Michigan State Women Fall to No. 5/5 Ohio State in its Annual Pink Game

EAST LANSING, Mich. - In the second meeting between the teams, Michigan State fell to No. 5/5 Ohio State 86-71 in its annual Pink Game for breast cancer awareness on Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center. OSU also won the first game in Columbus, 70-65 on Jan. 14.

For the first time this season, MSU has lost two-straight games, falling to 17-7 overall and 7-6 in Big Ten action. Ohio State improves to 21-3 overall and 12-1 in the Big Ten, now standing alone in first place.

Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann became just the ninth player in MSU history to reach the 400 career assists with four helpers today. She and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault both also added 10 points. Sophomore guard Theryn Hallock led the Spartans in scoring with 18 points off the bench.

Ohio State was led by 20 points from Celeste Taylor.

After a 3-pointer by Cotie McMahon the Buckeyes jumped out to a 10-6 lead midway through the first period. The Spartans took their first lead of the game after an old-fashioned three from Hallock to go on top 13-12. Despite McMahon being out of the game with three fouls, OSU went on a 6-0 run to take a 24-17 lead with under a minute left in the quarter.

In the second quarter, Ohio State took its first double-digit lead after a Jacy Sheldon bucket to go up 30-19. OSU went on to score the first eight points of the quarter, leading to an early MSU timeout. The Spartans responded with a 7-0 run of their own to make it an eight-point contest. Ohio State would not go away using a combination of an 11-0 run and a Spartan scoring drought to open up a 49-28 lead with under minutes left in the half. MSU went over four minutes without a field goal, as the Buckeyes led 53-31 at the break.

Ohio State remained efficient on offense and stingy on defense in the third period. Ayrault and Ozment combined for eight points in the third period to lead MSU.

Michigan State continued to fight in the fourth quarter. MSU forced five turnovers in a four-minute span. The Spartans went on to end the game on a 14-0 to show their resiliency. Ohio State took as big a lead as 33 points in the fourth, but the Spartans didn't back down getting it down to 15. MSU out-scored OSU 24-11 in the final 10 minutes, led by Hallock's eight points.

After some much-needed rest, the Spartans will travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 12 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Notes
• Michigan State suffered defeat in back-to-back games for the first time this season after winning its previous four in a row. The Spartans have still won five of their last eight and 10 of their last 15 as part of 12 of the last 17, now 17-7 overall and 7-6 in B1G action.

• MSU's 71 points was its fewest in the last six games since being held to a season-low 50 points in a 69-50 loss at Minnesota.

• Sunday was just the eighth time this season that the Spartans have been held under 80 points, now 2-6 when doing so, compared to 15-1 when scoring 80 or more points.

• MSU made six 3-pointers Sunday, just the ninth game this season being held under eight 3-pointers, as MSU is 14-1 when making eight or more triples, compared to now 3-6 when making seven or less treys.

• Sunday's Spartan starting line-up of junior guard DeeDee Hagemann, sophomore guard Abbey Kimball junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, graduate guard Moira Joiner and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault was Michigan State's 15th-straight game with those five Spartans on the court for tip-off. MSU has had those five starters in 21 total games this season, now 14-7 with that starting five.

• Three Spartans scored in double-digits, marking just the sixth time that fewer than four posted double-figures ... sophomore guard Theryn Hallock led the way with 18 points off the bench, while junior guard DeeDee Hagemann and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault tallied 10 points apiece.

• Sophomore guard Theryn Hallock's team-high 18 points was her fourth-straight game in double-figures as part of the 12th time this season and 13th of her career ... the 18 points is also her third-most of the season behind a career-high 24 points vs. Purdue (1/4/24) and 21 points at Penn State (12/30/23).

• Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann's 10 points was her third game in a row in double-digits points, posting her 16th double-figure scoring outing of the season and 38th of her career.

• Hagemann dished out a team-high four assists, which put her over the 400-career assists mark, now with 403, becoming the ninth player in MSU program history to reach the 400-career assists plateau, and vaulting to tie for No. 7 on the Spartans' career assists list with Tamika Matlock (1995-97) with 403 helpers, passing Brittney Thomas (2007-11) with 401 assists.

• Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault's 10 points was her sixth-straight game with double-digits in the scoring column, tying her season and career-long for consecutive games in double-figures, matching six in a row from Dec. 17, 2023 - Jan. 9, 2024.

• Ayrault now has 18 double-digit scoring outings this season and 31 for her career.

• Ayrault now has 363 points this season, maintaining the Spartans' scoring lead this season, just ahead of fellow graduate, guard Moira Joiner, who is at 356 points on the season.

• With the 363 points, Ayrault needs just 71 more points to equal the combined sum of her previous three seasons in a Spartan uniform, as she had a combined 434 points in the 2019-23 seasons.

• Ayrault added one block for her 53rd block of the season and 124th of her career.

• The 53 blocks are the most by a Spartan in a single-season since 2009-10 when Allyssa DeHaan had 101 rejections ... now with 53 blocks, Ayrault has moved up to tie for the No. 6 spot on MSU's single-season blocks list, matching Kristen Rasmussen (1999-2000) with 53 rejections.

• Ayrault's 124 blocks is at No. 5 on MSU's career blocks list, just 10 shy of the No. 4 spot held by Kelli Roehrig (2001-05) with 134 blocks.

• Ayrault led MSU with a game-high tying seven rebounds, as she has snared five or more rebounds in six of the last seven contests, as part of 18 games this season with five or more boards.

• Graduate guard Moira Joiner netted nine points, marking just the second time in the 24 games that she has been held to single-digits ... Joiner made a pair of 3-pointers for her 15th game this season with multiple triples.

• Joiner's two treys gives her 59 3-pointers for the season, needing just nine more 3-pointers to crack the top 10 of MSU's single-season 3-pointers list, as Tori Jankoska (2014-15) and Lindsay Bowen (2005-06) co-hold the No. 9 spot with 68 3-pointers.

• Joiner now has 186 career 3-pointers, now just 14 away from becoming the fifth player in Spartan women's basketball history with 200 career triples.

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Team Stats

Theryn Hallock

DeeDee Hagemann

Julia Ayrault

Moira Joiner

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

DeeDee Hagemann

Theryn Hallock

Moira Joiner

Abbey Kimball

Jocelyn Tate