Michigan State University
11-1,0-1Big Ten
No. 15/14 Ole Miss
12-2,0-0SEC
No. 24 Michigan State Wins Cherokee Invitational With Dominating Win Over No. 15 Ole Miss
12/22/2025 11:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Spartans capture the Cherokee title for the second time in three years.
CHEROKEE, N.C. - Behind a dominating performance by senior forward Grace VanSlooten, the No. 24 Spartan women's basketball team captured the Cherokee Invitational Championship with a dominating defensive win over No. 15 Ole Miss, 66-49, on Monday.
The Spartans also won the Cherokee Invitational in 2023 with wins over Richmond and Coastal Carolina. This is the second title of the season for MSU after winning the Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas with wins over Temple and Clemson.
The win was the third over a ranked team during head coach Robyn Fralick's three seasons. It was the highest ranked win since defeating No. 3 Indiana 83-78 in 2022.
MSU has now won three-straight games and improve to 11-1 this season. Ole Miss suffered its second loss of the season falling to 12-2. The Spartans played their fifth-straight game without senior guard Theryn Hallock, who is out with an injury.
VanSlooten was all over the stat sheet with a double-double scoring 16 points and 10 rebounds, while also adding three assists and two steals. It was her second double-double of the season. Senior forward Isaline Alexander earned her first start of the season, scoring 14 points. Junior guard Rashunda Jones also reached double figures with 11 points with six rebounds.
Ole Miss was led by 13 points from Cotie McMahon.
After scoring the first four, the Spartans hit a cold spell. MSU went over two minutes without scoring, as Ole Miss took a 12-10 lead with under three minutes left in the period. Alexander's sixth point of the quarter snapped the spell. After the first 10 minutes, the teams were tied at 10.
In the second quarter, the Rebels scored the first four points of the quarter led by McMahon. After a bucket by VanSlooten, the Spartans re-took the lead 20-18. Ole Miss hit a four-minute scoring drought and were hampered by four turnovers in six minutes. A 6-0 Spartan run made it a 22-18 MSU advantage. The Rebels went the final 6:17 without a field goal and were held to eight points in the period, which was a season low. Despite free throw woes in the first half, Michigan State led at half time 26-20.
Michigan State scored the first four of the third period to take its first double-digit lead of the game 30-20. Jones nailed back-to-back treys, which were the Spartans first two of the game to make it a 38-28 game midway through the quarter. Kennedy Blair's step back trey at the buzzer helped the Spartans end the quarter on a 7-0 run with MSU leading 49-32.
VanSlooten's first 3-pointer as a Spartan gave MSU a 20-point advantage 55-35. Michigan State went over six minutes without a field goal, but was able to make free throws to keep the Rebels at bay. Despite having its lowest scoring output of the season, Michigan State also held Ole Miss to its lowest output of the year as well.
Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• No. 24/23 Michigan State knocked off No. 15/15 Ole Miss for the Spartans' highest ranked win under head coach Robyn Fralick
. . . it is the Spartans' third overall win over an AP Top 25 team in their three seasons under Coach Fralick, with all three coming in last two years after beating No. 21 Iowa (68-66, 12/15/24) and No. 24 Michigan (88-58, 1/25/25).
• Overall, it's MSU's highest ranked win since the Spartans beat No. 3 Indiana, 83-78 three years ago to the day on Dec. 29, 2022.
• By winning the 2025 Cherokee Invitational crown, Michigan State not only defended its 2023 Cherokee Invitational championship, but also collected its second tournament title of the season after winning the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship of the Junkanoo Division in the Bahamas on Nov. 30 . . . it is also MSU's fourth tournament title in the last three seasons after winning the 2023 Cherokee Invitational and the 2024 Acrisure Classic crown last season in Palm Springs, Calif.
• The Spartans improved to 11-1 with Monday's rout of the ranked Rebels, matching last year's 11-1 mark through the first 12 games of the season for the best 12-game record in the three seasons under head coach Robyn Fralick . . . MSU has now won at least 10 games through the first 12 contests in all three seasons under Coach Fralick after starting 10-2 through the first dozen games in 2023-24, the first season of the Coach Fralick era.
• Michigan State used its second different starting line-up in as many games of the Cherokee Invitational and it was the Spartans' fourth different starting line-up overall this season with junior guard Rashunda Jones, redshirt-senior forward Isaline Alexander, senior forward Grace VanSlooten, sophomore center Ines Sotelo and redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair.
• Redshirt-senior forward Isaline Alexander made her first start of the season and 22nd career start after making 19 starts in 2022-23 and two in 2023-24.
• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten, junior guard Rashunda Jones and redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair all made their 12th-straight starts, the only three Spartans to start all 12 games.
• The Rebels entered the game in the top 20 of the NCAA in scoring offense at 83.1 points per game, and the Spartans held Ole Miss 34 points below their average at 49 points on Monday.
• Monday's 49 points was the fewest scored by Ole Miss since 40 in a 69-40 loos at South Carolina on Jan. 27, 2022.
• The 49 points allowed by the Spartan defense marked the fifth game that MSU held the opposition under 50 points.
• MSU's 66 points was just its second game this season scoring under 70 points, and was the Spartans' second-fewest points scored behind 64 points in the 78-64 loss at Wisconsin (12/7/25) in Michigan State's lone loss of the season.
• The Spartans out-rebounded the Rebels, 37-32, as MSU improved to 7-0 when out-rebounding the opposition . . . Ole Miss was out-rebounded for just the second time this season and the 32 rebounds was the second-fewest rebounds by the Rebels behind the 31 boards vs. Wisconsin.
• Michigan State played its sixth-straight game away from home on Monday, as the Spartans are now 6-0 at home, 4-0 in neutral games and 1-1 in road games . . . Monday's Cherokee Invitational final concluded a season-long six-straight games away from home for MSU, as the Spartans return home to host Rutgers on Dec. 28 at the Breslin Center.
• One night after netting their second-most points in a quarter with 34 points, the Spartans were held to just 12 points Monday night in the opening quarter, a new season-low for points in the first quarter, after the previous low of 15 in the game at Wisconsin.
• Monday's halftime score of 26-20 in the Spartans' favor was season lows for the first half for both MSU and Ole Miss, with both of their previous lows coming against Wisconsin, the lone common opponent between the Spartans and Rebel, as MSU had 28 vs. the Badgers on Dec 7 in Madison, while Ole Miss had 27 vs. Wisconsin on Nov. 28 at Coast 2 Coast Classic in Daytona Beach, Florida.
• After going scoreless from distance in the first half at 0-for-2 MSU netted its first 3-pointer at 6:38 of the third quarter by junior guard Rashunda Jones
, and Jones struck again with a second-straight triple at 5:23 for back-to-back 3-pointers, and then redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair netted the Spartans' third triple of the quarter just ahead of the quarter buzzer as MSU finished the frame 3-for-3 from behind the arc . . . Michigan State was 2-of-3 in the fourth quarter, going 5-of-6 in the second half to finish the game 5-of-8 from 3-point range.
• The five 3-pointers tied MSU's season low from behind the arc, matching the five triples vs. Wisconsin (12/7/25), and was the Spartans' sixth game with single-digit 3-pointers.
• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten both took and made her first 3-pointer as a Spartan with her triple early in the fourth quarter . . . VanSlooten is now 3-of-31 in her career after going 2-for-30 during her two seasons at Oregon.
• VanSlooten posted a game-high 16 points and a game-best tying 10 rebounds to register her second double-double of the season and ninth of her MSU career, as well as the 19th double-double of her collegiate career after 10 at Oregon.
• With the 16 points, VanSlooten reached double-figures for the third game in a row and now in 11 of the 12 games this season . . . VanSlooten has netted 10 or more points in 30 of the last 31 games, including posting 10+ points in 40 of her 43 games played as a Spartan, being held to single digits twice last season and missing one game due to illness.
• Additionally, VanSlooten has now tallied double-figures scoring 91 times out of 106 career games, registering 10+ points in 55 games during her time at Oregon.
• Redshirt-senior forward Isaline Alexander notched 14 points to post double-figures for the fourth game in a row as part of the fifth time this season and 11th of her career . . . Alexander has scored 12+ points in all five outings in double-digits.
• With the 14 points and six boards on Monday, Alexander is now averaging 14.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in the last four games.
• Junior guard Rashunda Jones was the third Spartan in double-figures with 13 points, netting 10+ points in the third-consecutive game . . . Jones has scored double-digits in five of the last six games as part of the eighth total time this season.
