Clouden Scores Career-High 34 As Comeback Against No. 11 Michigan Falls Short

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Junior guard Nia Clouden recorded a new career-high with 34 points as the Michigan State women's basketball team fell just short against No. 11 Michigan, falling 86-82, Tuesday afternoon at the Crisler Center.

Michigan State falls to 11-6 overall and 6-6 in Big Ten play. Michigan improves to 12-1 overall and 7-1 in league action.

For the 14th time this season, Clouden led the team in scoring also providing her second 30-point game of the season. She also led the team on the glass for the second-straight game, pulling down eight rebounds Tuesday. Sophomore Alyza Winston added 18 points off the bench, while senior forward Alisia Smith scored eight.

Once again, Michigan was led by Naz Hillmon who scored 31 points along with seven rebounds.

The teams traded punches early on with Michigan taking a slight, 13-11, lead with under four minutes left in the first period. Hillmon scored 11 of the Wolverines' first 17 points, while five different Spartans scored in the first quarter. Michigan State went over three minutes without a field goal as Michigan jumped out to a 22-12 advantage.

To start the second quarter, Michigan State used a 7-0 run to trim the lead to 25-21. The Wolverines responded with an 11-0 run of their own to up the advantage to 46-30, which was their biggest lead of the game. Michigan State hit another cold spell, that was halted by a Clouden 3-point play. The junior went on to score the final five points of the quarter, as MSU entered the halftime locker room trailing 46-35.

MSU never stopped fighting, going 4-for-4 from the field midway through the third quarter, as the Spartans made it a 10-point game at 60-50. Clouden went over the 20-point mark with a free throw late in the period. With Hillmon being called for her fourth foul of the game, that made it a 68-62 game after an offensive board and a put-back by sophomore forward Taiyier Parks with time expiring in the period. MSU ended the half with a 7-0 run to close the gap headed to the final stanza.

In the fourth quarter, a long range Clouden trey made it 70-67 with under eight minutes remaining. Both teams went cold from the field early in the fourth, but after a quiet third quarter, Hillmon began to heat up again. Hillmon scored six of the Wolverines' 18 fourth-quarter points, as MSU would not get any closer, and Michigan held on for an 86-82 win.

Michigan State returns home to the Breslin Center for its annual Pink Game, taking on Purdue on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 11:30 a.m. The game will be televised on FS1.

Post-Game Notes vs. Michigan

• Junior guard Nia Clouden netted a career-high 34 points, the most points in a game by a Spartan women's basketball player since Tori Jankoska's school-record 42 points vs. Ohio State on Jan. 10, 2017 ... Clouden's 34 points is tied for the seventh-most in school history, and is also tied for the No. 8 spot on MSU's single-game scoring record (two players scored 35 points) ... Clouden is the fifth different Spartan to net 34 points in a game, but the first to do so since 2008 when Aisha Jefferson tallied 34 vs. Notre Dame on Nov. 29, 2008.

• Clouden's 34 points was her second 30-point outing of her career, both coming this season, previous scoring 32 vs. Maryland (1/7/21), her previous career-high.

• The 34 points gives Clouden 1,172 career points, climbing up from No. 23 to No. 21 on MSU's career scoring list passing Julie Polakowski (1982-86) with 1,143 points and Becca Mills (2011-15) with 1,157 points ... Clouden needs just nine points to crack the Top 20, as Rene Haynes (2003-07) holds the No. 20 spot with 1,181 points.

• Clouden's 34 points continued her streak of not just tallying double-figures in all 17 games this season, but scoring 12 or more points in every game played this season ... she has scored in double-digits in 27-consecutive games for her career, notching double-figures in 44 of her last 47 games played, doing so in all but three games a year ago ... for her well-decorated Spartan career, Clouden has now scored in double-figures in 67 of 80 career games played ... the team-high 34 points marked the 14th time in the 17 games this season that Clouden has topped the Green & White in the scoring column, as well as a total of 36 times for her career.

• Clouden tallied 11 field goals, one shy of her career-best of 12 from the aforementioned Maryland game (1/7/21) ... Clouden matched her season-best of three 3-pointers Tuesday night, her third game this season with three triples, joining Detroit Mercy (12/2/20) and vs. Maryland (1/7/21) ... the three treys Tuesday marked her sixth-straight game and ninth game this season with multiple 3-pointers.

• Redshirt-senior Mardrekia Cook played in her 100th career game on Tuesday, which leads all the active Spartans.

• Michigan State's starting five Tuesday night was the fourth game in a row with the same starting five of junior guard Nia Clouden, junior guard Janai Crooms, sophomore guard/forward Julia Ayrault, sophomore guard Moira Joiner and junior forward Alisia Smith ... it was the fourth game this season with that starting five, as part of the fifth different starting lineup for the Spartans.

• Clouden continues to be the only Spartan to have started all 17 games this season ... Clouden started for the 80th time in her career in playing in her 80th career game.

• Ayrault started the 14th game of her career, all coming this season, and played in her 45th career game on Tuesday.

• Smith and Crooms made their seventh-straight starts of their Spartan careers, as they both transferred to MSU from Penn State and Ohio State, respectively, in the offseason ... Crooms played in her 15th game, while Smith played in her 11th game for the Green & White.

• Joiner started for the fourth game in a row, after not having started since game three, 12/2/20 at Minnesota, prior to the Illinois game (2/4/20), and had started the first three games of the season ... Tuesday's game was Joiner seventh start of the season and 32nd career start, in playing in her 46th career game.

• After not leading the Spartans in rebounding in any of the previous 15 games, Clouden has now lead MSU on the boards in the last two games, with a season-high eight rebounds Tuesday night, after a team-best seven boards last Saturday ... Clouden has now led the Spartans on the glass in two games this season and six games in her career.

• Sophomore guard Alyza Winston led the Spartan bench for the second-straight game with 18 points Tuesday ... after not scoring in double-figures in the previous five games, Winston has netted double-digits in the last two games after 11 points Saturday ... Winston now has nine games this season with 10+ points as part of 10 games for her career in double-digits.

• Winston's 18 bench points on Tuesday led the Spartans to a 32-11 bench scoring advantage ... it was the 15th game this season that MSU's bench has out-scored the opposition's reserves, as the Spartans are now 10-5 this season when leading in bench scoring.

• Ayrault had three blocks on Tuesday night, tying her season-high for the third time this season and her career-best for the sixth time of her career, last doing so with three vs. Illinois (2/4/21).

• Michigan State's 82 points was the Spartans' 13th game this season with 70 or more points ... Tuesday night was just the Spartans' second loss this season when scoring 70 or more points, as they are now 11-2 this season when reaching the 70-point mark with the only losses coming against Maryland on Jan. 7 ( 93-87) and Tuesday at Michigan (86-82) ... the Green & White have now won 157 of their last 178 games (.882) when scoring at least 70 points, and the Spartans are 175-30 (.854) under head coach Suzy Merchant when hanging at least 70 points on the scoreboard.

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Team Stats

Nia Clouden

Alyza Winston

Alisia Smith

Tory Ozment

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Nia Clouden

Mardrekia Cook

Janai Crooms

Tori Jankoska

Moira Joiner

Taiyier Parks

Alisia Smith

Alyza Winston