Five straight women’s basketball Big Ten losses are not something MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie takes lightly.

After the embarrassing 97-49 beat-down at No. 6 Penn State on Sunday, her team filed out of the locker room looking wounded, both physically and emotionally. And McCallie won’t make any excuses.

“It’s really no secret,” she said. “We fell flat on our faces.”

But today the team is putting those losses behind them, and is hoping to revive its season by beating the Iowa Hawkeyes at 7 p.m. at Breslin Student Events Center. To do so, the team must stop a powerful Hawkeye perimeter game and muster up the effort it’s lacked in its recent losses.

“They have a great perimeter team,” McCallie said. “We have to step up our transition defense, spotting up with their shooters, attacking their pressure. But no amount of basketball can be played and won without effort, without heart.”

The good news?

Iowa (10-8 overall, 5-3 Big Ten), tied for fourth in the Big Ten, is a team that has lost six of its seven road matches, and a team who hasn’t played against a zone defense like MSU’s since its 86-76 loss to Iowa State on Nov. 22.

And perhaps even more importantly, the Spartans (8-11, 2-6) could be rejoined by senior forward Becky Cummings, the team’s leading scorer with 11.8 points per game. Cummings, who was sidelined in the past three games after she reinjured her foot, has practiced the last two days. She could be back tonight, McCallie said.

But Cummings can’t single-handedly save the team, McCallie said. And she hopes the team’s recent troubles have taught her players a few lessons.

“I don’t look at her as a savior,” she said. “Our team needs to grow up and be inspired as a team, and that needs to happen anyway. But I’ll be glad when she’s back and healthy, and not pushing herself too soon.”

Iowa is on a two-game winning streak coming into tonight’s game, after topping last-place Northwestern 92-52 last week and beating Penn State at home 79-64. The Hawkeyes are paced by guards Cara Consuegra and Lindsey Meder, who average 11.1 and 17.5 ppg, respectively.

Also emerging for the Hawkeyes recently is guard Mary Berdo, who hit 5-of-5 three-pointers against Northwestern, tying a Big Ten record for three-point accuracy.

But no matter how terrific Iowa’s game may be, MSU freshman forward Julie Pagel said the key to winning lies in the Spartans’ ability to communicate on defense and stay mentally strong.

“This has been a very trying period for our bodies and our spirits,” she said. “We’re at the point where we’re just sick of losing. Anything we have to do to win is improving ourselves, getting ourselves fired up for the game.”