No. 24 Michigan State women beat No. 15 Ole Miss 66-49 to win Cherokee Invitational

Rashunda Jones scored eight of her 13 points in a decisive third quarter, Grace VanSlooten finished with a double-double, and No. 24 Michigan State beat No. 15 Mississippi 66-49 on Monday night in the Cherokee Invitational title game.

The Associated Press
December 23, 2025 at 2:59AM

CHEROKEE, N.C. — Rashunda Jones scored eight of her 13 points in a decisive third quarter, Grace VanSlooten finished with a double-double, and No. 24 Michigan State beat No. 15 Mississippi 66-49 on Monday night in the Cherokee Invitational title game.

Michigan State led 26-20 at the break and scored the first four points of the third quarter. Ole Miss cut the deficit to 30-25, but the Spartans closed on a 17-7 run for a 49-32 advantage heading into the final quarter. Jones hit a pair of 3s and Kennedy Blair scored all of her seven points in the third quarter for the Spartans, who shot 69% (9 of 13) in the period.

VanSlooten finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Isaline Alexander added 12 points for Michigan State (11-1).

Cotie McMahon scored 13 points to lead led Ole Miss (12-2), which shot 33% (17 of 51) overall and missed 15 of its 17 shots from long range.

Michigan State routed Indiana State 115-66 and Ole Miss beat Old Dominion 86-57 in Sunday's tournament games.

Up next

Michigan State: Hosts Rutgers on Sunday.

Ole Miss: Plays at home against Alcorn State on Sunday.

ADVERTISEMENT

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball

about the writer

about the writer

The Associated Press

The Associated Press

More from Sports

See More

The Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Chargers qualified for the AFC playoffs with the Indianapolis Colts' 48-27 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.