Win Over DePaul Gives Spartan Women's Basketball Best Start in Program History

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball had a record-setting day en route to defeating DePaul, 89-61, Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center. With the win, the Spartans improved to 9-0, which is their best start in program history.

Prior to the game, MSU head coach Robyn Fralick honored graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault and junior forward Grace VanSlooten for both scoring 1,000 career points. Both reached the 1,000-point plateau at the Acrisure Classic last week.

The accolades didn't end there as Michigan State broke the school record for blocks in a game with 14, which was previously 13 set by the 2006 team against Indiana. Seven players had at least one block in the game, led by a game-high four blocks from VanSlooten.

For the first time this season, graduate guard Jaddan Simmons led the Spartans in scoring with 18 points to go along with five assists and three steals. Ayrault had her second-straight double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds to go along with a season-high five assists. Sophomore guard Emma Shumate had a breakout performance with 12 points, going 4-for-8 from the beyond the arc. She also tied her career high with three blocks. Senior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate was the final Spartan in double figures with 10 points.

DePaul was led by 15 points from Jorie Allen and Grace Carstensen. Allen is the sister of former Spartan standout Jenna Allen.

The Spartans scored the first six points of the game, before the MSU offense went cold. After the media timeout, Michigan State responded with a 9-0 run to take its first double-digit lead 20-8. Both teams were prone to turnovers in the first quarter with six for MSU and six for DePaul. Ayrault led all scorers with five points in the first 10 minutes of action.

In the second quarter, the Spartans scored six points over 29 seconds to push the lead to 30-15 after a trey by Shumate. The Spartans went over four minutes without a field goal before a Nyla Hampton put back with under 20 seconds in the period. Despite the drought, Michigan State entered the locker room with a 42-25 advantage. The MSU defense kept the Blue Demons from scoring the final 4:08 of the half. Coming off the bench, Theryn Hallock led MSU with seven points in the first half.

A steal and a score by Ayrault gave Michigan State its first 20-point lead 52-31 at the 4:47 mark of the third quarter. Hallock followed that up with a basket to give extend the lead to 23 points. The third quarter was the closest with the Spartans only out-scoring the Blue Demons, 19-17.

Michigan State maintained control throughout the fourth quarter, continuing its strong outside shooting. The 133-pointers were the most in a game this season. A 6-0 run made its 83-52, giving MSU its first 30-point advantage with 4:20 remaining.

The Spartans will play their final home game of 2024 on Sunday, Dec. 18, taking on No. 17/20 Iowa at Noon. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• Michigan State is 9-0 not only for the first time under head coach Robyn Fralick, but also the best start to a season in program history, bettering the previous best starts of 8-0 in the 2012-13 and 2020-21 seasons, before losing their ninth game those two seasons.

• The Spartans also swatted a school-record 14 blocks on Sunday, topping the previous school record and Breslin Center record of 13 set on Dec. 28, 2006 vs. Indiana in a 74-49 Victory for MSU at home.

• MSU has won its last 14 regular-season games dating back to last year, finishing with five-straight wins in 2023-24 and opening this season 9-0 . . . the 14-game regular-season win streak is MSU's longest since winning 14 regular-season games in a row during the 2010-11 season.

• MSU improved to 5-0 all-time vs. DePaul, including 2-0 at East Lansing, as Sunday's meeting was the first match-up between the Spartans and Blue Demons since 2002.

• Michigan State netted a season-high 13 3-pointers on Sunday, topping the previous top mark of the season of 11 treys in the season-opener vs. Oakland (11/5/24). The 13 triples was the third time in double-digit 3-pointers, along with 10 vs. Eastern Kentucky (11/14/24) . . . additionally, the 13 3-pointers was MSU's most since making 14 last season vs. Rutgers on Feb. 24, 2024.

• MSU's 26 3-point attempts on Sunday was the second-most of the season behind 29 at Western Michigan (11/17/24).

• Sunday's Spartan starting line-up 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 MSU's first game with that starting five . . . it was Michigan State's fifth different starting line-up of the season.

• MSU had four players in double-figure scoring, marking the fifth game this season when four score 10+ points.

• Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault posted her second-straight double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds . . . it was her third double-double of the season, all coming in the last four games . . . in addition to her third double-double of the season, it was Ayrault's eighth of her career . . . the 12 rebounds matched her season-high for the second outing in as many games after 12 points vs. Vanderbilt (11/27/24) with her season-high 24 points.

• Over her last five games, Ayrault is averaging a double-double with 19.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, with 97 total points and 51 total rebounds over that span.

• With the 17 points, Ayrault has scored double-digits in all eight games played this season, after missing the Detroit Mercy game (12/20/24) with an injury . . . Ayrault has now scored double-figures in the last 21 games played as part of in 32 of her last 37 games played since the start of the 2023-24 season . . . overall, Ayrault logged her 48th career game in double-figures and the Spartans are now 27-11 when nets 10+ points.

• Ayrault also tied a season-high by netting three 3-pointers for the second-straight game with three triples vs. Vanderbilt (11/27/24) and was her third game this season with multiple treys, with all three coming in the last three games after two 3-pointers in the win over California (11/26/24).

• Graduate guard Jaddan Simmons netted a season-high and game-best 18 points . . . it was her second double-digit scoring outing of the season, both coming in the last four games after her previous season-best of 15 points vs. Detroit Mercy (12/20/24) ... Simmons drained a season-high three 3-pointers, for her second game with not just a 3-pointer, but multiple triples, as she only had two 3-pointers on the season coming into Sunday, both coming in the Detroit Mercy game.

• Junior guard Emma Shumate registered a season-high 12 points for her first game in double-figure scoring this season after topping her previous season-best of eight points vs. Detroit Mercy (12/20/24) . . . it was Shumate's third double-digit scoring outing of her career, with two last season during her time at Ohio State.

• Shumate drained a season-high four 3-pointers, doubling her previous high of two triples, done twice, last vs. Detroit Mercy, to post her third multiple triple outing of the season . . . it was Shumate's 13th career game with multiple 3-pointers, after 10 during her time at Ohio State (two in 2022-23, eight in 2023-24).

• Shumate also registered a new season-high and career-best tying three blocks, marking the third time in her career she's posted three blocks, last doing so her freshman season at Ohio State, vs. Indiana (3/4/23) in the B1G Tournament.

• Junior forward Grace VanSlooten swatted a game-best four blocks, matching her season-high for the second-straight game after four blocks last time out vs. Vanderbilt (11/27/24), and also the third time of her career with four blocks.

• Freshman center Ines Sotelo snared a season-high six rebounds and also tallied a season-high three blocks, and her first game with multiple blocks, as she had just two total rejections on the season coming into Sunday's contest.

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Team Stats

Jaddan Simmons

Julia Ayrault

Emma Shumate

Jocelyn Tate

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Theryn Hallock

Nyla Hampton

Emma Shumate

Jaddan Simmons

Jocelyn Tate

Grace VanSlooten