MSU career with 17 points Sunday, her second-highest scoring outing of the season behind 19 at Wisconsin (1/24/21) ... all three of Smith's double-figure games this season have come on the road with 15 points at Purdue (1/3/21), while scoring a total of 14 points in three home games this season.

• Smith also snared a team-leading eight rebounds, as she has now led the Spartans on the boards in two games this season, with 11 rebounds vs. Maryland (1/7/21).

• Crooms tallied an MSU career-high 10 points, as she has tied or set a new season-high scoring output in each of the last four games, tallying 33 points in the last four games, including three starts, compared to just 23 points in the combined seven previous games.

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Team Stats

Nia Clouden

Alisia Smith

Janai Crooms

Taiyier Parks

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Nia Clouden

Janai Crooms

Alisia Smith

Alyza Winston