Michigan State Women Fall to No. 5/5 Ohio State in its Annual Pink Game

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – In the second meeting between the teams, Michigan State fell to No. 5/5 Ohio State 86-71 in its annual Pink Game for breast cancer awareness on Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center. OSU also won the first game in Columbus, 70-65 on Jan. 14.

For the first time this season, MSU has lost two-straight games, falling to 17-7 overall and 7-6 in Big Ten action. Ohio State improves to 21-3 overall and 12-1 in the Big Ten, now standing alone in first place.

Junior guard DeeDee Hagemann became just the ninth player in MSU history to reach the 400 career assists with four helpers today. She and graduate guard/forward Julia Ayrault both also added 10 points.

Sophomore guard Theryn Hallock led the Spartans in scoring with 18 points off the bench.Ohio State was led by 20 points from Celeste Taylor.

After a 3-pointer by Cotie McMahon the Buckeyes jumped out to a 10-6 lead midway through the first period. The Spartans took their first lead of the game after an old-fashioned three from Hallock to go on top 13-12.

Despite McMahon being out of the game with three fouls, OSU went on a 6-0 run to take a 24-17 lead with under a minute left in the quarter.

In the second quarter, Ohio State took its first double-digit lead after a Jacy Sheldon bucket to go up 30-19. OSU went on to score the first eight points of the quarter, leading to an early MSU timeout. The Spartans responded with a 7-0 run of their own to make it an eight-point contest. Ohio State would not go away using a combination of an 11-0 run and a Spartan scoring drought to open up a 49-28 lead with under minutes left in the half.

MSU went over four minutes without a field goal, as the Buckeyes led 53-31 at the break.

Ohio State remained efficient on offense and stingy on defense in the third period. Ayrault and Ozment combined for eight points in the third period to lead MSU.Michigan State continued to fight in the fourth quarter. MSU forced five turnovers in a four-minute span. The Spartans went on to end the game on a 14-0 to show their resiliency.

Ohio State took as big a lead as 33 points in the fourth, but the Spartans didn’t back down getting it down to 15. MSU out-scored OSU 24-11 in the final 10 minutes, led by Hallock’s eight points.

After some much-needed rest, the Spartans will travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 12 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

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