Spartans’ Second-Half Comeback Falls Short Against No. 22/20 Northwestern

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Despite trailing by as many as 21 points in the first half, the Michigan State women's basketball team's comeback fell just short, falling to No. 22/20 Northwestern, 63-60, on Sunday at the Breslin Center.

Trailing by three points with eight seconds remaining, the Spartans had the ball in the hands of junior Nia Clouden. The guard was unable to drain the 3-pointer to tie the game, as Northwestern clung on for the victory.

Michigan State falls to 10-5 overall and an even 5-5 Big Ten record. Northwestern stands 11-3 overall and 9-3 in league play.

For the first this season, sophomore forward Taiyier Parks led the team in scoring with 13 points. She also added 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Junior guard Janai Crooms was solid once again with 10 points to go along with a career high with five steals. Clouden reached double digits for the 15th time this season with 12 points.

Lindsey Pulliam led Northwestern with 22 points and six rebounds.

The Wildcats got off to a fast start on the offensive end, taking an early 12-4 lead midway through the first period. The run increased to 8-0 as Northwestern extended its advantage to 17-4. A combination of turnovers and cold shooting, resulted in MSU trailing 19-7 after the first period. The Spartans shot only 21 percent in the quarter with four turnovers.

In the second quarter, the Michigan State shooting remained cold. The Wildcats used 9-0 run to bust the game open, taking a 37-16 lead with under a minute remaining in the half. Northwestern held Clouden, the Big Ten's fifth-leading scorer, to only two first-half points.

The Spartans scored the first eight points of the second half to make it a 37-26 contest. MSU made six-straight buckets to trim it to a 10-point Northwestern lead. Parks and the Spartans inside game helped chisel away at the deficit. She scored eight points with four boards in the third period alone. In the quarter, Michigan State led in points in the paint, 14-2. Overall, MSU out-scored Northwestern in the paint, 32-14.

In the fourth quarter, a Clouden 3-pointer made it a three-point game 53-50 with seven minutes left in the game. The Spartans kept the Wildcats without a field goal for over four minutes. An old-fashioned three by sophomore forward Julia Ayrault tied the at 56-56 at the 4:33 mark, as momentum remained with MSU. With a Crooms bucket, MSU took its only lead since, 58-56 with under four minutes left, but the Spartans were held without any field goals the final 3:52 of the game.

Michigan State returns to the road to take on Penn State on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 12 p.m. on BTN.

Post-Game Notes vs. Northwestern

• After unveiling a new starting lineup last time out vs. Illinois (2/4/21), the Spartans went with the same lineup Sunday with junior guard Nia Clouden, junior guard Janai Crooms, sophomore guard/forward Julia Ayrault, sophomore guard Moira Joiner and junior forward Alisia Smith ... Sunday was the second game this season with that starting five and is the fifth different starting lineup for the Spartans.

• Clouden continues to be the only Spartan to have started all 15 games this season ... Clouden started for the 78th time in her career in playing in her 78th career game.

• Crooms and Smith both made their fifth 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 13th game in a Green & White jersey, while Smith was playing in her ninth Spartan game on Sunday.

• Ayrault made her 12th career start, all coming this season, and Sunday was her 43rd career game.

• Joiner started for the second-straight game, after prior to the Illinois game, had not started since game three, 12/2/20 at Minnesota, and had started the first three games of the season ... Sunday was Joiner's fifth start of the season and her 30th career start, as well as her 44th career game played.

• Redshirt-senior Mardrekia Cook played in her 98th career game on Sunday, just two away from her 100th game.

• Sophomore forward Taiyier Parks led the team in scoring with 13 points. She also added 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and first of her career ... she now scored in double figures five times this season.

• Junior guard Janai Crooms had a well-rounded game for MSU, scoring 10 points for the second time in the last three outings ... she added an MSU-high five steals on Sunday with her career high six steals coming at Ohio State coming against Rutgers in 2019 ... the junior also had four rebounds, four steals and one block to add to her stat line.

Spartans’ Second-Half Comeback Falls Short Against No. 22/20 Northwestern

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Team Stats

Taiyier Parks

Nia Clouden

Janai Crooms

Julia Ayrault

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Nia Clouden

Mardrekia Cook

Janai Crooms

Moira Joiner

Taiyier Parks

Alisia Smith