Julia Ayrault helped the Michigan State women’s basketball team open the Cancun Challenge on a strong note Thursday.

The grad student set career highs in scoring and rebounding while helping power the Spartans to a 95-69 victory over James Madison.

Ayrault turned in her first double-double of the season and third of her career, scoring a career-best 25 points and adding a career-high 15 rebounds. That exceeded her previous career highs that were set in December 2020 when she had a career-high 19 points against Iowa and a career-high 12 rebounds against Central Michigan.

Thursday marked the second straight game with a career-best for Ayrault, who set a new personal mark with her seven blocks in Sunday’s win over Evansville.

Ayrault was one of two MSU players to have the best scoring performance of their career Thursday. Sophomore Abbey Kimball had a career-high 21 points and knocked down 5 of her 10 3-point attempts.

Kimball and Ayrault were among four players to score in double figures for MSU (5-0). Tory Ozment added 16 points and Moira Joiner added 11 points.

The Spartans led 19-13 after the opening quarter and extended it to double figures for good by outscoring Sun Belt Conference favorite James Madison, 29-19, in the second quarter.

MSU led by as much as 31 over James Madison, which dropped to 4-2.