MSU Women’s Basketball: Impressive Start to the Season
- Tobias Webb
- Nov 18
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 19
Four games into the season the Spartans already look formidable. With 7 new players on roster, MSU started the season strong against Mercyhurst with the most points (125), and the fewest turnovers (3), in a game in program history. We currently lead the Big Ten in several major stats: scoring, assists, turnover margin, steals per game, bench points, and more. We are top ten in the country in all of those categories and we lead college basketball in assist to turnover ratio. MSU hasn’t faced any truly challenging teams yet and likely won’t until Big Ten play opens against Wisconsin on Dec. 7th, but they are winning convincingly and look to, once again, be a force in the Big Ten.
Elite Scoring
It’s year three for head coach Robin Fralick and the winning culture she’s instilled has led to better recruiting, so we now have a team full of capable contributors. There are 6 Spartans averaging over 10 points per game, 2 of them coming off the bench. The Spartan’s emphasis on team play allows everyone to shine and stresses opponents, who have to adjust to our different lineups, and try to keep up with our speed and depth.
Grace VanSlooten is once again a force on the court, leading the Spartans with 17 points per game. While most of that comes from layups in the low post, she’s been unafraid to shoot mid range from around the elbow when she’s open, or if we’ve forced a defensive mismatch. Her 62 percent shooting from the field keeps the Spartans steady, but she needs to do better with her 58 percent shooting on free throws.
Theryn Hallock continues to use her speed to get easy fast break buckets, many of which she does all by herself, firing out of a cannon in the half court defense for a quick steal and layup. She’s doing well at 13.8 points a game, but can do even more if she improves her three-point percentage, as she currently takes 5.5 per game and only scores 1.5 of those.
Isa Alexander has been a very pleasant surprise for Spartans fans, as she’s come off two seasons out with injury, and has clearly improved her offensive ability in that interim. Her footwork in the low post is getting her around defenders for easy layups and she’s hitting a staggering 81 percent of her shots. This is mostly against shorter opponents, but it’s nice to know that when Grace VanSlooten needs a break we still have a solid post presence in Isa.
New Players Contributing Early
While we returned a strong core of players, this year’s freshman class and transfers have already proven their worth. Rashunda Jones, formerly of Purdue, leads the transfers in production with 11.8 points, 4.5 assists, 3.8 steals, and just 1 turnover per game. Her quick hands on defense are a big part of what made her a natural fit for the Spartans, and from the beginning of the season she’s immediately led the Fralick coached Spartans in steals, which is no easy feat. She’s proven herself on offense as a point guard as well, sharing the “quarterback” role with Kennedy Blair. Jones has slotted seamlessly into the role vacated by Jaddan Simmons’, who graduated after last season, and is likely to start for us for the rest of her college career.
Jalyn Brown leads our bench in scoring with 11.3 points per game, and when she checks in she brings a whole new energy to our press defense. She is only credited 2 steals per game but her defensive impact forces many errors that lead to turnovers, and her relentless effort has led to several 10 second violations. Until Inés Sotelo comes back from injury Brown is our best player for disrupting inbounders, and quick doubles in press. She has also proven versatile on the offensive side, with 65 percent shooting from the field. She shoots a mid range if she’s left open but gets most of her points near the rim. Her euro-step is deadly because of her huge strides and quickness, not to mention the height mismatch if she’s picked up by a guard.
Marah Dykstra is not flashy and has yet to really fill a box sheet for the Spartans but she’s hit 5 of her 10 three-pointers on the season, and does a good job interrupting opponents passing lanes and moving around on defense. She’s got a well rounded game and hasn’t touched her ceiling yet with this team.
Our leading three-point shooter, by percentage, is freshman Amy Terrian, shooting 53 percent from deep on good volume. She rotates in for 14 minutes a game during the second and fourth quarters, and she makes her presence felt. She is unafraid to shoot, even from a step or two behind the three point line, and has already punished players for not valuing her shot, putting it up over weak defense. She does a little point guard duty as well, and is very vocal on both ends of the floor. The early impression she’s giving fans is a hopeful one, that she could one day lead the young core of this team.
Focus on Team Play
We lead the country in assists per game with 27.5 and assist to turnover ratio with 3.1 assists for every lost ball. Those stats exemplify the selflessness and speed of these Spartans. Everyone is expected to pass; all five of our starters and two bench players are averaging at least 2 assists per game. The whole squad runs the floor, and play time is spread amongst a lot of players, so everyone stays fresh and we can take advantage of opposing teams, pushing the ball ahead of defenders for easy fast break layups. We do all this with solid efficiency, only giving up 8.8 turnovers per game.
Our bench scoring, at 44.8 points per game, ranks us 3rd in the country as Fralick gets a feel for her team and different lineups. These numbers will likely dip, as we rely on our starters more in Big Ten play, but this is a very experienced team, and depth can always be tested with injury; any one of our bench players’ roles could expand out of the blue, so it’s great to see them perform well in the early games.
Our starting point guard, Kennedy Blair, has been steadily improving after sitting out her first season with injury. The coaching staff had a lot of praise for her in the offseason, and she is excelling in her new, much larger, role. She leads the Spartans with 7.5 assists per game, and has an excellent feel for the team, so she can make passing decisions instinctively, knowing her teammates will be in the right spot. Her passes have already been impressive in every way, some great cross-court fast break passes, passing out of trouble on trips to rim, finding our bigs on tight shovel passes while running the baseline, and even flashy behind the head NBA style passes. The sophomore has a long way to go, but is showing a ton of promise, and proving why Fralick trusts her to be the floor general on a great Spartans team.
Spartans play again on Thursday Nov. 20th against Eastern Illinois.
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