MSU women's basketball survives upset bid, tops Colorado State

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Grace VanSlooten shined on the big stage once again.

And she was a key reason the Michigan State women's basketball team survived an upset bid by Colorado State.

VanSlooten had a double-double as the No. 5 seed Spartans held on for a 65-62 victory over No. 12 seed Colorado State in an opening-round NCAA tournament game Friday, March 20, at the University of Oklahoma.

Colorado State (27-8) missed the potential game-tying 3 as time expired.

VanSlooten had 18 points and 10 rebounds for her third career double-double in the NCAA tournament while helping MSU (23-8) advance to face either Oklahoma or Idaho in the second round on Sunday, March 22. It marks the second straight season the Spartans have won their opening round NCAA tournament game.

Kennedy Blair had 18 points and Jalyn Brown finished with 13 points for MSU.

MSU, which played from behind for a large stretch of the game, took the lead with 9:01 remaining on a 3-pointer by Brown and maintained it for the remainder of the way. The Spartans led by as much as six in the fourth and got big baskets by Blair and Ines Sotelo and a key free throw by VanSlooten over the final 3:22.

Brooke Carlson had 26 points to lead Colorado State, which played without leading scorer Lexus Bargesser.

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Contact Brian Calloway at [email protected]. Follow him on X @brian_calloway and Bluesky @brian_calloway.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State women's basketball tops Colorado State

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