No. 24/19 Spartans Stop Illinois, 81-75, on Alumni Day

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair's 19 points helped guide the No. 24/19 Michigan State women's basketball team to an 81-75 win over Illinois at the Breslin Center on Sunday on Alumni Day.

At half time, MSU alumni from several decades were honored and introduced.

The Spartans have now won six-straight games to improve to 14-1 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten contests. Illinois had its 11-game winning streak snapped, falling to 13-2 overall and 3-1 in league play. The Fighting Illini suffered their first conference loss of the season. The Spartans are off to their best start since the 2010-11 season, when MSU opened the season 16-1.

Michigan State had four players in double figures led by Blair's 19 points. She also added nine rebounds and seven assists, going 11-for-12 from the charity stripe. Senior forward Grace VanSlooten and junior guard Rashunda Jones both scored 15 points. Jones was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the second half. Senior guard Emma Shumate scored 11 points off the bench, tying her career high with three blocks.

Illinois was led by 22 points by both Berry Wallace and Maddie Webber.

The win was head coach Robyn Fralick's 250th career victory, while she has won 58 in her three seasons at Michigan State.

The teams exchanged baskets early on with VanSlooten scoring the first six points for Michigan State. A Jones trey put the Spartans on top 11-8 with just under five minutes left in the quarter. The Spartans jumped out to a 23-15 lead before a Berry buzzer beater at the end of the quarter made it a 23-18 game. VanSlooten and Wallace both ended the first quarter with eight points apiece.

In the second quarter, the Illini scored the first six of the period to take a 24-23 lead. MSU responded with a 9-0 run of its own over 1:51 to go ahead 32-24, leading to an Illinois timeout. Another Shumate trey gave the Spartans a 37-29 advantage with 3:02 left in the half. MSU took its first double-digit lead after an old-fashioned 3-point play by VanSlooten. The Spartans led at the break 44-32 with VanSlooten leading all scorers with 15 points.

Wallace kept the Illini in the game in the third quarter with 10 points in the period. Michigan State led by as many as many as 15 points after a Jones jumper with 4:04 remaining in the third period. The Illini continued to claw at the Spartan advantage, scoring the final five points of the period. MSU held on to a 58-50 lead, heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

Illinois scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to cut it to a 58-55 deficit with 8:19 remaining. Sophomore guard Juliann Woodard came off the bench and nailed a 3-pointer to put MSU ahead by six. Despite going over two minutes without a field goal, the Spartans were able to make their free throws and re-establish the 10-point lead 68-58. Once again, the Illini weren't done yet, chipping away at the MSU lead. With 11 seconds left, a Cearah Parchment hit a jumper to get Illinois within two, 77-75. Jones and Blair helped MSU go 14-for-15 from the free throw line in the fourth to seal the Victory for MSU.

The Spartans will now hit the road for a pair of games in the Pacific Northwest. Michigan State will take on Washington on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. ET and end the trip at Oregon on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 5 p.m. ET. Both games will be on B1G+.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes
• With the win against Illinois, Michigan State head coach Robyn Fralick earned her 250th career win. She has won 58 games in her three seasons at the helm of the Spartans. She won 88 games at Bowling Green and 104 at Ashland University.

• The Spartans snapped the Illini's 11-game winning streak. Overall, Michigan State improved to 49-30 against Illinois, including three straight. Under Fralick, MSU is 3-0 against the Illini.

• MSU cracked the 80-point mark for the second-straight game after scoring 80 on the road against Indiana. The Spartans had been held to under 80 points in its two previous games, scoring 70 against Rutgers on Dec. 28 and 66 against Ole Miss on Dec. 22.Michigan State has now scored at least 80 points 11 times this season, going 10-0 in those games.

• The Spartans registered a season-high nine blocks against Illinois. That total including a season-high three blocks from both Ines Sotelo and Emma Shumate. Three blocks tied the career high for both Sotelo and Shumate. Kennedy Blair, Jalyn Brown and Juliann Woodard also added to the Spartans' to block count.

• After struggling from the free throw line, Michigan State has now had two-straight games over 80 percent from the charity stripe. Against Indiana, the Spartan shot 87.5 percent (14-for-16). Against Illinois, MSU was 84 percent from the free throw line (21-for-25), including going 18-for-21 in the second half.

• For the second-straight game, Michigan State went with the starting line up redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair, junior guard Rashunda Jones, senior guard Jalyn Brown, sophomore center Ines Sotelo and senior forward Grace VanSlooten. This lineup is 2-0. Blair, Jones and VanSlooten are the only Spartans to start all 15 games this season.

• With 15 points, junior guard Rashunda Jones has now scored in double figures for six-straight games. Overall in 15 games as a Spartan, she has reached double figures 11 times.

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Team Stats

Kennedy Blair

Rashunda Jones

Grace VanSlooten

Emma Shumate

Players Mentioned

Kennedy Blair

Jalyn Brown

Rashunda Jones

Emma Shumate

Grace VanSlooten

Juliann Woodard