Last time the women’s basketball team played the No. 25 Iowa Hawkeyes, MSU was smack in the middle of a nine-game losing streak - and they were certainly playing like it.
But the Spartan team that will face the Hawkeyes tonight in Iowa City isn’t quite the same.
They will again be without senior forward and previous leading scorer Becky Cummings.
But perhaps more importantly, they will have the advantage of a revived team attitude that has every player contributing and every game coming down to the wire.
Head coach Joanne P. McCallie said she hopes the revived team attitude, which has been clear in the past four games despite only one win, will continue today.
“We’re a different team now so it’s hard to predict what the outcome will be,” McCallie said.
With four Hawkeyes’ who average in double figures, Iowa has stacked a tie with Wisconsin and Penn State for second place in the conference. Each school boasts a 10-4 conference record, while MSU is only 3-11.
Junior guard Lindsey Meder leads the Hawkeyes with 17.4 points per game. Randi Peterson, who averages 12.3 points, smoked the Spartans in the last match-up with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
MSU’s defense must be stifling to contain these big players, freshman forward Julie Pagel said.
“Last time, Randi Peterson only played twenty-two minutes and just had a career day against us.” she said. “Our defense has stepped up since then, but we still have had a couple of lapses and we can’t let that happen at Iowa.”
Offensively, the Spartans also will need a top-notch performance. In their last outing, they fell just short of Illinois, 52-50, and McCallie blamed a lacking offensive output.
“That’s been something we’ve been focusing on all year,” McCallie said. “We just need to work on execution. But the game will be low scoring again, that’s just the way it is right now.”
Emotionally, the game will be big for the Hawkeyes, as they honor their three seniors at their last home game. MSU will host their own senior festivities before the 2 p.m. game on Sunday, against Minnesota at home.
That means the atmosphere inside the Carver-Hawkeye Arena promises to be an obstacle, McCallie said. With senior night, a high conference ranking and a chance for tournament action likely, the Hawkeyes 5,000 plus fans could be intimidating.
“They’re drawing more fans now - it could be more hostile there than it was at places like Illinois,” McCallie said. “And Iowa’s playing with a passion - they’re trying to get to the tournament.”
