Second-Half Comeback Sparks No. 13 Spartans Past Penn State

Saturday, February 7

University Park, Pa.

1 PM

Michigan State University

20-4,9-4Big Ten

Penn State

8-16,1-12Big Ten

Michigan St.

Penn St.

Second-Half Comeback Sparks No. 13 Spartans Past Penn State

2/7/2026 4:38:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score MSU 81, PSU 70 25 26 MSU WBB Combined

Michigan State earns its 20th win of the season

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Despite trailing by as many as 16 points in the second quarter, the No. 13 Michigan State women's basketball team battled back to defeat Penn State, 81-70, Saturday afternoon at Rec Hall.

The Spartans halted a two-game losing streak and improved to 20-4 overall and 9-4 in Big Ten play. Michigan State has now reached the 20-point mark in all three seasons under head coach Robyn Fralick. Penn State falls to 8-16 overall and 1-12 in conference play.

The Spartans had four players in double figures led by 20 points and 14 rebounds from senior forward Grace VanSlooten. It was her fifth double-double of the season. Senior guard Jalyn Brown scored 16 points, while junior guard Rashunda Jones added 14 points and five assists. Redshirt-sophomore guard Kennedy Blair scored 12 points with seven boards, despite early foul trouble. Freshman guard Amy Terrian was the true spark plug for MSU going 3-for-5 from long range for nine points off the bench.

Penn State was led by a career-high 37 points from Kiyomi McMiller.

Behind 10 quick points from McMiller, Penn State jumped out to an early 15-9 lead with under six minutes left in the first quarter. The run jumped to 12-0 as the Spartans went 4:01 without scoring. With 16 points in the first period, the Lady Lions led 28-13. VanSlooten and Blair led the way for MSU in the first 10 minutes with four points each.

Michigan State scored the first six of the second period to trim the deficit to 28-19 at the 8:51 mark. As the Spartans hit a cold spell, Penn State used a 6-0 run to re-establish a 39-27 lead with under four minutes left in the half. PSU took its biggest lead of the game 16 points at the 1:32 mark after a pair of McMiller free throws. The Spartans were able to hold the Lady Lions with no field goals for the final 3:05. VanSlooten led MSU with 11 first-half points, as the Spartans trailed 45-33 at the half.

MSU couldn't get going from beyond the arc for much of the game and were unable to tighten the gap. Amy Terrian got MSU going hitting just the Spartans' third trey of the game to make it a single-digit game 52-43. Three-straight Terrian 3-pointers made it a one-point deficit, using a 13-0 run over 3:16. A VanSlooten 3-point play gave MSU its first lead since the seven-minute mark of the first quarter, 54-52. Michigan State ended the quarter on a 16-0 run. MSU out-scored Penn State 21-7 in the period.

Once the Spartans took the lead they never looked back. In the fourth quarter, the Spartans took their first double-digit lead after an old-fashioned 3-pointer from Jones to take a 75-64 lead. Jones scored 12 of her 14 points in the fourth period, including going 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.

Michigan State now returns home to the friendly confines of the Breslin Center to take on No. 2 UCLA on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. on Peacock.