MSU Women's Hoops Sets Several Program Records During First Game

No. 23 Michigan State certainly impressed during its first game of the year, decimating Mercyhurst 125-39 on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center.

The Spartans' scoring output is the highest in program history, surpassing a 116-point day against Niagara on Nov. 14, 2008.

MSU's 86-point margin of victory is also the largest ever --- by a lot. The previous record was 66, which was also during that 2008 game versus Niagara.

Head coach Robyn Fralick, now in Year 3 in East Lansing, has done a good job building the program up again. She already led Michigan State to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 2016-17. This year, the Spartans are ranked in the preseason AP Poll for the first time since before the 2019-20 season.

Even More Records

Michigan State's Grace VanSlooten, left, and Theryn Hallock celebrate a score against Wayne State during the first quarter on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

To be frank, this game was basically over before it started. According to Torvik, Mercyhurst is the eighth-worst team in Division I women's basketball. Division II Michigan Tech's margin of defeat during an exhibition game against the Spartans was "only" 43 points.

After the first quarter, MSU already had a 36-6 lead. At halftime, it was 66-18. Keep that going for another 20 minutes, and that is how 125-39 happens.

This results in some very interesting stats that lie within the box score. In the opinion of this writer, the craziest is that Mercyhurst turned the ball over more times (36) than it had attempted a field goal (35).

The Spartans also had more rebounds (39) than Mercyhurst had shot attempts, which is largely because 19 of those boards were on the offensive glass.

Michigan State also totaled 24 steals on the night, which matches a single-game program record and is a new record at home. The most recent instance of that many steals came against Minnesota on Feb. 2, 1996.

One other record MSU set was that it only committed three turnovers. Previously, the record for fewest turnovers in a game was five. It has happened three times, with the most recent example coming against Toledo on March 18, 2018, during a WNIT game.

There were also 33 assists dished out on 49 made shots. That is just one shy of the program record. Kennedy Blair led the team individually there, registering a double-double with 12 assists and 14 points.

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