MSU Women’s Basketball Dominates On Senior Night
- Tobias Webb
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Spartans won emphatically against the Northwestern Wildcats while celebrating their seniors on Wednesday night. The final score was 104 to 68 and MSU looked great 'offensively, shooting 53 percent from the field and 50 percent from deep. Grace VanSlooten would not be denied on her way to 22 points and she thwarted Northwestern in the post with 3 blocks. She forced the Wildcats’ leading scorer, a 6’4 Grace Sullivan, to operate primarily through the mid range.
Kennedy Blair had another efficient double-double with 7 rebounds, 10 assists, and 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting. She played lights out on defense as well, grabbing 5 steals to make up for the absence of the Spartans’ leading ball thief, Rashunda Jones. MSU is set to graduate several important players at the end of this season, but the future still looks very bright with a steadily improving Kennedy Blair at the helm.
Sara Sambolic also stepped up while filling in for Jones, who twisted her ankle in the game against Michigan, and is being evaluated day to day. Sambolic was giving constant trouble to the opposing point guards and earned praise from coach Fralick for preventing Lau, Northwestern’s best passer, from initiating their offense. She also scored an efficient 13 points and sent 6 assists with no turnovers.
Theryn Hallock, Jalyn Brown, Emma Shumate, Marah Dykstra, and team captains Grace VanSlooten and Abbey Kimball, all received their flowers after the game and kissed the logo, in one of their last games at the Breslin Center.
Isa Alexander was notably not celebrating her last season as Spartan, as she’s likely to be granted a 6th year of eligibility after missing the entirety of last season and only playing in three games in the 23-24 season before being derailed with injury. Her experience will be greatly appreciated with much of our front court moving on after March Madness. Ines Sotelo and incoming freshman Lily Williams will benefit greatly from Alexander’s leadership and post presence next year.
Hallock and Kimball spent their whole college careers with the Spartans and played a ton of games for the green and white. Kimball has not made a huge impact this season, with transfer guard Rashunda Jones immediately slotting in and becoming one of MSU’s top players, but her leadership earned her a captain role for this season, and her defense has notably improved. With any injury to a starting backcourt player she could still become a factor in the post season.
Hallock unfortunately had her first serious injury this season, which dealt a blow to the Spartans’ guard depth. Her impact for the green and white will be remembered by fans as she won the Big Ten 6th Player of the Year award in 2024, and was an important starting guard in MSU’s first March Madness win under Robyn Fralick, after earning a 7 seed in 2025.
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