Michigan State University Athletics
Post-Game Quotes: Northwestern
2/18/2026 10:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Robyn Fralick
Opening Statement...
Really proud of our group. Obviously, a special night with it being Senior Night and an opportunity for them to all impact the game. One of the themes we've had this week is get the train back on the tracks. We felt like we needed to get back to just basic things and do it better. For the most part, I didn't love our third quarter, but I thought we played with a better urgency through 40 minutes.
On the performance of Sara Sambolić...
She was awesome. 13 points, 6 assists, no turnovers. (Caroline) Lau for them (Northwestern) is one of the best passers in the country. When you watch them on film, she's really good. If somebody is open, she finds them. I thought Sara did a great job of just making it hard for her to get it and making it hard for her to initiate offense. I feel like she really set the tone and credit to her. I told her you can't get ready when you're called on; you have to be ready. She was called on and was more than ready.
On the impact of Marah Dykstra this season...
Marah is just a winner. I feel like she's just a kid who, on every team she has been on, finds ways to win because she does all of the invisible things. She's a great teammate. She's a mature competitor. Whatever role we've asked her to do, she's done it with a great attitude and the right mindset. She's somebody whose way of working never changes. That first one, I think she banked in, so she let the gates open to start. I was proud of her. Called upon, she was ready to go. Joining us for one year, something that can be very much said about her is that whatever team she's on is a winning team."
On Grace VanSlooten's performance tonight...
She was really tough, good, and assertive. Something we've been talking about as a group is just moving it. Let's make the game easier for each other. I thought we did a good job of moving it, and when she did get it, she got in spots where there was less help. She was assertive at the basket. I loved her rebounding. Going into this game, a big emphasis we had was get extra shots. Let's get on the glass. I thought her physical impact on the game was really good.
Thoughts on scoring 100 and every senior having their own impact...
I love that. Abbey Kimball, to make her 3 right before she checked out, she's just a Spartan. As we know, her role has changed. She's been a captain. She's just one of those kids that I've seen her maturity, just so much growth during her time here. So for me, that was extra special for her to hit that shot right before the end of the game and be able to be celebrated. They all had an impact. We've counted on them a lot. I'm up there celebrating, but I'm also like, that's a lot of points and rebounds. The class has a unique story. We have two 1-year players, two 2-year players, and then two 4-year players. Together, they've been able to make a big impact here at Michigan State. This season, some of the things we've been able to do, that group has been instrumental in it.
On the specific group of seniors and their impact on the culture of the team…Â
That's what we've been talking about- we've been in a challenging part of our schedule, and to not lose focus of the special season we're having: what we have done and what we can do. Some things that haven't been done in a long time. In this new era it's unique because it used to be- senior day was all for your players, now it's for your players for two years to one year, and yet this group has found a way to really come together and to appreciate each other, to rely on each other. Something we've learned is that we, this team, when we're at our best really need each other. Tonight I thought that we played that way.Â
On how the team got back into action after a difficult stretch of games…Â
Just back to the basics. Like, let's get back to the get stops. Let's get back to feeling something about getting a defensive stop and sharing the ball. Usually, you know, when we get in the season there's a lot of nuance to every game, but the message for today was, let's just play really hard. We've played a lot of basketball this year. There's things we know, there's coverages. We know we can do these things, but let's play really hard. As a staff too, we've stripped it back a little bit, and let's get back to the rudimentary of what it takes to be successful.Â
On how the team played today and how they can transfer it to more difficult games…Â
We had to share this with our team too, the sky is not falling. When you're playing- we're playing top-10 teams in the country. So some of that is just, the game is just harder, but we can play better. We've got to take some of the things that we took from today and be able to carry that over. Matchups are hard and there's different challenges in our league. Night-in and night-out, what that challenge looks like is a little bit different, but there's definitely just some fundamental things that we can carry over. I do laugh a little bit when everyone thinks the sky's falling. I'm like, 'we can play better.' We're playing really good teams, so we're getting challenged and we've got to make sure that we're learning from that."
 On only having five turnovers…Â
I didn't even notice that. You know what? I got on Kennedy 'cause one of them was one of those skyrocket turnovers that I saw way too many times at Michigan where we just threw the ball. I remember that one because I actually brought her over and was like, 'we've got to stop.' That reminds me of the second quarter of Michigan where we were just throwing the ball away from each other, so five is very good. One of them I know we should not have done.
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