The No. 24 MSU women's basketball team went 1-1 at the Big Ten Tournament, finishing the regular season with a tough loss to No. 4 Penn State.
The Spartans (21-8 overall) began the Big Ten Tournament with a 81-54 victory over Iowa on March 5.
"Michigan State played harder and had more emotion than we did," Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. "Our team didn't come prepared to play today."
MSU's 81-point explosion was its second highest total of the season. The team was led by sophomore guard Lindsay Bowen, who scored a season-high 27 points. It also was the most points by any Spartans player this season.
Bowen made play after play and shot 10-for-18 from the floor, dished out three assists and grabbed three rebounds. Bowen even split a double team to thread a pass to sophomore forward Liz Shimek, who put it in the net for two.
"It was just an incredible play," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "For her to split that trap like she did, it's a good thing she benches about 150 pounds. The upper body strength she showed on that play was phenomenal."
The Spartans also did it with defense, holding Iowa (16-12), who had scored 78 points on them in the teams' first matchup, to 54 points on 26.7 percent shooting.
MSU had a similar defensive game in its semifinal contest against Penn State (25-5), where it would end up losing 58-54.
Down 56-54 with 20 seconds on the clock, the Spartans had the ball and a chance to tie or win the game. The ball was in junior guard Kristin Haynie's hands, and the Spartans had set up a play to get the ball to Bowen. Bowen was guarded tightly, and Haynie had to take the shot.
Unfortunately for MSU and Haynie, Penn State's Reicina Russell was standing in her way. The 6-foot-6 center blocked Haynie's shot and recovered it. The Lady Lions then got two free throws from All-American guard Kelly Mazzante to seal the win for the top seed.
"Penn State did what they needed to do," senior forward Julie Pagel said. "We just needed to get to a certain point, and the problems would have taken care of themselves."
The loss was the Spartans' third of the season to Penn State.
Again, Bowen led MSU in scoring with 12 points. Two other MSU players scored in double figures, as junior center Kelli Roehrig scored 11 points and Pagel added 10 points off the bench.
It was McCallie's first Big Ten Tournament win in four years. All three previous losses were to Ohio State.
"Our team has really grown," McCallie said. "We've had some interesting challenges along the way. We just aspire to do great things for Michigan State, and we get a lot of support."
