EAST LANSING, Mich. — Kennedy Blair scored 21 points, and the No. 13 Michigan State women held off USC’s late surge for a 74-68 victory on Thursday night.
Michigan State opened the fourth quarter on a 13-5 run to stretch its lead to 66-54 with 5:15 remaining. Jazzy Davidson scored the last five points in a 10-0 run to help pull USC to 66-64 with 4:10 left before the Spartans sealed it from the free-throw line.
Kara Dunn scored 23 points and Davidson added 21 to lead USC (11-8 overall, 3-5 in the Big Ten). Kennedy Smith scored 15 points.
Blair shot eight of 15 from the field overall, made five of six free throws and had five steals. Grace VanSlooten scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Michigan State (18-2, 7-2), which rebounded from a 75-68 loss to then-No. 10 Iowa. Rashunda Jones scored 16 points and Ines Sotelo added 12 to go with seven rebounds for the Spartans.
Michigan State scored 25 points from 24 USC turnovers.