Frenzied Fourth-Quarter Comeback Not Enough as MSU Falls to Nebraska in B1G Opener

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Trailing by 17 with under three minutes to go, the Michigan State women's basketball teams' frantic comeback fell just short, falling in their Big Ten opener to Nebraska 80-74 at the Breslin Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans had their two-game winning streak halted and fall to 7-2 and 0-1 in Big Ten play. The Cornhuskers improve to 8-2 over all and 1-0 in league contests.

The comeback was fueled in part by the fourth-quarter performance of sophomore guard Theryn Hallock who scored nine points with two assists, two steals and a block in the final 10 minutes. For the game, Hallock matched her career with 17 points, which was set last week against Miami (Ohio). Graduate guard Moira Joiner was the only other Spartan in double figures, scoring a team-leading 18 points with four rebounds and three steals.

Nebraska was led by Alexis Markowski who scored 13 points and added 17 rebounds in the win.

After MSU scored the first two points of the game, Nebraska responded scoring with the next seven. The Spartans went over three minutes without a field goal before an Tory Ozment trey broke the cold spell. The first quarter was a back-and forth affair with neither team by more than five points. Kendall Coley's 3-pointer as time expired put the Huskers back on top 21-19 at the end of the period.

Nebraska scored the first five points of the second quarter to take a 26-19 lead, leading to a Michigan State timeout. Michigan State responded with a 6-0 run over 54 seconds to cut the deficit to three points. The Huskers would not stop though taking their first double digit lead 36-25 after an 8-0 run of their own. Michigan State battled its way back by forcing four turnovers in a four minute span. Coley hit another jumper with time expiring to make it a 43-39 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Michigan State struggled to find offense. The Spartans went nearly three minutes without a field goal, as Nebraska re-gained its double-figure advantage. A Joiner second-chance basket with 42 seconds got the made it a 60-52 game, heading into the fourth quarter.

It looked like the Huskers were going to run away with it in the fourth period, but the Spartans showed some fight. An Abbey Kimball fast break 3-pointer cut the lead to nine with 48 seconds remaining. As MSU kept chipping away, the deficit got down to four points after 3-point play from Hallock with 11 seconds remaining. Jaz Shelley was able to put away free throws to seal the win.

The Spartans will conclude their three-game homestand, facing Central Michigan on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. The Chippewas are coached by former Michigan State All-American and assistant coach Kristin Haynie.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• Michigan State forced 24 Nebraska turnovers, which is a season-high for the Cornhuskers, topping their previous high of 17 miscues, and Nebraska entered Saturday's game third in the Big Ten in fewest turnovers with 94 turnovers in their previous eight games, averaging 11.75 turnovers per game, and the Spartan defense forced 10 Husker turnovers in the first half alone.

• The 24 turnovers forced was MSU's seventh game this season creating 18 or more turnovers by the opposition as part of the fifth game with 20+ miscues, including the second-straight game after a season-high 29 last time out vs. Miami (Ohio) (12/3/23), and joining 25 each in back-to-back games vs. Detroit Mercy (11/16/23) and Evansville (11/19/23) and 21 vs. Oakland in the season-opener (11/8/23).

• MSU ended with 12 steals, the Spartans' second-straight game with double-figure steals as part of the sixth total time this season.

• Both of the Spartans' losses this season have come against teams from the state of Nebraska, after an 83-69 loss to Creighton (11/24/23) in Cancun, and Saturday's loss to the Huskers.

• With a game-high 18 points, graduate guard Moira Joiner has scored in double-figures in all nine contests of this season, as part of 11-straight games going back to the 2022-23 season, and in 12 of her last 13 games, now doing so in 38 career games.

• Sophomore guard Theryn Hallock has set or tied a career-high scoring outing in the last three games, matching her career-best of 17 points on Saturday, tying last outing vs. Miami (Ohio) (12/3/23), which topped her earlier career-best of 14 points vs. DePaul (11/30/23).

• Hallock also tied a career-high and matched her jersey number with four steals in back-to-back, after just two steals in the previous seven games, with one each vs. Wright State (11/12/23) and Evansville (11/19/23).

• Additionally, Hallock dished out four assists, and now has three or more helpers in five of the nine games this season.

• Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault dished out a career-high tying five assists, marking the second time this season, joining vs. Detroit Mercy (11/16/23) and the third time in her career.

• Ayrault also pulled down a team-high tying six rebounds, as she has five or more boards in seven of the nine games played ... it was also the fourth game this season that Ayrault led or shared the team lead for rebounding.

• Redshirt-junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate matched Ayrault with six rebounds, as Tate tied her season-high with six boards, with both coming in the last three games, matching six vs. DePaul (11/30/23) ... Saturday was the second game this season that Tate has led or shared the team lead on the glass.

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Team Stats

Moira Joiner

Theryn Hallock

Tory Ozment

Julia Ayrault

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Theryn Hallock

Moira Joiner

Abbey Kimball

Tory Ozment

Jocelyn Tate