Fourth-Quarter Comeback Falls Short as No. 15/17 MSU Women Suffer First Loss of the Season

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - No. 15/17 Michigan State women's basketball suffered its first loss of the season to RV/No. 24 Alabama, 82-67, at the West Palm Beach Classic on Friday evening at Rubin Arena.

With the loss, the Spartans fall to 11-1 this season. Alabama improves to 11-1 with the victory.

Michigan State had three players in double figures led by 18 points and two steals by graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault. Junior forward Grace VanSlooten was just shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Off the bench, junior guard Theryn Hallock14 points with two steals. She scored nine of her 14 points in the fourth quarter alone.

The Spartan defense once again stood tall, forcing 29 turnovers after causing Montana to turnover the ball 30 times on Thursday.

Alabama had five players in double figures led by 18 points fro Aaliyah Nye.

The Spartans forced four early Crimson Tide turnovers to jump out to an early 4-0 lead. Both teams struggled from the field early on, both starting 1-for-7. Alabama used a 7-0 to take a 7-4 lead. VanSlooten scored six of Michigan State's eight points in the low-scoring quarter, as the Tide lead 9-8 after the first period.

The pace picked up in the second quarter, as both offenses got going. Five-straight points from Ayrault tied the score at 19-19 with under six minutes left in the half. A 6-0 Michigan State spurt put the Spartans back on top 22-19 with 5:05 left in the half. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the period. Despite the Saprtans going the final 3:08 without a field goal, and Alabama led at the half 32-30.

In the third quarter, Alabama opened up a 52-36 lead with a 14-0 run. A pair of Jocelyn Tate free throws stopped the run. The Tide continued to be strong from beyond the arc, hitting four alone in the third quarter. For the game, Alabama was 9-for-21 from long range. The Tide out-scored the Spartans 31-11 in the third period to take a substantial, 63-41, lead, which was MSU's biggest deficit of the season.

The Spartans scored the first six points of the fourth quarter and continued to battle. A 7-0 run made it a 65-54 game. A pair of Ayrault free throw made it an eight-point game with 2:58 remaining, but Alabama used a 6-0 run to put the game away.

The Spartans will now take a break for the holidays before returning to action against No. 8/8 Maryland on Sunday, Dec. 29 at 1 p.m. in College Park, Maryland.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• Michigan State suffered its first loss of the season, halting the best unbeaten start in program history, as the 11-0 start topped the previous best starts of 8-0 in the 2012-13 and 2020-21 seasons, before losing their ninth game those two seasons.

• Now at 11-1, the 2024-25 Spartan squad is tied for MSU's best record through 12 games, and first since 2018-19 when the Spartans were also 11-1 through 12 games . . . overall it is the sixth time in program history that Michigan State has started 11-1, joining 2018-19, 2012-13, 2010-11, 2004-05 and 1973-74.

• The Spartans had their 11-game win streak halted that was MSU's longest win streak in the same season since Michigan State won 14 in a row in 2010-11.

• With the Spartan women ranked No. 15 in the AP Top 25 poll and the MSU men ranked No. 20, Michigan State is one of three Big Ten teams to have both its women's and men's programs in the AP Top 25, joining UCLA and Michigan, and one of nine in the NCAA, along with UConn, Duke, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Kentucky.

• The Spartans' 22-point deficit at the end of the third quarter was their largest of the season, topping the previous biggest deficit of 16 points in the comeback win over Cal (11/26/24).

• Michigan State's defense held Alabama to nine points in the first quarter, marking its second-straight game with at least one single-digit scoring after holding Montana under 10 points in the second and third quarters . . . MSU has now registered at least one single-digit scoring in nine of the 12 games, and the Spartans have stymied the opposition to single-digit scoring in 14 quarters out of the 48 total quarters played through 12 games.

• By holding Alabama to nine points in the first quarter, it was a season low in a quarter for the Crimson Tide, as it was their first time held to single digits in a quarter this season . . . their previous season low was 13 in the third quarter in a win vs Louisiana-Monroe (11/17/24) and 13 in first quarter in a loss at California (12/5/24).

• Michigan State's 37.7 percent field goal shooting was its second-lowest of the season behind 35.7 percent in the win over California (11/26/24), and its 23.1 percent 3-point shooting was also its second-lowest of the season behind 22.7 percent in Thursday's win over Montana . . . Alabama's 48.3 field goal percentage and 42.9 3-point percentage were both season-highs by an MSU opponent.

• The Spartan defense forced 29 Alabama turnovers, marking the second-straight game in forcing the opposition into 25+ turnovers after 30 on Thursday vs. Montana . . . it was MSU's seventh game this season in forcing 25+ turnovers.

• After going to the free throw line a season-low 13 times Thursday, Michigan State had 10 free throw attempts in the first half alone on Friday, going 8-of-10 at the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes . . . MSU finished the day 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) . . . MSU's 78.3 percent was its second-straight game and fourth overall game this season shooting 75.0 percent or better after 76.9 percent (10-of-13) Thursday vs. Montana.

• The MSU starting five in Friday's game of graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault, graduate guard Nyla Hampton, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons, junior forward Grace VanSlooten and senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate was the Spartans' fourth game in a row with that starting five after debuting it last week vs. DePaul . . . it is Michigan State's fifth different starting line-up of the season.

• With her game-high 18 points, Ayrault has recorded double-figures in the scoring column in all 11 games played this season, as she missed the Detroit Mercy game (12/20/24) with an injury . . . she has posted double-figures in her last 24 games in a row, as part of in 35 of her last 40 games played since the start of the 2023-24 season . . . Ayrault posted 10+ points in her 51st career game and the Spartans are now 39-12 when Ayrault scores in double-figures.

• Friday's 18 points continues Ayrault's hot streak, as she is averaging 18.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game over her last eight games played, with 149 points and 62 rebounds over that span.

• The 18 points gives Ayrault 1,094 for her career, moving up to No. 27 on MSU's career scoring list, passing Bella Engen (1994-98) with 1,088 points for the No. 27 spot and just four shy of Jenna Allen (2015-19) at 1,098 points at the No. 26 spot.

• With five boards on Friday, Ayrault now has 607 rebounds for her career, just 22 shy of cracking into MSU's Top 20 career rebounding list, as Lil Preston (1980-83) has 639 rebounds at the No. 20 spot.

• Junior guard Theryn Hallock, last season's Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year, came off the bench for the fourth game in a row and posted 14 points to help MSU to a 16-8 bench point scoring edge.

• By netting 10 points, VanSlooten has registered 10+ points in 10 of her 11 games played this season after missing the Eastern Michigan game (11/11/24) due to illness . . . VanSlooten now has netted double-digits in 62 career games after netting 10+ points in 52 games while at Oregon.

• VanSlooten led MSU with a game-best nine rebounds, marking the sixth time this season that she's led the Spartans on the glass . . . the nine boards is VanSlooten's 10th outing in 11 games played with five or more rebounds, bouncing back from a season-low two rebounds Thursday vs. Montana . . . VanSlooten now has nine games with seven or more rebounds.

• Additionally, Tate led MSU with three assists and three steals . . . it marked the first time in her Spartan career leading the team in helpers.

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Theryn Hallock

Nyla Hampton

Jaddan Simmons

Jocelyn Tate

Grace VanSlooten