No. 22/19 Maryland Stops No. 12/13 Michigan State Wednesday

Wednesday, February 4

East Lansing, Mich.

6:30 PM

Michigan State University

19-4,8-4Big Ten

No. 22/19 Maryland

18-6,6-6Big Ten

Maryland

Michigan St.

No. 22/19 Maryland Stops No. 12/13 Michigan State Wednesday

2/4/2026 10:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score UMD 86, MSU 70 25 26 MSU WBB Combined Post-Game Quotes

Senior forward Grace VanSlooten leads the Spartans with 19 points.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - No. 12/13 Michigan State women's basketball fell to No. 22/19 Maryland on Wednesday, 86-70, on National Girls and Women in Sports Day at the Breslin Center.

For the first time this season, the Spartans have lost two-straight games falling to 19-4 overall and 8-4 in Big Ten action. Maryland improves to 18-6 overall and 6-6 in league contests. The Terrapins snapped a four-game losing streak with the win

Michigan State was led by a solid performance from senior forward Grace VanSlooten, who scored 19 points to go along with nine rebounds. She also tied her career high with blocks and added three steals. Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair scored 15 points with seven assists. Senior guard Jalyn Brown was the third Spartan in double figures with 13 points.

Maryland was led by 23 points from Oluchi Okananwa.

The Spartans were plagued with early turnover problems, as Maryland took an early 8-4 lead. A Brown layup at the 1:29 mark cut the Spartan deficit to 20-17. The Spartans got some strong minutes from senior forward Marah Dykstra, who scored five minutes in the first period. At the end of the first period, the game was knotted 20-20.

In the second quarter, Michigan State used an 8-0 run to take a 28-22 lead, forcing a Maryland timeout at the 6:46 mark. The Terps responded with a 7-0 run of their own to re-take the lead 29-28. An Emma Shumate trey halted a string of eight-straight points for Maryland to make it a 37-33 game. The Terps ended the first half strong, leading MSU 43-33.

Maryland remained in control in the third quarter taking a 56-42 lead after a Saylor Poffenbarger basket midway through the period. The Terrapins retained a double-digit lead for much all of the period, as the Spartans couldn't cut into the lead. VanSlooten and Shumate led the way with six points each.

In the fourth quarter, Michigan State continued to battle, but Maryland seemed to always have a reply. The Spartans got as close as 11 points after a VanSlooten old-fashioned three-point play with 2:54 left. But Okananwa responded with four-straight points to keep the Terps in control.

With 20 unforced errors, this was just the second time this season that MSU had at least 20 turnovers with the season high of 22 coming against Ole Miss on Dec. 22

The Spartans will now hit the road to take on Penn State on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. on B1G+.

Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes

• After winning its previous 10 home games this season and 13-straight home games dating back to last year, Michigan State has lost two home games in a row for the first time this season, and is now 10-2 at home this season, along with 5-2 in true road games and 4-0 in neutral court games.

• Wednesday was just the eighth time this season that the Spartans have been held under 80 points, including the fourth time at home, compared to scoring 80 or more points in 15 games, including seven times at home . . . MSU is now 5-3 when being held under 80 points.

• Michigan State started the same starting five for the ninth-straight game and 10th total time, with the feature five of junior guard Rashunda Jones, sophomore center Ines Sotelo, senior forward Grace VanSlooten, redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair and senior guard Jalyn Brown . . . it marks the Spartans' fifth different starting line-up of the season . . . Michigan State is now 7-3 with that starting five.

• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten, junior guard Rashunda Jones and redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair all made their 23rd-straight starts, remaining the only three Spartans to start all 23 contests.

• Senior forward Grace VanSlooten netted a team-high 19 points to lead MSU in scoring, marking the eighth time this season that she has led or shared the team lead in scoring, and MSU is now 6-2 when VanSlooten is top scorer.

• VanSlooten finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday's game . . . VanSlooten now has 169 points and 82 rebounds in the last 10 games, since being held to eight points and four rebounds vs. Rutgers (12/28/25) . . . VanSlooten is now averaging 16.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game over the last 10 outings, as part of averaging 15.3 ppg and 6.4 rpg for the season.

• With VanSlooten's 19 points Wednesday, the senior forward has posted double figures in the scoring column 21 times out of the 23 games this season . . . VanSlooten has netted double-digit points in 40 of the last 43 games . . . in her time as a Spartan, VanSlooten now has posted 10+ points in 50 of 54 total games played for the Green & White, being held to single digits twice this season and twice last season, and also missing one game last season due to illness.

• Wednesday's 19 points was VanSlooten's 105th game of her collegiate career logging double-digits, and she's now scored in double-figures in 105 out of the 117 career games, logging 10+ points in 55 games during her time at Oregon.

• With the nine rebounds, VanSlooten has snared seven or more boards in four of the last five games . . . VanSlooten has pulled down five of more boards 16 times out of the 23 games this season, including doing so in eight of the last 10 contests and nine of the last 12.

• The nine rebounds from VanSlooten was the second time in the last four games that she's missed a double-double by one rebound, with 16 points and nine boards vs. USC (1/22/26), and the third total time, also with 16 points and nine rebounds vs. Ole Miss (12/22/25).

• VanSlooten also swatted a season-high and career-best tying four blocks . . . the four rejections topped her previous season-high of three blocks vs. Western Michigan (11/16/25), while tying her career high for the fourth time of her career, last doing so last season vs. Michigan (2/9/25).

• VanSlooten also swiped three steals, marking the third time out of the last four games to swipe three steals, also with three takeaways vs. USC (1/22/26) and at Purdue (1/26/26) . . . it was VanSlooten's fifth game in the last seven outings and 12th total game with multiple steals this season.

• Redshirt-junior guard Kennedy Blair tallied 15 points, for her fourth-straight game in double-figures, after being held to a season-low tying four points at Iowa (1/18/26), which snapped her career-long streak of six-straight games with 10+ points.

• With the 15 points, Blair has registered 10+ points in 10 of the last 11 contests as part of 14 of the last 16 games . . . overall, it was Blair's 17th game this season in double-figure scoring and the 21st of her career.

• Blair also dished out a game-high seven assists, marking the second game out of the last three contests with seven helpers . . . Wednesday was Blair's 20th game with four of more assists this season . . . MSU is 17-3 when she distributes four or more assists.

• Now with 126 assists on the season, Blair is just 19 assists from reaching the Spartans' Top 10 Single-Season Assists list, as Nia Clouden (2021-22) has the No. 10 spot with 145 helpers.

• Blair's current average of 5.4 assists per game, is tied for No. 6 on MSU's Single-Season Assists Per Game list, matching Taryn McCutcheon (2017-18), while just behind Deb Traxinger (1979-80) at No. 5 with 5.5 apg.

• Senior guard Jalyn Brown tallied 13 points, netting 10 points in the first half alone . . . Wednesday was Brown's third double-figure scoring outing in a row as part of posting 10+ points in five of the last seven games . . . overall, Brown recorded double-digits in the scoring column for the 12th time this season.

• Senior guard Emma Shumate netted three 3-pointers for the third-straight game after not making a 3-pointer vs. USC (1/22/26), as Shumate is yet to go back-to-back games without a triple . . . the Spartan sniper shooter is 9-of-16 behind the arc in the last three games, good for 56.3 percent from distance.

• Shumate has made at least one 3-pointer in 20 of the 23 games, including making multiple triples in 16 out of the 23 games, including nine of the last 13 games.

• With three 3-pointers Thursday night, Shumate now has 50 triples on the season as part of 54 total field goals . . . Shumate's 50 3-pointers this season continues her top single-single mark of her career, topping the 44 treys last season . . . Shumate now has 94 3-pointers during her two-year Spartan career and 134 total 3-pointers in her collegiate career after 40 during her two seasons at Ohio State.

• Shumate's 50 3-pointers is just 19 shy of cracking the Top 10 of MSU's single-season 3-pointers list, as Matilda Ekh currently has the No. 9 and 10 spots with 69 3-pointers in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.

• The Spartan sharp-shooter Shumate's current 3-point percentage of 44.6 percent (50-of-112) is currently No. 2 on MSU's single-season 3-pointers list, trailing Lindsay Bowen (2002-03) at 46.4 percent (77-of-166) and just ahead of Moira Joiner (2023-24) at 44.2 percent (80-of-181) . . . Shumate also currently holds the tied for No. 7 spot at 40.0 percent (44-of-110) from last season, matching Eileen Shea (1989-90) at 40.0 percent (50-of-125).

• Shumate also added one steal, giving her five swipes in the last two games after a career-high four steals last time out vs. Michigan (2/1/26) and has 10 steals in the last six games (1.7 spg over that span).