Balanced Attack Helps No. 24 MSU Past Youngstown State Wednesday

EAST LANSING, Mich. - On Breslin Boom Night, the No. 24 Michigan State women's basketball team brought the boom with 12 3-pointers, en route to 96-52 win over Youngstown State on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center.

Celebrating the student section, aptly named the Breslin Boom, the Spartans now improve to 3-0 this season. The Penguins suffer their first loss of the season, falling to 2-1.

For the third-straight game, the Spartans had at least four players reach double figures led by a game-high 17 points and six rebounds from senior forward Grace VanSlooten. Off the bench, senior guard Emma Shumate tied her season high with 14 points, going 4-for-5 from long range. Senior guards Theryn Hallock and Jalyn Brown both added 11 points. Despite early foul trouble, redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair ended with eight points, five assists and a career-high four steals.

The Spartans used a 7-0 run in the first quarter to take an 11-4 lead. Shumate gave Michigan State its first double-digit lead 16-6 with her third trey of the quarter. At the end of the first period, Shumate led all scorers with nine points. Michigan State led at the end of the quarter 15-12.

Michigan State scored the first six points of the second quarter, leading to an early Penguin timeout. Shumate's putback at the 7:58 mark gave the Spartans their first 20-point advantage 33-13.Youngstown State fought back, using a 8-0 run to make it a 33-21 game. The run was stopped by a Hallock 3-pointer followed by a Amy Terrian trey. MSU retaliated with a 12-0 run of its own, while the Penguins went 4:33 without scoring. MSU led at the break 45-23.

MSU went 2:59 without scoring before a VanSlooten layup broke the spell and put MSU back on top 54-30 at the 5:36 mark. An old-fashioned three by Blair gave MSU the palindromic lead of 63-36 with under three minutes left in the quarter. VanSlooten led all scorers with nine points in the period.

In the fourth quarter, the Spartans turned up the defensive pressure forcing five turnovers in 3:52. In the final 10 minutes, the Penguins turned the ball over seven times and 27 for the game. The Green and White went on top by 40 points 88-48 after a Brown free throw with 3:20 remaining. The final basket of the game fittingly was a trey by Shumate to give MSU its biggest lead of the game, 44 points.

The Spartans will continue its six-game homestand to start the season against Western Michigan on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 2 p.m.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• Wednesday night was the first-ever meeting on the hardwood between Michigan State and Youngstown State women's basketball programs.

• YSU assistant coach Courtney Davidson is a Spartan women's basketball alum, when she was a Spartan from 2004-08 and was part of MSU's National Championship game team, helping the Spartans to the NCAA Tournament Championship game in the 2004-05 season . . . this was Davidson's second time back on campus in just over a month she along with her 2004-05 Spartan teammates, were recognized for the 20-year anniversary during MSU's Homecoming football game on Oct. 11.

• The Spartans have scored 90+ points in their first three games for the second-straight year under head coach Robyn Fralick . . . MSU has now scored 90 or more 21 times under Coach Fralick, now with three in 2025-26 after six in 2024-25 and 12 in 2023-25 . . . the Spartans improved to 20-1 under Coach Fralick when scoring 90+ points, with the lone loss coming in a 94-91 loss at No. 14/13 Indiana on Feb. 8, 2024.

• There were three palindrome scores in Wednesday's game, 52-25 at the 7:24 mark in the third quarter on a free throw by senior forward Grace VanSlooten, 63-36 at 2:36 of the third quarter on a 3-point play by redshirt-sophomore Kennedy Blair, and 84-48 at 4:17 of the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by senior guard Abbey Kimball.

• All 12 Spartans to see the court not only scored, but everyone tallied at least three points . . . four MSU players posted double-figures, as the Spartan have had at least four score 10+ points in all three games this season.

• Of the 12 players to score, six Spartans netted at least one 3-pointer, led by Shumate's four triples, while Hallock netted three and Kimball tallied two, along with one each by senior forward Marah Dykstra, and the freshman guard twindom of Amy and Anna Terrian.

• Michigan State netted a total of 12 3-pointers Tuesday, as the Spartans have netted double-digits in two of the three games with a season-high 13 points in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst.

• MSU pulled down 36 rebounds Wednesday night, as the Spartans have snared 30+ rebounds in all three games this season . . . three MSU players grabbed five or more boards, led by VanSlooten's game-high tying six boards followed by five each by Dykstra and Blair.

• The Spartans swiped 17 steals Wednesday night, as they now have 15+ steals in all three games.

• With her game-high 17 points Wednesday night, senior forward Grace VanSlooten has registered double-figures in the scoring column in 22-straight games, as part of tallying 10+ points in 32 of her last 34 games played as a Spartan, after missing one game due to illness last season and held to single digits twice . . . for her collegiate career, VanSlooten has now tallied double-figures scoring 84 times out of 97 career games, registering 10+ points in 52 games during her time at Oregon.

• Senior guard Emma Shumate has netted multiple 3-pointers in all three games this season as Wednesday's four triples tied her season-high from the Mercyhurst game along with two treys last game vs. Eastern Michigan.

• Shumate's 14 points was her second double-figure outing of the season and fifth for her Spartan career.

• Senior guard Theryn Hallock tallied 11 points, as she's now scored in double-digits in all three games this season as part of her 44th career game with 10+ points.

• Hallock netted a season-high three triples, bouncing back from not making any 3-pointers last time out.

• Senior guard Jalyn Brown has notched double-figures in all three games after 11 points Wednesday night.

• With three steals Wednesday night, Brown has incrementally increased her steals in each game this season, with one in the season-opener, two steals in game two and three on Wednesday.

• Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals . . . the four steals was a new career-high for Blair, topping her previous career-best of three steals, done three previous times, most recently in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst.

• Blair tied her season-high with the five rebounds, while the five assists marked her third game with four or more helpers.

• Junior guard Rashunda Jones dished out a season-high seven assists Wednesday night . . . Jones has dished out three or more assists in all three games.

• Dykstra has increased her scoring in each game, moving up from four in the season-opener to six vs. Eastern Michigan to a season-high eight on Wednesday.

Balanced Attack Helps No. 24 MSU Past Youngstown State Wednesday

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Team Stats

Grace VanSlooten

Emma Shumate

Theryn Hallock

Jalyn Brown

Players Mentioned

Kennedy Blair

Jalyn Brown

Marah Dykstra

Theryn Hallock

Rashunda Jones

Abbey Kimball

Emma Shumate

Amy Terrian

Anna Terrian

Grace VanSlooten