After the final buzzer tonight inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, one thing is certain - one team will continue its winning ways; the other will have to start over.

The Spartan women’s basketball squad hits the road in hopes of extending its two-game winning streak against the red-hot Iowa Hawkeyes, fresh off four straight wins.

Junior guard Vnemina Reese said the Spartans (12-6 overall, 2-5 Big Ten) have had their first taste of conference success, and they’re hungry for more.

“Winning is contagious,” Reese said. “Winning is something that shows how hard you worked preparing for the game and how hard you’re working in practice.”

The Spartans will have to prepare for a team with a style different from the Spartans’ previous conference foes.

Iowa (12-5, 5-2) is led by preseason All-Conference guard Lindsey Meder. The 5-foot-8 senior leads the Hawkeyes with 17.2 points per game, good enough for seventh in the conference.

The Hawkeyes also suit up forward Jerica Watson, the conference’s leading rebounder and shot-blocker at 9.6 and 2.62 respectively.

Spartan head coach Joanne P. McCallie said the Hawkeyes will show the Spartans different looks.

“They aren’t a very tall team, but they’re a very quick team,” McCallie said. “They aren’t a very deep team, but the five people on the floor play very well together.”

McCallie said the Hawkeyes play six-deep, and their shallow bench could prove to be a vulnerability against the improved penetration of the Spartan backcourt.

“We’ve had some good takes to the basket against Penn State, and I definitely think we have to build on that,” she said. “I’d like to see us attack the basket, and go by people and really put the pressure on them.

“It’d be great to see some of their people in foul trouble.”

Going to the free-throw line hasn’t been a strong point for the Spartans, but the team is coming off a 17-of-21 night - its second-best outing from the line all season.

McCallie said the Hawkeyes compliment their quickness with a potent inside-outside attack.

“The whole high-post area is going to be an issue for us, and how we can contain that,” McCallie said. “Then on the outside, they have some kids who like to gun threes.”

But, McCallie is confident the Spartans have answers for the Hawkeye attack.

“We’re going to have to be composed, stay in our stance and just play great team defense,” she said.

Reese echoed the importance of team defense, and said the Spartans are making improvements in that department.

“The team’s talking better on defense and moving around and being tough,” Reese said. “It has gotten better, but we still have to work on it. But it’s on its way up.”

Junior guard Maria Recker said the Spartans are moving in the right direction, and the presence of a few specific fans provides extra motivation.

Recker’s brother Luke, a star shooting guard for the Hawkeyes, will be trading his black and gold for green and white, though just for the night.

“I know he’ll be cheering me on, just like I cheered him on (Tuesday against the Spartans),” Recker said.

Recker said the Spartans have transformed from a shaky team in the clutch to a savvy, much calmer squad in crunch time.

“I think the panic (on the court) is gone, but the urgency is still there - the urgency to win every Big Ten game we play,” she said.