MSU women's basketball sets record for 3s in season in rout of Rutgers

EAST LANSING — Moira Joiner helped set the tone early when she knocked down her first four attempts from behind the 3-point arc.

And the graduate student's success was part of a strong outside shooting game that helped the Michigan State women's basketball team roll to a victory over Rutgers.

The Spartans knocked down 14 3-pointers Saturday afternoon while recording a 93-57 win over Rutgers at Breslin Center that extended their win streak to three.

MSU's success from outside helped it break the program record for made 3s in a season. The Spartans broke the old record of 252 set in 2016-17 and enter Thursday's home finale against Illinois with 255 made 3-pointers. That total is 14 more than they made all of last season.

"We have a lot of kids who are very capable of making (3s)," MSU coach Robyn Fralick said. "We think it creates space and there's just a lot of elements that goes with it. We're proud of our kids. You still have got to make them. It's one thing to shoot them, but you've got to make them.

"It's an important shot to what we do. We've had a lot of kids really step up. I'm proud because if you look at the numbers, there's a lot of kids across the board that are all just shooting the ball better now. I give them credit for that because they spend a lot of time in the gym to become better shooters."

Fueled by her hot start that helped MSU break things open in the opening half, Joiner had a team-high 22 points, which included going 8-of-11 from the field and knocking down 6-of-9 shots from 3-point range.

Abbey Kimball, who knocked down four 3s, and Julia Ayrault each finished with 17 points to help the Spartans (20-7, 10-6) move into a tie for fourth in the Big Ten standings with Nebraska. MSU reached double figures in conference wins for the first time since 2015-16. MSU also reached 20 wins in a season for the first time since 2018-19.

"Anybody can win on any day," Joiner said. "I always say that, especially in the Big Ten. It's just a milestone. Us vets, Tory, (Julia) and me, I think we've really tried to build something here and we've had obviously help along the way, but I think it's a really big sigh of relief (to accomplish that). The work is not done yet but, wow, that is a great milestone to hit."

Kimball agreed and said the Spartans are trying to stay in the moment and not think about the big picture scenario of a looming NCAA tournament berth.

"We're taking it one game at a time because I think the next two games are important, especially for the double-bye for the Big Ten tournament, which is first," Kimball said. "Obviously we want to win that. That's like our next mindset."

Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State women's basketball sets 3s record in rout of Rutgers