EAST LANSING — As she made her way back down the court after draining a 3 in the middle stages of the fourth quarter, Julia Ayrault waved her arms up and down to hype up the Breslin Center crowd.
And Ayrault and the rest of the Michigan State women’s basketball team fed off that energy down the stretch.
That shot started a big fourth quarter run that helped propel the No. 22-ranked Spartans to a 73-58 victory over Minnesota on Saturday afternoon in their final regular season home game.
MSU went on a 17-2 run during a fourth quarter where it shot 75% while outscoring the Gophers 27-13.
Grace VanSlooten had nine of her team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter and added eight rebounds and four assists to lead the Spartans, who wrap up the regular season with a 21-8 record and 10-7 mark in the Big Ten.
Ayrault had 13 points and nine rebounds in her final home game and Ines Sotelo also had 13 points while being among five players in double figures for MSU as it rebounded from Wednesday’s road loss to No. 12 Ohio State. Jaddan Simmons had 11 points and seven rebounds and grad Nyla Hampton finished with 10 points for MSU, which will wait to learn its seed for the Big Ten tournament.
The Spartans trailed 52-48 when Ayrault knocked down the 3 with 7:28 to play to start the surge. Simmons, Theryn Hallock, Hampton and VanSlooten also had big moments during the run as MSU took control after shooting 36% through the first three quarters.
Grace Grocholski had a game-high 23 points for Minnesota (20-10, 8-10).
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_caloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State women’s basketball finishes strong to top Minnesota
