No. 21 Michigan State women beat Penn State 82-61 for 4th straight victory

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Theryn Hallock scored 17 points, Julia Ayrault added 16 and No. 21 Michigan State beat Penn State 82-61 on Wednesday night for its fourth straight victory.

Michigan State (16-3, 6-2 Big Ten Conference) has also won four straight in the series and eight of the last nine.

Jocelyn Tate scored 12 of Michigan State's opening 27 points in building a 12-point lead. The Spartans extended their lead to 41-24 at the break after scoring 18 points off 18 Penn State turnovers.

Michigan State's lead reached 31 points midway through the third quarter following a 19-3 run, with eight points from Ayrault.

Hallock, Ayrault and Tate each made three of Michigan State's 13 3-pointers to counter Moriah Murray's career-high-tying eight 3-pointers for Penn State.

Tate finished with 15 points, five assists and three blocks for Michigan State. Grace VanSlooten added 10 points.

Murray scored 24 points for Penn State (10-10, 1-8), which was coming off a 62-59 victory over No. 9 Ohio State — its first win over an AP top-10 team since 2012. Gracie Merkle, averaging a team-high 15.7 points per game, was held to two first-half points and finished with four.

Murray scored 12 of Penn State's 24 first-half points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. She finished with five-plus 3-pointers for the sixth time this season and matched her career high set in the season opener against Bucknell.

Michigan State plays at No. 24 Michigan on Saturday. Penn State returns home for a three-game homestand, starting with Rutgers on Sunday.

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