Thursday, November 16
East Lansing, Mich.
6:30 PM
Michigan State University
vs
Detroit Mercy
Spartans Host Detroit Mercy on Thursday
11/15/2023 10:22:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MSU is in the midst of a four-game homestand/
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball continues its four-game homestand on Thursday, Nov. 16, as the Spartans host Detroit Mercy at 6:30 p.m. at the Breslin Center. The Spartans have won their first two games of the season with victories over Oakland and Wright State. Brendan Bommorito and Derrick Mitchell will be on the call for BTN+.
• Michigan State will take on their third Horizon League team after wins against Oakland and Wright State. Detroit Mercy is 2-1 entering the contest with MSU. Overall, the Spartans leads the overall series, 24-7.
• All 12 Spartans that played against WSU scored at least one point with freshman guard Bree Robinson scoring her first collegiate points. Robinson clocked her first points with a layup 24 seconds left in the game. Fellow freshman center Mary Meng had another solid game with five points in less than seven minutes of action. In the season opener against Oakland, she scored six.
• Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann leads the Spartans in scoring, averaging 20.0 points per game, which is seventh in the Big Ten. She is also third in the league in assists, averaging 6.5 apg. She is also first in 3-point field goal percentage (.778).
• Fralick became the fourth Spartan women's basketball head coach to win their opening game as MSU head coach, joining Dominic Marino in 1975-76, who also won his opener over Oakland; Joanne P. McCallie in 2000-01 and Suzy Merchant in 2007.
SCOUTING DETROIT MERCY
Wright State comes into the meeting with Michigan State with 2-1 record after suffering its first loss of the season at Butler, 68-61, on Nov. 12. The Titans started the season with a road win against Eastern Michigan, 68-38, and then took their home opener against Chicago State, 83-48.
Paris Gilmore and Imani McNeal lead the team in scoring, both averaging 10.0 points per game. Emma Porta Trawally leads the team in rebounding with 11.0 rpg. The Titans have one Lansing native in Jaida Hampton who is a graduate transfer from SIUE. As a team, Detroit Mercy is scoring 70.7 ppg, while allowing 51.3 for a +19.3 scoring margin.
Kate Achter is in her second season as the head coach at Detroit Mercy. She holds an career record of 74-136 in eight seasons. Achter was an All-American basketball player at Bowling Green and has also coached at Loyola Chicago, St. Bonaventure and Xavier.
SERIES HISTORY VS. DETROIT MERCY
Michigan State leads the overall series with Detroit Mercy, 24-7. The Spartans have won the last 19 games in the series, leading 18-1 in East Lansing. MSU holds a 6-5 record in Detroit, while Detroit Mercy has won the only meeting in neutral territory. In 1994, the Titans topped the Spartans, 75-70 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was Detroit Mercy's last victory against MSU. Early in the series, it was all Titans with Detroit Mercy earning the first three games in the series in 1979.
Last season, Michigan State won the in-state battle, 91-41 on Dec. 18, 2022. Isaline Alexander registered Michigan State's first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Off the bench, Julia Ayrault scored a season-high 13 points, while Matilda Ekh matched Ayrault in scoring. Moira Joiner scored in double figures for the second-straight game with 11 points to round out the quartet of MSU double-figure scorers. The Spartans won the battle on the glass, 52-40.
Seven of the last eight meetings have taken place at the Breslin Center.
ISA STARTS HOT
Junior forward Isaline Alexander's 11 points against Wright State on Nov. 12 was her seventh career double-figure scoring outing, including her second straight. Alexander also added a team-high eight rebounds just two shy of her career-high of 10, which she has set three times.
LENDING A HELPING HAND
With a season-high eight assists against Wright State on Nov. 12, junior guard DeeDee Hagemann now has 290 career assists. She now stands 17th all-time in the MSU record books in career assists.
BLOCK PARTY
Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault set a new career high with five against Oakland on Nov. 8 in the season opener. Ayrault was the first Spartan with five blocks since Branndais Agee have five against Minnesota on Feb. 21, 2016.
WELCOME FRESHMEN
Against Wright State on Nov. 12, all 12 Spartans that played scored at least one point with freshman guard Bree Robinson scoring her first collegiate points. Robinson clocked her first points with a layup 24 seconds left in the game. Fellow freshman center Mary Meng had another solid game with five points in less than seven minutes of action. In the season opener against Oakland, she scored six.
WELCOME HOME, COACH
Michigan State officially tipped off the head coach Robyn Fralick era with a Nov. 8 Victory for MSU over Oakland. Fralick, a native of Okemos, Michigan, was hired as the sixth head women's basketball head coach at Michigan State on March 31, 2023. Fralick becomes the fourth Spartan women's basketball head coach to win their opening game as MSU head coach, joining Dominic Marino in 1975-76, who also won his opener over Oakland; Joanne P. McCallie in 2000-01 and Suzy Merchant in 2007.Mikki Baile lost her opener, the first game in program history in MSU's inaugural game on Jan. 30, 1973, and Karen Langeland lost her opening game as the Spartans' head coach in to open the 1976-77 season.
PLAY THE BEST TO BE THE BEST
Michigan State will play seven teams that are ranked in the preseason top 25 polls, led by No. 3/3 Iowa (Jan. 2). At the Cancun Challenge, the Spartans will take on No. 22/23 Creighton. Big Ten teams Indiana, Ohio State, Maryland, Illinois and Michigan are all ranked in at least one of the preseason polls.
SEASON OPENERS
All-time, the Spartans are 36-15 in season openers, but 29-2 when the opener is in East Lansing. The Spartans have now won 10-straight season openers after MSU's win against Oakland on Nov. 8. First-year head coach Robyn Farlick captured her first win at the helm of the Spartans with the 87-62 win over the Golden Grizzlies.
BY THE NUMBERS VS. WRIGHT STATE
• Graduate guard Julia Ayrault had another solid game, reaching double figures with 13 points off the bench. She added four rebounds and two steals in the win.
• The Spartans used their second different starting lineup with DeeDee Hagemann, Jocelyn Tate, Abbey Kimball, Moira Joiner and Isaline Alexander earning the starts. Against Oakland Julia Ayrault started for Alexander.
AROUND THE BIG TEN
Early on this season, Michigan State is fourth in the Big Ten in scoring margin (+34.5) and second in assists (24.0 apg). The Spartans are also second in the league in 3-point field goals made, averaging 10.5 per game.
Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann leads the Spartans in scoring, averaging 20.0 points per game, which is seventh in the Big Ten. She is also third in the league in assists, averaging 6.5 apg. She is also first in 3-point field goal percentage (.778). Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is first in the conference in blocks, averaging 3.5 bpg.
MEET THE NEWBIES
MSU introduces five newcomers to the team this season, including three freshmen and two transfers. The three freshmen are guard Bree Robinson (Mississauga, Ontario/Webb School), guard Kennedy Blair (Dearborn, Mich. /Divine Child) and center Mary Meng (Grafton, Ohio/Midview.)
The Spartans also added two transfers to this season's squad. Junior guard Jocelyn Tate comes to MSU from Bowling Green State University, where she averaged 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for the Falcons. Junior guard Lauren Ross has played in the Breslin Center before, transferring from Western Michigan. She was averaging 21.8 ppg for the Broncos before tearing her ACL on Jan. 11, 2023.
KIMBALL SHINES IN SEASON DEBUT
Sophomore guard Abbey Kimball tied a career-high with her 13 points against Oakland, logging her second career double-figure outing in matching her previous career-best of 13 points vs. Rutgers last season on Jan. 22, 2023. The game against Oakland was also her first career start. Kimball also netted a career-high three 3-pointers on Nov. 8, topping her previous top mark of two triples last season in same game vs. Rutgers.
HALL OF FAMER
Spartan All-American Tori Jankoska was inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 5. Jankoska was a four-time all-state player for Freeland High School from 2010-13 where she scored a Saginaw County record 2,333 career points, also good for No. 9 all-time in the state of Michigan. During her four years at MSU, Jankoska (2013-17) became the program record holder in career points (2,212), field goals made (707), 3-pointers made (320), and finished second in assists (489). She is currently an assistant coach at Virginia.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick has announced guard/forward Julia Ayrault and guard Moira Joiner as team captains, as voted on by the players on the 2023-24 women's basketball team. The duo are the first captains that Michigan State has had since the 2019-20 season, when Victoria Gaines and Taryn McCutcheon were tabbed team leaders.
Ayrault is a guard/forward graduate student from Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. She is in her fifth season with the Spartans after red-shirting the 2021-22 season with a foot injury. Ayrault has played in 77 games at Michigan State, starting 15. Last season, she played in all 30 games, averaging 3.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
Joiner is a guard, who is a graduate student from Saginaw, Michigan. She is also in her fifth season with MSU after missing much of the 2021-22 season with concussion symptoms. She has played in 95 games at Michigan State, starting 54. Joiner had a breakout campaign last season averaging 10.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
LAST TIME OUT
Behind a balanced attack, the Michigan State women's basketball team dominated Wright State, 99-55, on Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center.
With the win, the Spartans improve 2-0 this season, while Wright State falls to 0-2. This is the eighth-straight year that Michigan State has started the season 2-0.
Five different Spartans scored in double figures, led once again by junior guard DeeDee Hagemann's 17 points. She also dished a game-high eight assists. Graduate guard Moira Joiner and graduate guard/froward Julia Ayrault both added 13 points. Junior forward Isaline Alexander, who earned her first start of the season, scored 11 points and also led the team with eight boards. Senior guard Gabby Elliott was the final Spartan to reach double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds and two steals.
GUESS WHO'S BACK
Despite losing its top two leading scorers in Kamaria McDaniel (graduation) and Matilda Ekh (transfer), Michigan State welcomes back graduate guard Moira Joiner, who averaged 10.1 ppg last season. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann was fifth on the team in scoring, averaging 9.3 ppg and was sixth in the Big Ten in assists, 4.9 apg averaging apg.
LOOKING AT THE SCHEDULE
For the third-straight season, the conference will play an 18-game Big Ten schedule. MSU also played an 18-game schedule in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. The conference additionally had 18-game schedules in both 2015-16 and 2014-15.
Nine of the Spartans' 2023-24 regular-season opponents competed in the NCAA Tournament last season, including both of Michigan State's opponents in the Cancun Challenge, James Madison and Creighton. From the Big Ten portion of the schedule, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Purdue and Ohio State reached the NCAA Tournament, including the Hawkeyes advancing to the National Championship game.
HEADING SOUTH
The Spartans will play in two tournaments this season. Over Thanksgiving, Michigan State will head to the Cancun Challenge in Mexico to take on James Madison (Nov. 24) and Creighton (Nov. 25). Before breaking for the Holiday break, the Spartans will play in the Cherokee Invitational in Cherokee, North Carolina, facing Richmond (Dec. 20) and either Coastal Carolina or UT-Chattanooga (Dec. 21).
• Michigan State will take on their third Horizon League team after wins against Oakland and Wright State. Detroit Mercy is 2-1 entering the contest with MSU. Overall, the Spartans leads the overall series, 24-7.
• All 12 Spartans that played against WSU scored at least one point with freshman guard Bree Robinson scoring her first collegiate points. Robinson clocked her first points with a layup 24 seconds left in the game. Fellow freshman center Mary Meng had another solid game with five points in less than seven minutes of action. In the season opener against Oakland, she scored six.
• Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann leads the Spartans in scoring, averaging 20.0 points per game, which is seventh in the Big Ten. She is also third in the league in assists, averaging 6.5 apg. She is also first in 3-point field goal percentage (.778).
• Fralick became the fourth Spartan women's basketball head coach to win their opening game as MSU head coach, joining Dominic Marino in 1975-76, who also won his opener over Oakland; Joanne P. McCallie in 2000-01 and Suzy Merchant in 2007.
SCOUTING DETROIT MERCY
Wright State comes into the meeting with Michigan State with 2-1 record after suffering its first loss of the season at Butler, 68-61, on Nov. 12. The Titans started the season with a road win against Eastern Michigan, 68-38, and then took their home opener against Chicago State, 83-48.
Paris Gilmore and Imani McNeal lead the team in scoring, both averaging 10.0 points per game. Emma Porta Trawally leads the team in rebounding with 11.0 rpg. The Titans have one Lansing native in Jaida Hampton who is a graduate transfer from SIUE. As a team, Detroit Mercy is scoring 70.7 ppg, while allowing 51.3 for a +19.3 scoring margin.
Kate Achter is in her second season as the head coach at Detroit Mercy. She holds an career record of 74-136 in eight seasons. Achter was an All-American basketball player at Bowling Green and has also coached at Loyola Chicago, St. Bonaventure and Xavier.
SERIES HISTORY VS. DETROIT MERCY
Michigan State leads the overall series with Detroit Mercy, 24-7. The Spartans have won the last 19 games in the series, leading 18-1 in East Lansing. MSU holds a 6-5 record in Detroit, while Detroit Mercy has won the only meeting in neutral territory. In 1994, the Titans topped the Spartans, 75-70 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was Detroit Mercy's last victory against MSU. Early in the series, it was all Titans with Detroit Mercy earning the first three games in the series in 1979.
Last season, Michigan State won the in-state battle, 91-41 on Dec. 18, 2022. Isaline Alexander registered Michigan State's first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Off the bench, Julia Ayrault scored a season-high 13 points, while Matilda Ekh matched Ayrault in scoring. Moira Joiner scored in double figures for the second-straight game with 11 points to round out the quartet of MSU double-figure scorers. The Spartans won the battle on the glass, 52-40.
Seven of the last eight meetings have taken place at the Breslin Center.
ISA STARTS HOT
Junior forward Isaline Alexander's 11 points against Wright State on Nov. 12 was her seventh career double-figure scoring outing, including her second straight. Alexander also added a team-high eight rebounds just two shy of her career-high of 10, which she has set three times.
LENDING A HELPING HAND
With a season-high eight assists against Wright State on Nov. 12, junior guard DeeDee Hagemann now has 290 career assists. She now stands 17th all-time in the MSU record books in career assists.
BLOCK PARTY
Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault set a new career high with five against Oakland on Nov. 8 in the season opener. Ayrault was the first Spartan with five blocks since Branndais Agee have five against Minnesota on Feb. 21, 2016.
WELCOME FRESHMEN
Against Wright State on Nov. 12, all 12 Spartans that played scored at least one point with freshman guard Bree Robinson scoring her first collegiate points. Robinson clocked her first points with a layup 24 seconds left in the game. Fellow freshman center Mary Meng had another solid game with five points in less than seven minutes of action. In the season opener against Oakland, she scored six.
WELCOME HOME, COACH
Michigan State officially tipped off the head coach Robyn Fralick era with a Nov. 8 Victory for MSU over Oakland. Fralick, a native of Okemos, Michigan, was hired as the sixth head women's basketball head coach at Michigan State on March 31, 2023. Fralick becomes the fourth Spartan women's basketball head coach to win their opening game as MSU head coach, joining Dominic Marino in 1975-76, who also won his opener over Oakland; Joanne P. McCallie in 2000-01 and Suzy Merchant in 2007.Mikki Baile lost her opener, the first game in program history in MSU's inaugural game on Jan. 30, 1973, and Karen Langeland lost her opening game as the Spartans' head coach in to open the 1976-77 season.
PLAY THE BEST TO BE THE BEST
Michigan State will play seven teams that are ranked in the preseason top 25 polls, led by No. 3/3 Iowa (Jan. 2). At the Cancun Challenge, the Spartans will take on No. 22/23 Creighton. Big Ten teams Indiana, Ohio State, Maryland, Illinois and Michigan are all ranked in at least one of the preseason polls.
SEASON OPENERS
All-time, the Spartans are 36-15 in season openers, but 29-2 when the opener is in East Lansing. The Spartans have now won 10-straight season openers after MSU's win against Oakland on Nov. 8. First-year head coach Robyn Farlick captured her first win at the helm of the Spartans with the 87-62 win over the Golden Grizzlies.
BY THE NUMBERS VS. WRIGHT STATE
• Graduate guard Julia Ayrault had another solid game, reaching double figures with 13 points off the bench. She added four rebounds and two steals in the win.
• The Spartans used their second different starting lineup with DeeDee Hagemann, Jocelyn Tate, Abbey Kimball, Moira Joiner and Isaline Alexander earning the starts. Against Oakland Julia Ayrault started for Alexander.
AROUND THE BIG TEN
Early on this season, Michigan State is fourth in the Big Ten in scoring margin (+34.5) and second in assists (24.0 apg). The Spartans are also second in the league in 3-point field goals made, averaging 10.5 per game.
Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann leads the Spartans in scoring, averaging 20.0 points per game, which is seventh in the Big Ten. She is also third in the league in assists, averaging 6.5 apg. She is also first in 3-point field goal percentage (.778). Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault is first in the conference in blocks, averaging 3.5 bpg.
MEET THE NEWBIES
MSU introduces five newcomers to the team this season, including three freshmen and two transfers. The three freshmen are guard Bree Robinson (Mississauga, Ontario/Webb School), guard Kennedy Blair (Dearborn, Mich. /Divine Child) and center Mary Meng (Grafton, Ohio/Midview.)
The Spartans also added two transfers to this season's squad. Junior guard Jocelyn Tate comes to MSU from Bowling Green State University, where she averaged 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for the Falcons. Junior guard Lauren Ross has played in the Breslin Center before, transferring from Western Michigan. She was averaging 21.8 ppg for the Broncos before tearing her ACL on Jan. 11, 2023.
KIMBALL SHINES IN SEASON DEBUT
Sophomore guard Abbey Kimball tied a career-high with her 13 points against Oakland, logging her second career double-figure outing in matching her previous career-best of 13 points vs. Rutgers last season on Jan. 22, 2023. The game against Oakland was also her first career start. Kimball also netted a career-high three 3-pointers on Nov. 8, topping her previous top mark of two triples last season in same game vs. Rutgers.
HALL OF FAMER
Spartan All-American Tori Jankoska was inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 5. Jankoska was a four-time all-state player for Freeland High School from 2010-13 where she scored a Saginaw County record 2,333 career points, also good for No. 9 all-time in the state of Michigan. During her four years at MSU, Jankoska (2013-17) became the program record holder in career points (2,212), field goals made (707), 3-pointers made (320), and finished second in assists (489). She is currently an assistant coach at Virginia.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick has announced guard/forward Julia Ayrault and guard Moira Joiner as team captains, as voted on by the players on the 2023-24 women's basketball team. The duo are the first captains that Michigan State has had since the 2019-20 season, when Victoria Gaines and Taryn McCutcheon were tabbed team leaders.
Ayrault is a guard/forward graduate student from Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. She is in her fifth season with the Spartans after red-shirting the 2021-22 season with a foot injury. Ayrault has played in 77 games at Michigan State, starting 15. Last season, she played in all 30 games, averaging 3.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
Joiner is a guard, who is a graduate student from Saginaw, Michigan. She is also in her fifth season with MSU after missing much of the 2021-22 season with concussion symptoms. She has played in 95 games at Michigan State, starting 54. Joiner had a breakout campaign last season averaging 10.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
LAST TIME OUT
Behind a balanced attack, the Michigan State women's basketball team dominated Wright State, 99-55, on Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center.
With the win, the Spartans improve 2-0 this season, while Wright State falls to 0-2. This is the eighth-straight year that Michigan State has started the season 2-0.
Five different Spartans scored in double figures, led once again by junior guard DeeDee Hagemann's 17 points. She also dished a game-high eight assists. Graduate guard Moira Joiner and graduate guard/froward Julia Ayrault both added 13 points. Junior forward Isaline Alexander, who earned her first start of the season, scored 11 points and also led the team with eight boards. Senior guard Gabby Elliott was the final Spartan to reach double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds and two steals.
GUESS WHO'S BACK
Despite losing its top two leading scorers in Kamaria McDaniel (graduation) and Matilda Ekh (transfer), Michigan State welcomes back graduate guard Moira Joiner, who averaged 10.1 ppg last season. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann was fifth on the team in scoring, averaging 9.3 ppg and was sixth in the Big Ten in assists, 4.9 apg averaging apg.
LOOKING AT THE SCHEDULE
For the third-straight season, the conference will play an 18-game Big Ten schedule. MSU also played an 18-game schedule in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. The conference additionally had 18-game schedules in both 2015-16 and 2014-15.
Nine of the Spartans' 2023-24 regular-season opponents competed in the NCAA Tournament last season, including both of Michigan State's opponents in the Cancun Challenge, James Madison and Creighton. From the Big Ten portion of the schedule, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Purdue and Ohio State reached the NCAA Tournament, including the Hawkeyes advancing to the National Championship game.
HEADING SOUTH
The Spartans will play in two tournaments this season. Over Thanksgiving, Michigan State will head to the Cancun Challenge in Mexico to take on James Madison (Nov. 24) and Creighton (Nov. 25). Before breaking for the Holiday break, the Spartans will play in the Cherokee Invitational in Cherokee, North Carolina, facing Richmond (Dec. 20) and either Coastal Carolina or UT-Chattanooga (Dec. 21).
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