Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann with her second double-double of the season to lead Spartans to second-straight season sweep.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Michigan State women's basketball captured the series sweep against Purdue with a 68-59 win over Purdue on Wednesday evening at Mackey Arena. The Spartans had five players in double figures in the win.Michigan State has now won two-straight games after earning series sweeps over Michigan and Purdue following Sunday's Victory for MSU at Michigan. The Spartans improve to 19-7 overall and 9-6 in Big Ten play. Purdue falls to 11-15 overall and 4-11 in league action.
The Michigan State bench once again led the way with 29 bench points. Sophomore guard Theryn Hallock topped MSU with 16 points, going 4-for-6 from long range. Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann and graduate guard/forward Tory Ozment both scored 13 points. Hagemann set a new career high with 11 assists to register her second double-double, both coming in the state of Indiana after her first double-double with 19 points and 10 assists at Indiana on Feb. 8. Graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault scored 12 points, while adding a game-high five blocks. Graduate guard Moira Joiner also added 10 points.
The Spartan offense started cold, missing their first four shots before a Joiner trey got them on the board. Both teams struggled early on as the game was tied 6-6 at the media time out with 4:10 left in the first quarter. MSU used a 9-0 run and kept the Boilermakers off the scoreboard for over four minutes to take a 10-6 lead. After 10 minutes, Michigan State was on top, 16-9.
In the second quarter, the Boilermakers scored six of the first eight of the period. But MSU countered with a spurt of its own and took its first double-digit lead at 29-19 after a Hallock trey. The Spartans ended the half on a 6-0 run to lead at the break, 35-21. Hallock led the Spartans with 11 first-half points, going a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Michigan State cooled off early in the third quarter, while Purdue used a 7-0 run near the end of the third quarter to trim the Spartan lead to 10 points, 42-32. MSU went over five minutes without scoring, before a pair of Ozment free throws broke the streak. A long pass from Ayrault to Hallock as time expired put MSU back up by double digits at 46-36, heading in to the fourth period, as Purdue out-scored Michigan State 15-11 in the quarter to close the gap.
The Spartans took as big a lead as 15 points in the fourth quarter, before the Boilermakers went on an 11-0 run to make it a 60-56 game with under two minutes remaining. Ozment once again came up big for the Spartans to stop the Boilermaker streak with 1:35 to go, and Ayrault adding a bucket with 45 seconds left for a 64-56 advantage. After Purdue's Sophie Swanson hit a 3-pointer with 42 ticks, Hagemann went 4-for-4 at the free throw line in the last 20 seconds to secure the Victory for MSU.
Michigan State will now return home to the friendly confines of the Breslin Center to take on Rutgers on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 2 p.m.
Michigan State Women's Basketball Post-Game Notes: at Purdue
• With Wednesday's win, Michigan State improved to 19-7 overall, MSU's most wins since 21 victories in the 2018-19 season
• Michigan State won not just its second-straight game, but completed its second-straight sweep, after winning game two of the season series with Michigan with the Victory for MSU in Ann Arbor Sunday, coupled with Wednesday night's win at Purdue, completing the season sweep over the Boilermakers.
• By winning both regular-season meetings with Purdue this year after the 97-70 win over the Boilermakers on Jan. 24, the Spartans swept the season series for the second time in the last four seasons, also doing so in 2020-21 season, which was also the last season that MSU and PUR played each other twice during the regular season.
• Michigan State won its fourth-straight game at Mackey Arena, as the Spartans' last loss at West Lafayette was in 2017 ... Michigan State has won five of the last seven overall meetings with Purdue, trimming the Boilermakers' overall series lead to 44-39, and 23-12 in West Lafayette.
• MSU's 68 points were its season-low in a win for the second-straight game after the 70 winning points in the 70-66 triumph at Michigan on Sunday, becoming the first time Michigan State has won when scoring under 70 points, now 1-3.
• The Spartan defense held Purdue to just 58 points, which is a season-low in a B1G game for the MSU defense ... Michigan State is now 5-0 when holding the opposition under 60 points.
• Michigan State's starting five for Wednesday's game made up of junior guard DeeDee Hagemann, sophomore guard Abbey Kimball junior guard/forward Jocelyn Tate, graduate guard Moira Joiner and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault was MSU's 17th-consecutive game with those five Spartans on the court for tip-off ... Michigan State has started a total of 23 games this season with that starting five, improving to 16-7 on the season.
• MSU's bench out-scored Purdue's reserves, 29-19, doing so with only three players in sophomore guard Theryn Hallock with a team-high 16 points, graduate guard/forward Tory Ozment with 13 points and junior guard Lauren Ross, who didn't score in three minutes of action ... the Spartans improved to 16-5 when having more bench points.
• Along with Hallock and Ozment's 16 and 13 points, respectively, junior guard DeeDeeHagemann added 13 points, while graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault added 12 points and graduate guard Moira Joiner tossed in 10 points.
• The five Spartans in double-figures moved MSU to 8-2 when five or more net double-digit points.
• Hallock's 16 points was boosted by a career-high tying four 3-pointers, and her career-best in a B1G game, matching her career-high four triples vs. DePaul (11/30/23) ... the four treys Wednesday was her eighth game this season with multiple triples.
• The 16 points was Hallock's sixth-straight double-digit scoring outing for her 14th game with double-figures.
• Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann registered her second career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 11 assists ... both of Hagemann's double-doubles have come in the state of Indiana and in the month of February, joining her 19 points and 10 assists outing at Indiana (2/8/24).
• Hagemann's 11 assists marks her top three career assists marks have come on the road ... Wednesday's 11 assists tops her, which also came on the road, at Oakland on Nov. 26, 2021, during her freshman season.
• With 13 points, Hagemann recorded her fifth-consecutive game in double-figures, marking the 18th time this season and 40th of her career, second-most among active Spartans behind Joiner who posted double-figures for the 52nd time of her career Wednesday.
• Ozment's 13 points was her second game in a row with double-figures for her first back-to-back games in double-digits since Jan. 14 and 17 vs. Ohio State and Northwestern, respectively ... Wednesday was Ozment's 13th double-figure scoring game this season and 27th of her career.
• Ayrault stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds, five blocks, four assists and one steal in just over 31 minutes of playing time, finishing with a game-best +20 for the night.
• The 12 points was Ayrault's eighth game in a row in double-figure points and her 20th this season and 33rd of her career, third among active Spartans behind Joiner (52) and Hagemann (40).
• Ayrault's five blocks tied her second-most this season, behind her career-best seven swats vs. Evansville (11/19/23).
• The five blocks gives Ayrault 58 rejections this season, which are the most by a Spartan in a single-season since 2009-10 when Allyssa DeHaan had 101 rejections ... with the 58 blocks, Ayrault vaults up to sole possession of the No. 5 spot on MSU's single-season blocks list, pulling away from a tie for No. 6 with Kristen Rasmussen (1999-2000) with 53 rejections, and passing Rasmussen at the No. 5 spot with 57 in the 1998-98 season.
• With five blocks Wednesday, Ayrault now has 129 blocks, also No. 5 on the Spartans' career blocks list and just five shy of the No. 4 spot held by Kelli Roehrig (2001-05) with 134 blocks.
• The team-high eight rebounds was Ayrault's team-leading 15th game leading the Spartans on the glass, as MSU moves to 9-6 when she leads the squad in boards.
• Joiner's 10 points snapped a streak of two games in single-digits, marking her first back-to-back games without scoring 10+ points ... the 10 points Wednesday was her 23rd double-figure outing this season and leads all active Spartans with 52 career games in double-digits.
• The 10 points by Joiner gives her 1,094 career points, moving up to No. 26 on MSU's career scoring list, passing Bella Engen (1994-98) with 1,088 points, and just four points from Jenna Allen (2015-19) with 1,098 for the No. 25 spot and 14 from the No. 24 spot held by Becky Cummins (1997-2001) with 1,108 points.
• Joiner netted two 3-pointers for her second multiple triple outing in the last three games and the 16th game this season with multi treys.
• The two 3-pointers gives Joiner 189 for her career, just 11 shy of becoming the fourth Spartan women's basketball player with 200 career 3-pointers ... Joiner is holding the No. 5 spot on MSU's career 3-pointers list, just 29 from the No. 4 spot held by Maxann Reese (1996-2000).
Recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.
