Spartans Edged by No. 12 Maryland Despite Clouden Career High

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Junior guard Nia Clouden's career-high 32 points were not enough as the No. 23/24 Michigan State women's basketball team was edged by No. 12/12 Maryland at the Breslin Center Thursday night.

Clouden's career night also included becoming the 29th member of MSU's 1,000-point club with her first basket of the second half. Alongside her 32 points, the junior also added five assists, three rebounds and two steals.

For the third-straight game, sophomore guard Julia Ayrault reached double figures with 17 points, while fellow sophomore Alyza Winston reached double figures with 11 points, while tying her career high with four assists. Redshirt-senior forward Mardrekia Cook doubled her season high with 10 points.

Maryland had a strong outing from Ashley Owusu, who had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while adding six assists.

Michigan State suffered its first loss of the season, denying the Spartans a 9-0 start, which would have been the best start in program history. The Spartans now stand at 8-1 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play. Maryland is 8-1 overall and 4-0 in Big Ten action.

After a Winston layup, the Spartans jumped out to an early 9-7 lead. Maryland responded by making four-straight buckets to re-take the lead at 18-17 with under two minutes remaining in the quarter. The quarter was a back-and-forth affair, but thanks to eight points from Clouden, MSU only trailed 22-19.

Fouls hampered the Spartans early in the second quarter, with Parks and Ayrault both playing with two. The Terrapins scored six of the first seven points of the period to open up a 28-20 lead, as MSU called a timeout at the 6:46 mark. UMD used an 11-0 run to break it open at 35-20. The 15 point lead was the biggest of the game for the Terps.

Clouden joined the 1,000-point club with her first bucket of the second half. Michigan State scored the first five of the period to make it a 10-point game at 48-38. The Spartans used a 7-0 spurt to trim the deficit to 57-50 with under six minutes left in the quarter. MSU kept Maryland without a field goal for over three minutes, but the Terps remain in control, leading at the end of the third period, 70-59. Ayrault and Clouden kept MSU within striking distance with 15 of the Spartans' 26 points.

In the fourth quarter, Michigan State remained hot but the free throw line remained a problem. The Spartans got as close as two points, following a Clouden jumper, 83-81, with 1:46 remaining. The Terps always had an answer and went 11-for-12 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter alone. For the game, Maryland was 33-for-38 from the free throw line, while MSU was 9-for-14.

Michigan State closes out the two-game homestand at the Breslin Center against Nebraska on Sunday, Jan. 10 at 3 p.m.

Post-Game Notes vs. Maryland

• Michigan State suffered its first loss of the season, denying the Spartans a 9-0 start, which would have been the best start in program history.

•Junior guard Nia Clouden, a native of Owings Mills, Maryland, scored her 1,000th career point with a jumper from the left wing with 9:43 left in the third quarter for her 14th point in the game ... Clouden becomes the 29th player in MSU women's basketball history to reach the 1,000 career points plateau ... she now has 1,018 points in her Spartan career, climbing up to No. 28 on the MSU career scoring list, passing Jill Prudden (1974-78) with 1,012 points, and now 16 points shy of the No. 27 spot held by Brenda Jezowski (1980-85) with 1,034 points.

• Clouden finished with a career-high 32 points, topping her previous career-high of 28 at Notre Dame (11/14/19) and bettering her previous season-high of 25 points, at Minnesota (12/9/20) ... Clouden is the first Spartan with 30 points since Shay Colley also scored 32, vs. Indiana on 2/11/19 ... Clouden's 32 points ties for No. 14 on the MSU single-game scoring list, and is the 10th 32-point outing in Spartan history ... Clouden becomes the eighth different Spartan player with 32 points, as Tori Jankoska and Maxann Reese both netted 32 in a game twice.

• The 32 points was Clouden's fifth game this season with 20+ points, all coming in the last six games ... it was her 15th career game with 20+ points ... the Spartan junior guard led Michigan State in scoring for the eighth outing in the nine games this season and Thursday was her 30th career game leading the Spartans in scoring ... this season Clouden has now netted double-digits in all nine contests, as part of 20th-straight games in her career, now with double-figures in 36 of her last 39 games played, tallying double-figures in all but three games last season ...in her career, Clouden has now scored in double-figures in 59 of 72 career games played.

• Clouden drained a season-high tying three 3-pointers Thursday, matching three treys vs. Detroit Mercy (12/2/20) ... Thursday was also her second-straight game with multiple triples and third of the season after two treys last game vs. Purdue.

• After playing a season-low 14 minutes vs. Oakland (12/22/20), Clouden has played over 37 minutes in the last two games, playing the exact same of 37:14 both at Purdue and Thursday vs. Maryland, tying her second-highest output of the season behind 38:47 at Iowa (12/12/20).

• Michigan State's starting line-up of junior guard Nia Clouden, junior guard Tory Ozment, sophomore forward Julia Ayrault, sophomore forward Taiyier Parks and sophomore guard Alyza Winston on Thursday vs. Maryland was the Spartans' fourth game in a row with that starting five and fourth of the season.

• Ozment and Clouden are the lone Spartans to start in all nine games this season ... Ayrault and Winston started for the sixth time of their career, all in the last six games this season ... meanwhile, Clouden made her 72nd career start in playing in her 72nd career game ... Ozment started for the 21st time of her career in playing her 57th game ... Parks started for the seventh time this season in the nine games as part of her 10th career start, while playing in her 39th career game.

• For the second-straight game Michigan State topped its highest fourth-quarter scoring with 28 points Thursday, topping the 26 points last time out vs. Purdue ... the 28-point quarter matched the Spartans' highest in any quarter, tying 28 points in the second stanza at Minnesota (12/9/20).

• Michigan State trailed at halftime for the first time this season with Thursday's 48-33 intermission deficit.

• MSU's 87 points vs. Maryland tied for the most the Terrapins have allowed in a Big Ten game, matching UMD's 91-87 win at Rutgers (12/14/20) ... it was tied for the Terps' second-most points allowed by 96 in 115-96 win over No. 14 Arkansas (11/29/20), as two of UMD's three highest points yielded have been scored by ranked teams.

• Ayrault netted a career-high three 3-points on the way to 17 points Thursday, her second-highest outing of the season behind 19 points vs. Iowa (12/12/20) ... the three triples was her third game with multi-treys this season, and all three at home, joining her previous career-best of two 3-pointers vs. Saint Francis (11/27/20) and vs. Iowa (12/12/20) ... Thursday was Ayrault's third-straight double-figure outing as part of her sixth of the season and 11th of her career.

• Ayrault also swatted two shots, her second-straight game with multiple blocks and sixth of the season.

• Winston tallied 11 points for her sixth double-figure scoring contest of the season and seventh of her career. She also tied her career high with four assists.

• In just her third game in a Spartan uniform, junior forward Alisia Smith pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds, topping her MSU career-best of three boards last time out vs. Purdue (1/3/21), as well as her fourth-highest overall career-high, as she had an overall career-best 14 (vs. Jacksonville, 12/02/18), along with 13-board (at Wisconsin, 01/04/20) and 12-board (vs. Rider, 11/10/19) outings during her Penn State career ... Thursday was Smith's ninth double-figure rebounding outing (three in 2019-20, five in 2018-19).

• Ozment dished out a team-high and game-best tying six assists ... it was her fourth game in last five contests with five or more assists and was the second-straight game and fourth contest this season that Ozment led MSU in helpers.

• Michigan State's bench out-scored Maryland's reserves, 14-7, as the Spartan have out-scored the opponent's bench in all nine games, including five by double-figures.

• MSU has topped the 70-point plateau in all nine games, and Thursday's 87 points was Michigan State's highest in a Big Ten game this season, topping 86 points at Iowa (12/12/20) and second-highest of the season behind 94 points vs. Oakland (12/22/20) ... Thursday was MSU's fifth game in the 80s ... Michigan State has won 154 of its last 174 games (.885) when scoring at least 70 points, and the Spartans are 172-29 (.856) under head coach Suzy Merchant when hanging at least 70 points on the scoreboard ... Michigan State is now 8-1 this season when reaching the 70-point mark.

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Team Stats

Nia Clouden

Julia Ayrault

Alyza Winston

Mardrekia Cook

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Nia Clouden

Shay Colley

Mardrekia Cook

Tori Jankoska

Tory Ozment

Taiyier Parks

Alisia Smith

Alyza Winston