Michigan State women’s basketball lost four players to the transfer portal on April 7, with starter Rashunda Jones among them as the roster shakeup continued one day after the women’s season ended. Inês Sotelo also entered the portal, along with reserves Juliann Woodard and Jordan Ode.
The departures land at a time when the Spartans are already staring at a major reset. Grace VanSlooten, Emma Shumate, Abbey Kimball, Marah Dykstra and Jalyn Brown are graduating and moving on, and Brown said Monday, April 6, that she plans to put her name in the WNBA draft. If all of those changes hold, Michigan State could have as many as 10 players gone from this year’s roster when next season opens in November.
Jones’ exit carries extra weight because she was a starter. Sotelo was too. Woodard and Ode were reserve pieces, but the portal losses still cut into the depth Michigan State had built around returning production. The transfer window opened after the 2025-26 women’s basketball season ended Sunday, when UCLA gave the Big Ten its first national champion since Purdue in 1999.
The Spartans have spent the offseason piecing together what comes next, and the math is not encouraging. Theryn Hallock’s future is still undecided because a redshirt decision has not been made, and her status matters after she played in just eight games and none after Dec. 29 because of a foot injury. Hallock averaged 10.6 points and went through senior day festivities in February with VanSlooten, Shumate, Kimball, Dykstra and Brown.
Michigan State still has some building blocks. Taylor Alexander appeared in 17 games with four starts and averaged 7.6 points while shooting 60.7% from the field. Ruby Blair started all 32 games and averaged 14.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Lucy Sambolic appeared in 22 games and made four starts in her debut season, Maya Terrian shot 44.3% from 3-point range and Amy Terrian appeared in nine games off the bench in her debut season.
Even so, the roster picture is shrinking fast, and the Spartans have only one player signed for the 2026 class: Maddie Williams, whom rates as the No. 15 overall recruit. With portal losses piling up and graduation taking more talent off the board, Michigan State’s next season may hinge as much on who returns as on who arrives.
