EAST LANSING, Mich. – A strong second quarter by No. 24 Michigan State led the Spartans to a 77-67 win over the Wisconsin women's basketball team on Sunday afternoon at the Breslin Center.
MSU (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten) outscored the Badgers 19-9 in the second period to take a 39-24 lead at the half. Wisconsin (5-7, 1-1) outscored the Spartans 43-38 in the second half but it wasn't enough for the comeback.

"We won the second half but you have to come out and give yourself a shot in the first half," head coach Bobbie Kelsey said. "The second quarter really hurt us with the nine points.

"I'm proud of them because we are down players but we don't have any excuses. We cut it to seven (points) against a very, very strong Michigan State team. I'm pleased but disappointed at the same time. I know we'll bounce back and in the locker room, I saw that on their faces."

The Badgers played without senior Tessa Cichy for the second straight game as she is out with an illness. Senior point guard Dakota Whyte also got into foul trouble in the first period, picking up her second foul with 7:43 to play.

"Dakota Whyte got in foul trouble in the first half. If anything, that hurt us the most," Kelsey explained. "There was some other stuff – we didn't get some box outs, they made a run and we stalled on our offense."

The Spartans broke a 6-6 tie in the first quarter with a 6-0 run to go up 12-6 with 5:37 to play. A 3-pointer from Roichelle Marble ended the run to make it 12-9 with 5:24 to go. The Spartans led 20-13 with 55 seconds remaining but a layup by Avyanna Young cut the score to 20-15 at the end of the first period.

The Badgers cut the MSU lead to two (20-18) with 7:40 on the clock in the second period and trailed by three (24-21) with 5:19 remaining on a 3-pointer from Cayla McMorris. McMorris added another jumper at 3:55 to make it 29-23 but Wisconsin would score just one more point the rest of the quarter to trail 39-24 at the half.

In the third quarter, UW cut the Spartan lead to single digits several times, including at 47-40 with three minutes to play but Michigan State went up 56-44 at the end of three periods. The Badgers also cut the lead to seven in the fourth quarter, trailing 66-59 with 2:57 left but State went 7-of-7 from the free-throw line over the last minute to seal the win.

Four Badgers scored in double figures behind 14 points from Whyte and McMorris. Redshirt freshman  Marble added 11 points while redshirt junior Avyanna Young added 10 points.  

The Spartans also had four players in double figures behind a game-high 22 points from Aerial Powers.

Michigan State shot 50 percent (28-of-56) from the field, including 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from 3-point range, and 83.3 percent (15-of-18) from the line. Wisconsin hit 41 percent (25-of-61) from the field, including 40 percent (6-of-15) from 3-point range, and 68.8 percent (11-of-16) from the charity stripe.

UW was outrebounded 37-33 but the Spartans entered the game with a plus-15 advantage on boards.

"We kept them off the boards, they average 16 offensive rebounds and they only got 12," Kelsey said. "We actually got more on the offensive end (14). We were stressing box out, box out. Against this kind of team, with these athletes, you have to make them go over your back and try to get the ball."

McMorris led the Badgers with seven rebounds, including four offensive. Young added six boards for UW.

Wisconsin outperformed the Spartans in nearly every other category, dishing off 16 assists, including seven from Whyte, while turning the ball over only 14 times. The Badgers had four blocks and seven steals, which led to 15 MSU turnovers.

The Badgers continue their Big Ten road trip, traveling to Rutgers on Thursday for a 6 p.m. game from New Brunswick, New Jersey.