Stalwart Defense Pushes MSU Women Past Northwestern Sunday

EAST LANSING, Mich. - With dominating defense and timely shooting, the Michigan State women's basketball team earned a 65-46 win over Northwestern Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center.

The Spartans earned the win with associate head coach Dean Lockwood at the helm, as head coach Suzy Merchant missed the game in COVID-19 protocols.

Michigan State improves to 9-8 this season and 3-3 in Big Ten play, while Northwestern falls to 11-5 overall and 3-2 in league contests. MSU halted a three-game losing streak against NU.

The Spartans had three players in double figures led by senior guard Nia Clouden who scored 19 points to go along with four assists, three steals and three rebounds. Freshman Matilda Ekh reached double figures for the 10th time this season with 18 points and tied her career-high with four steals. She also gave MSU an emotional surge, taking five charges. Junior forward Taiyier Parks scored in double figures for the fourth-straight game with 10 points and eight boards.

MSU was able to hold Northwestern's leading scorer Veronica Burton to only nine points.

Clouden got things going early for the Spartans hitting back-to-back treys to give MSU the early 6-2 lead. Neither team found the shooting touch early on, but Michigan State used a 6-0 run to run its lead to 14-8 with less than two minutes left in the quarter. The Wildcats scored the final five points of the period to trim it to a 14-13 Spartan advantage.

In the second quarter, the Spartan offense started cold going over three minutes without scoring. A long-distance 3-pointer from Clouden broke the cold spell at the 19-19 ties, as MSU went up 22-19. Both teams suffered from the turnover bug in the second quarter, with both teams suffering four. With time expiring in the half, Clouden somehow found Ekh, who nailed the 3-pointer to give MSU the half time lead, 27-25.

The Spartans scored the first nine points of the second half to opened up a 36-25 advantage. Clouden drained her fourth trey of the game to keep the double-digit lead, 39-27 with 5:15 on the clock. Northwestern did not go away, scoring the final six points of the third quarter, leaving MSU holding on to a 48-41 lead.

MSU pulled away in the fourth quarter, holding Northwestern to only five points in the period. Michigan State forced four turnovers over a 4:27 span to maintain control of the game in the fourth quarter. Ekh also provided more sharp-shooting from long distance, hitting three in the final 10 minutes.

Closed out the game with an 11-0 run, allowing only five points in the fourth quarter to the Wildcats.

Michigan State will return to the road to take on No. 6/5 Indian on Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.

Post-Game Notes vs. Northwestern

The 27 first-half points were just shy of the least scored in the first half this season for MSU. Against Illinois, the Spartans only scored 26 in the first 20 minutes of action.
MSU moves to 45-29 all-time against Northwestern, topped off by a 26-9 record when playing at home … The last time the Spartans allowed 46 points or less from the Wildcats was also at home (2/20/13) when Michigan State won by a 54-45 margin.
By only allowing Northwestern to score 46 points, the Spartans tie for the least points allowed from a Big Ten opponent since a 68-46 win against Indiana (12/28/17) in Bloomington.
The Spartans have held opponents to single-digit scoring quarters six times this season. This is the second time Michigan State has held a Big Ten competitor to less than ten in a quarter, the first since Illinois' nine-point fourth quarter (12/9/21).
Michigan State has tallied 20 points or more in a quarter 30 times this season and in four straight games, most recently recording over 20 points in the first, third and fourth quarter at Ohio State (1/12/22).
Today's victory marks Michigan State's first win over Northwestern since 2019, and by the largest margin of victory since an 81-51 win in East Lansing (1/3/18). Head Coach Suzy Merchant holds a 14-7 all-time record against the Wildcats.
With 19 points, Senior guard Nia Clouden now has 1,643 career points. She is just the sixth person with 1,600 career points, closing in on the No. 6 spot of 1,649 points held by Allyssa DeHaan. Clouden is still No. 8 in all-time Spartan assists with 394, passing Eileen Shea (382) and Kim Archer (381). She is seven assists away from tying Brittney Thomas (2007-11). Clouden joins Tori Jankoska as the only MSU players to finish their careers in the top 10 in scoring and assists.
Freshman guard/forward Matilda Ekh took five charges in the win against Northwestern. For the game, she scored 18 points, going 6-for-10 from beyond the arc. She also added four assists and four steals, which ties her career high.
Michigan State went 11-for-23 from the 3-point line, which was good for 47.8 percent. This is just the fourth-time this season that MSU has reach double figures in treys, going 3-1 in those contests.

Stalwart Defense Pushes MSU Women Past Northwestern Sunday

Players Mentioned

Nia Clouden

Matilda Ekh

Taiyier Parks

Players Mentioned

Nia Clouden

Matilda Ekh

Taiyier Parks