Women victorious over Iowa, 65-56

The MSU women’s basketball team came out running in its 68-56 victory over Iowa on Thursday.

The Spartans took advantage of their depth early and often running Iowa up and down the floor from the tip, wearing the Hawkeyes down while using their size advantage to get rebounds and points in the paint.

“We felt like we got to keep running,” head coach Suzy Merchant said. “We have some depth to our bench … We felt that would be an advantage for us, to keep the pace up and keep running, and I thought that contributed to our shot selection. We got some good looks inside, whether it be on the block or off of a layup pushing in transition.”

Iowa took an early lead in the ball game, scoring the first basket on a long jumper from senior forward Wendy Ausdemore.

MSU would answer quickly though, as freshman forward Courtney Schiffauer gave MSU three quick points to regain the lead, and never look back.

The Spartans would extend the lead out to seven two more times in the first half before Iowa was able to fight back and tie the score art 19 with 3:34 to play in the half.

However, MSU would hold Iowa scoreless for the rest of the half, stealing the ball four times and forcing four turnovers, while going on a 7-0 run to head into the locker room up 26-19.

“I was disappointed. I felt like we were throwing the ball all over the place in the first half,” Merchant said. “I certainly felt like we’d get better over time. We just got to keep that pace up.”

MSU kept the foot on the pedal after halftime, quickly jumping out to a 10 point lead, giving a cushion to protect themselves from an Iowa team that can hit shots from anywhere on the court. Entering the game, the Hawkeyes were second in the conference in field goal percentage, hitting 43 percent of their shots and 36 percent from behind the arc.

The Spartans would eventually stretch the lead out to 16 points midway through the second half, but Iowa senior guard Kristi Smith heated up. Scoring 12 points, she tried to will her team back in the game. After getting blanked in the first half, Smith went four for eight from the field and two for four from behind 3-point line in the second half, but her team was mired in foul trouble and wasn’t able to muster a comeback as the Spartans walked off the court victorious, 68-56.

“I think the physical game hurt us more than anything,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “We were understaffed. Joann Hamlin (sprained ankle) is our muscle. We needed some muscle out there. We needed an enforcer because MSU is a very physical basketball team, and we didn’t have anybody that could really match that physical style of play.”

MSU outscored Iowa 46-16 in the paint and 25-13 off turnovers, while the Spartans’ bench outscored Iowa’s 27-3.

“I think those numbers really show the transition and running the floor,” sophomore guard Brittney Thomas said. “Being able to see mismatches when they did go man, we were able to run some of our man stuff that we like to run and get it in the paint and go at (Iowa center Megan) Skouby.”