MSU Women’s Basketball Battles to Overtime Win over Penn State

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball captured its first overtime win of the season with an 81-75 victory over Penn State Sunday afternoon on 4-H Day at the Breslin Center.

The Spartans improved to 13-12 overall and 5-9 in Big Ten action. Penn State dropped to 13-12 overall and 4-10 in league play. This is MSU's first overtime win after losing Big Ten overtime battles to Purdue, Wisconsin and Iowa. All four overtime games have come at the Breslin Center.

After scoring only two points last time out at Wisconsin, sophomore guard/forward Matilda Ekh led Michigan State with 21 points, going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Senior forward Taiyier Parks had her second-straight double-digit scoring performance with 15 points and eight boards. Sophomore guard DeeDee Hagemann scored 16 points and added a game-high eight assists.

Penn State was led by a game-high 22 points from Makenna Marisa.

Michigan State played their fifth-straight game without head coach Suzy Merchant, who missed the game due to a medical incident. As acting head coach, Dean Lockwood captured his second-straight win.

MSU jumped out to an early 12-8 lead due in part to sharp shooting from beyond the arc. The fast-paced quarter ended with the score tied at 17. In the first period, the Spartans were 5-for-10 from long range. Ekh lead the charge with six points off of two made treys.

The Spartans scored the first five points of the second quarter to take a 22-17 advantage. The run stretched to 9-0 before the Lady Lions responded with an 11-0 run of their own to take the lady 28-26. Parks scored the last seven points of the half for the Spartans, as they headed into the locker room with a slight 34-31 advantage. She led all scorers with nine points in the first half, while Ekh added eight.

Michigan State scored 10 of the first 12 points to take is first double-digit lead, 44-33, as Penn State took its first time out of the third quarter. A 10-0 Lady Lions run got the game back to single digits with under two minutes remaining in the period. Penn State eventually ended the quarter scoring 12-straight to get within one point, heading to the final 10 minutes of regulation.

The fourth quarter was a back and forth affair. Overall, the game had 11 lead changes, but in the final quarter neither team took more than a four-point advantage. After a Kamaria McDaniel layup put MSU up 60-56 at the 5:32 mark, Penn State came roaring back. Marisa put the Lady Lions in the lead with a bucket with 3:08 remaining. With eight second left and the Spartans leading by one, Leilani Kapinus split a pair of free throws to send the game to overtime.

In extra time, the Lady Lions led until the 1:53 mark when Ekh made a pair of free throws. From that point, the Spartans took control. Michigan State went a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line to come out with the win.

Michigan State returns to the road to take on Purdue on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes: vs. Penn State

• Michigan State played its fourth overtime game of the season on Sunday, with all four coming in home contests ... MSU improved to 1-3 in OT games after losing to Purdue, 76-71, on Dec. 5; to Wisconsin, 84-80, on Jan. 11; and to No. 10/9 Iowa, 84-81, on Jan. 18.

• The Spartans have won two in a row, posting their third winning streak of the season after a six-game win streak to open the season (Nov. 7-19), then a four-game win streak to overlap the calendar flip (Dec. 18-Jan. 2).

• Michigan State went with the starting five of sophomore guard DeeDee Hagemann, graduate guard Kamaria McDaniel, sophomore guard/forward Matilda Ekh, sophomore forward Isaline Alexander and senior guard Moira Joiner for the sixth-straight game, and MSU is now 3-3 with that starting line-up to start the contest ... overall, it was one of MSU's seven different line-ups this season.

• Sophomore guard/forward Matilda Ekh netted 21 points, including draining five 3-pointers ... the 21 points tied Ekh's season-high and her most at home, as she matched her season-best of 21 at Northwestern (1/2/23) ... the five treys tied her most in a B1G game for the third time this season, also doing so in back-to-back games at Northwestern (1/2/23) and at Maryland (1/7/23), and was one shy of her career-high of six triples, done once this season vs. Western Michigan (11/13/22) as part of three total times of her career.

• Ekh's 21 points was her fourth 20-point outing of the season and eighth of her career, as part of her 17th double-figure contest and 36th career double-digit scoring outing.

Players Mentioned

Isaline Alexander

Matilda Ekh

DeeDee Hagemann

Moira Joiner

Kamaria McDaniel

Taiyier Parks