Wednesday, March 10
Indianapolis, Ind.
6:30 PM
Michigan State University
14-7,8-7Big Ten
75
vs
66
Penn State
9-15,6-13Big Ten
1
2
3
4
F
Penn St.
24
11
17
14
66
Michigan St.
18
17
21
19
75
Team Stats
PSU
MSU
FG%
.385
.422
3FG%
.379
.333
FT%
.714
.688
RB
37
38
TO
19
14
STL
7
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
23
FGM
8
3FGM
5
FTM
2
Pts
18
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
7
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
MSU Advances in Big Ten Tournament with Win Over Penn State Wednesday
3/10/2021 10:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Box ScoreMSU 75, Penn State 66 Box Score (PDF)MSU Combined Stats (PDF)B1G Tournament CentralPhoto Gallery
Sophomore Alyza Winston paces the Spartans with 23 points.
INDIANAPOLIS - Four players in double figures led the No. 7-seeded Michigan State women's basketball team past No. 10-seeded Penn State, 75-66, Wednesday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
With the win, Michigan State has now won two-straight games and improves to 14-7 overall, while Penn State ends the season with a 9-15 record.
The Spartan sophomore class scored 46 of MSU's 75 points with guard Alyza Winston leading the way with 23 points. She also added a career-high seven rebounds. Fellow sophomore Moira Joiner and Taiyier Parks added 13 and 10 points respectively. Junior guard Nia Clouden broke out of a shooting slump, scoring 18 points with four assists and seven rebounds.
With 18 points, Clouden moved 15th place on the MSU career scoring list with 1,211 points, passing among others, her former teammate Taryn McCutcheon and her current assistant coach Kristin Haynie (both 1,199 points).
Starting with three-straight 3-pointers, the Lady Lions jumped out to an early 9-5 lead. Penn State made four 3-pointers in the first five minutes to take a five-point advantage. MSU got in on the 3-point fun with a trey by Joiner to cut the PSU lead to 19-18. Shooting 45 percent in the first quarter, Penn State led after the first 10 minutes, 24-18.
MSU used a 8-0 run to claw back into it in the second quarter. After a Winston jumper, the Spartans only trailed by one, 32-31. Michigan State was able to keep the Lady Lions off the scoreboard for over three minutes as their lead evaporated. A Clouden basket tied the scored with a minute left in the half, as the half ended with the score tied at 35.
With the first bucket of the second half, the Spartans took its first lead since the first period, 37-35. From there, the Lady Lions went on a 10-0 run that was stopped by back-to-back treys by Joiner and Winston. A beautiful pass from junior guard Tory Ozment to Parks gave MSU the 54-52 lead with under two minutes left in the quarter. The Spartans ended the quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 56-52.
The Spartans took control in the fourth quarter taking their biggest lead of the game, 72-61 after a pair of Joiner free throws. Winston and Clouden combined for 15 of MSU's 19 fourth-quarter points, and the Spartans went 7-for-10 from the charity stripe to seal the win.
Michigan State will now face No. 2-seeded Indiana in the quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Post-Game Notes vs. Penn State
• Junior guard Nia Clouden is the only Spartan player to start all 21 games this season ... the junior guard made her 84th career start, while playing in her 84th career game.
• Senior forward Alisia Smith made her 10th-consecutive starts in the MSU career, after she transferred to Michigan State from Penn State in the offseason ... Smith played in her 16th game for the Spartans.
• Michigan State's No. 7 seed is its highest at the Big Ten Tournament since 2017, when the Spartans came in as the sixth seed and advanced to the tournament semifinals.
• Michigan State earns its seventh win in the past 10 matchups with Penn State, although the Lady Lions continue to hold the edge in the all-time series, 30-21.
• Michigan State trailed Penn State by nine points twice in the second quarter (the latter coming at 32-23 with 7:05 left) before rallying for the win, matching MSU's largest comeback victory of the season. The Spartans trailed Purdue, 71-62 with 3:18 to play on Feb. 21 before charging back to win, 76-73.
• Michigan State posts back-to-back wins for the first time since opening the season with an 8-0 record. Since then, the Spartans have neither won nor lost more than two in a row for the past two months.
• Sophomore guard Alyza Winston registered her third career 20-point game, all this season, and her first since back-to-back 20-point outings on Dec. 9 at Minnesota (20 points) and Dec. 12 at home vs. Iowa (career-high 25 points).
• Winston made five three-pointers, one away from her career set in the Dec. 12 game against Iowa. Her total on Wednesday against Penn State also tied for the second-most triples by a Michigan State player in a Big Ten Tournament game, and most since Tori Jankoska's seven three-pointers against Maryland on March 4, 2017.
• Junior forward Tory Ozment had a career high-tying seven assists for the third time this season (first since Jan. 3 at Purdue). Ozment's total was also one off the MSU record for a Big Ten Tournament game and the most since Taryn McCutcheon had seven against Michigan on March 3, 2017.
• Sophomore forward Taiyier Parks tied her career high with three blocks tonight. She also had three blocks twice before, the last on Nov. 19, 2019, vs. Oakland.
• With 18 points, junior guard Nia Clouden moved 15th place on the MSU career scoring list with 1,211 points, passing among others, her former teammate Taryn McCutcheon and her current assistant coach Kristin Haynie (both 1,199 points).
With the win, Michigan State has now won two-straight games and improves to 14-7 overall, while Penn State ends the season with a 9-15 record.
The Spartan sophomore class scored 46 of MSU's 75 points with guard Alyza Winston leading the way with 23 points. She also added a career-high seven rebounds. Fellow sophomore Moira Joiner and Taiyier Parks added 13 and 10 points respectively. Junior guard Nia Clouden broke out of a shooting slump, scoring 18 points with four assists and seven rebounds.
With 18 points, Clouden moved 15th place on the MSU career scoring list with 1,211 points, passing among others, her former teammate Taryn McCutcheon and her current assistant coach Kristin Haynie (both 1,199 points).
Starting with three-straight 3-pointers, the Lady Lions jumped out to an early 9-5 lead. Penn State made four 3-pointers in the first five minutes to take a five-point advantage. MSU got in on the 3-point fun with a trey by Joiner to cut the PSU lead to 19-18. Shooting 45 percent in the first quarter, Penn State led after the first 10 minutes, 24-18.
MSU used a 8-0 run to claw back into it in the second quarter. After a Winston jumper, the Spartans only trailed by one, 32-31. Michigan State was able to keep the Lady Lions off the scoreboard for over three minutes as their lead evaporated. A Clouden basket tied the scored with a minute left in the half, as the half ended with the score tied at 35.
With the first bucket of the second half, the Spartans took its first lead since the first period, 37-35. From there, the Lady Lions went on a 10-0 run that was stopped by back-to-back treys by Joiner and Winston. A beautiful pass from junior guard Tory Ozment to Parks gave MSU the 54-52 lead with under two minutes left in the quarter. The Spartans ended the quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 56-52.
The Spartans took control in the fourth quarter taking their biggest lead of the game, 72-61 after a pair of Joiner free throws. Winston and Clouden combined for 15 of MSU's 19 fourth-quarter points, and the Spartans went 7-for-10 from the charity stripe to seal the win.
Michigan State will now face No. 2-seeded Indiana in the quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Post-Game Notes vs. Penn State
• Junior guard Nia Clouden is the only Spartan player to start all 21 games this season ... the junior guard made her 84th career start, while playing in her 84th career game.
• Senior forward Alisia Smith made her 10th-consecutive starts in the MSU career, after she transferred to Michigan State from Penn State in the offseason ... Smith played in her 16th game for the Spartans.
• Michigan State's No. 7 seed is its highest at the Big Ten Tournament since 2017, when the Spartans came in as the sixth seed and advanced to the tournament semifinals.
• Michigan State earns its seventh win in the past 10 matchups with Penn State, although the Lady Lions continue to hold the edge in the all-time series, 30-21.
• Michigan State trailed Penn State by nine points twice in the second quarter (the latter coming at 32-23 with 7:05 left) before rallying for the win, matching MSU's largest comeback victory of the season. The Spartans trailed Purdue, 71-62 with 3:18 to play on Feb. 21 before charging back to win, 76-73.
• Michigan State posts back-to-back wins for the first time since opening the season with an 8-0 record. Since then, the Spartans have neither won nor lost more than two in a row for the past two months.
• Sophomore guard Alyza Winston registered her third career 20-point game, all this season, and her first since back-to-back 20-point outings on Dec. 9 at Minnesota (20 points) and Dec. 12 at home vs. Iowa (career-high 25 points).
• Winston made five three-pointers, one away from her career set in the Dec. 12 game against Iowa. Her total on Wednesday against Penn State also tied for the second-most triples by a Michigan State player in a Big Ten Tournament game, and most since Tori Jankoska's seven three-pointers against Maryland on March 4, 2017.
• Junior forward Tory Ozment had a career high-tying seven assists for the third time this season (first since Jan. 3 at Purdue). Ozment's total was also one off the MSU record for a Big Ten Tournament game and the most since Taryn McCutcheon had seven against Michigan on March 3, 2017.
• Sophomore forward Taiyier Parks tied her career high with three blocks tonight. She also had three blocks twice before, the last on Nov. 19, 2019, vs. Oakland.
• With 18 points, junior guard Nia Clouden moved 15th place on the MSU career scoring list with 1,211 points, passing among others, her former teammate Taryn McCutcheon and her current assistant coach Kristin Haynie (both 1,199 points).
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