Michigan State University
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Eastern Illinois
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No. 22 MSU Uses Season-High 13 Treys in Win over Eastern Illinois
11/20/2025 10:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Sophomore guard Juliann Woodard tied her career high with 17 points.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 22 Michigan State women's basketball topped the century mark for the second time this season, as the Spartans nearly doubled up Eastern Illinois, 101-53 on Thursday night at the Breslin Center.
With the win, the Spartans improve to 5-0 this season for the eighth-straight season. The Panthers fall to 0-4 this season.
Senior forward Grace VanSlooten and sophomore guard Juliann Woodard led the Spartans in scoring with 17 points each. Woodard scored 14 of her 17 in the fourth quarter going a perfect 4-for-4 from long range. She also added a career-high seven rebounds. Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair had a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with eight points. She is the first Spartan to bring down 15 boards since Julia Ayrault on Nov. 23, 2023. Off the bench, Jalyn Brown was the third MSU player in double figures with 14 points.
Eastern Illinois was led by 16 points off the bench from Abbie Boutilier.
MSU tied a season high 13 3-pointers in the win, as well as bringing down a season-high 43 rebounds. This is the second time this season that Michigan State has scored over 100 points, defeated Mercyhurst 125-39.
Michigan State scored seven of the first nine points of the game, leading to an early EIU timeout. The Panthers cut it to a 17-13 game with under three minutes left in the period before a Brown 3-pointer stopped the push. By going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc, Eastern Illinois was able to keep the game close. MSU forced eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes, scoring 12 points off of turnovers. After 10 minutes, MSU lead 25-19.
In the second quarter, MSU took its first double-digit lead of the game 30-19 after a pair of Theryn Hallock free throws. The Spartans scored the first nine points of the period to take a 34-21 lead. An Isaline Alexander free throw gave MSU the palindromic lead 42-24 with under three minutes left in the half. VanSlooten led all scorers with 14 points in the first half, as MSU led after 20 minutes 45-28.
Michigan State scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and despite going over three minutes without a field goal held a 55-30 advantage. The Spartan offense came to life later in the quarter with 3-pointers from senior guard Emma Shumate and sophomore guard Juliann Woodard. MSU ended the period on a 7-0 run to take a 72-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Spartan bench took care of business in the fourth quarter, scoring 27 of MSU's 29 points in the period. MSU used a 15-2 run over 3:30 to go up 92-45. Outside of Woodard's 14 fourth quarter points, senior guard Abbey Kimball also had a solid final 10 minutes, scoring eight points. All 12 of the Spartans that played scored at least two points. Ten different players had at least one rebound in the game.
The Spartans conclude its six-game homestand to start the season against Oakland on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m.
Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• With Thursday's game against Eastern Illinois was MSU's second-straight game and third in the last four contests against a directional school opponent after playing Western Michigan last time out (11/16/25) and also playing Eastern Michigan (11/9/25) . . . the Spartans have two more confirmed games along with another possible game against a directional opponent, in possibly playing Western Carolina on Nov. 30 in the second game at the Baha Mar Hoops in Nassau, Bahamas, based on both team's outcome in the opening game . . . MSU is scheduled to play Big Ten Conference foes Southern California (1/2/26) and Northwestern (2/18/26).
• MSU's 101 points Thursday night marked the Spartans' fifth game in as many contests this season in scoring 90+ points . . . it marks the first time in program history that MSU has scored 90 or more points in the first five games of the season . . . last season, the Spartans scored 90+ points in the first four games, but only 79 points in game five, finishing the year with six total games scoring 90+ points, as this year's MSU squad is just one game from tying that mark.
• The Spartans have now netted 90+ points a total of 23 times under Coach Fralick, now with five in the 2025-26 season after six in 2024-25 and 12 in 2023-24 . . . MSU improved to 22-1 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.
• MSU scored 20+ points in all four quarters for the third time out of the five games this season, also doing so in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst (11/4/25) and vs. Youngstown State (11/12/25).
• Thursday was only the second-ever meeting between Michigan State and Eastern Illinois, and the first meeting between MSU and EIU since 2004, as the Spartans beat the Panthers, 85-45, on Dec. 9, 2004 in East Lansing.
• After having at least four players score in double-figures in the first four games, the Spartans had only three players in double-figures for the first time this season . . . senior forward Grace VanSlooten and sophomore forward Juliann Woodard both netted 17 points apiece, while senior forward Jalyn Brown tallied 14 points.
• Following a season-low six 3-pointers last time out vs. Western Michigan (11/16/25), the Spartans drained a season-high 13 treys Thursday night . . . the 13 triples matches the season-high from the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst (11/4/25) . . . it is MSU's third game with 10+ 3-pointers, as along with the two outings with 13 triples, the Spartans had 12 3-pointers vs. Youngstown State (11/12/25) . . . MSU has alternated between a game with double-digit treys and a game with single-digit 3-pointers through the first five games.
• The Spartans were a palindromic 13-of-31 from 3-point range, as the 31 attempts behind the arc was also a season-high, topping the previous season-best of 28 from the opening game vs. Mercyhurst.
• Michigan State also pulled down a season-high 43 rebounds, bettering the prior top mark of 39 boards, also from the Mercyhurst game . . . the Spartans had a +16 rebounding advantage at 43-27.
• MSU had a player in double-figure rebounds for the first time this season with 15 boards from redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair on Thursday night . . . Blair is the first Spartan player with 15 or more rebounds since former Spartan great Julia Ayrault has 15 boards, nearly two years to the day, on Nov. 23, 2023, vs. James Madison.
• The Spartans swiped 20 steals Thursday for their second game this season with 20+ steals . . . MSU has snagged 15+ steals in all five games this season.
• MSU came into Thursday leading the B1G and ranking fifth in the NCAA in steals per game with 18.3 spg, and the Spartans topped that season average with their 20 swipes.
• Michigan State also entered Thursday's contest leading both the B1G and the NCAA in assists per game at 27.5 apg, and the Spartans were right at that average with 27 helpers Thursday . . . MSU has distributed 20+ helpers in all five games, with 23 assists vs. Eastern Michigan (11/9/25) the season-low.
• With the six turnovers, MSU has had single-digit turnovers in three of the five games this season, after just three miscues in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst, and four last time out vs. Western Michigan.
• Along with only committing six turnovers, the MSU defense forced 27 miscues by Eastern Illinois for a +21 turnover margin, as the Spartans also came into Thursday's contest leading the conference and the country in turnover margin at +21.75 . . . the 27 turnovers marked Michigan State's fifth time in as many games this season to force 25+ turnovers by the opposition.
• The Spartans' 59 points scored by their bench was more than Eastern Illinois' entire team scoring of 53 points . . . Thursday marked the second time that MSU's bench out-scored the opposition's total points, as the Spartan reserves also out-scored Mercyhurst, 55-39 in the season-opener in the 125-39 Victory for MSU.
• Sophomore forward Juliann Woodard team and game-high tying 17 points and senior guard Jalyn Brown's 14 points led the way for the Spartan bench-point scoring, while senior forward Isaline Alexander added nine points and senior guard Abbey Kimball added eight.
• Of the 12 Spartans to see the court Thursday night, all 12 scored, including nine or more scoring 6+ points.
• A total of 15 of Woodard's 17 points came on 3-point shooting, going 5-of-6 for a new career-high behind the arc . . . Woodard's top 3-point shooting comes against teams with Eastern in their name, as her top 3-point outing this season came against Eastern Michigan with one trey, while her previous career best was four 3-pointers, set vs. Eastern Kentucky nearly one year ago to the day, on Nov. 14, 2024, as Woodard was just in her fourth game back from a season-ending knee injury sustained last season on Jan. 22, 2025.
• Woodard's five 3-pointers tied the most by a Spartan so far this season, matching freshman guard Amy Terrian's five triples in the season-opener vs. Mercyhurst.
• A total of six different Spartans made at least one 3-pointer Thursday, tying the season-high for the third time this season, as six Spartans also drained triples in the Eastern Michigan (11/9/25) and Youngstown State (11/12/25) games . . . MSU has had five or more five different players make treys in all five games this season, with five Spartans making 3-pointers in both the Mercyhurst (11/4/25) and Western Michigan (11/16/25) games.
• With Thursday's game, VanSlooten has now scored double-figures in all five contests this season as part of 24-straight games with 10+ points, netting double-digits in 34 of her last 36 games played as a Spartan, being held to single digits twice last season, and she also missed one game due to illness . . . for her collegiate career, VanSlooten has now tallied double-figures scoring 86 times out of 99 career games, registering 10+ points in 54 games during her time at Oregon.
• VanSlooten also swatted a team-high and game-best tying two shots Thursday, marking her second-straight game with multiple rejections after three blocks last time out . . . VanSlooten now has seven blocks in her last two games after not registering a rejection in the first three contests of the season.
• The Spartan forward also swiped a game-high tying four steals, as she now has four or more steals in three of the five games this season.
• Senior forward Jalyn Brown's 14 points was her fourth game in double-figures out of the five so far, with last game's six points her only single-digit outing thus far this season.
• Along with being the first Spartan with 15+ rebounds since 2023, redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair's 15 boards were a new career-high, registering a career-best for the second-straight game after eight boards last time out vs. Western Michigan (11/16/25).
• Blair was also two points shy of a double-double, tallying eight points Thursday . . . she was two rebounds and two assists shy of a triple-double last time out vs. WMU with 14 points, eight boards and eight helpers.
• Blair shared top honors on the team in steals with VanSlooten, as Blair's four steals Thursday tied her season-high from four steals vs. Youngstown State (11/12/25) and was her fourth game with three or more swipes this season.
• Junior guard Rashunda Jones dished out a game-high six assists, marking the third time this season, all coming in the last four games, that Jones has led the team in assists . . . Jones has dished out three or more helpers in all five contests, including five or more in the three games in which she lead the team's distribution.
