The No. 23 MSU women's basketball team went into halftime and made two key adjustments: It worked to get the ball to freshman center Allyssa DeHaan, and it pressured Iowa up and down the court.
A one-point halftime lead quickly turned into an 11-point lead, as the Spartans overcame a sluggish first half to defeat the Hawkeyes for the second time in a week, 67-57, Sunday afternoon at Breslin Center.
"It was a much better second half for us," MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "I loved how our defense attacked and gutted it out in the second half to separate a little bit."
The Spartans (15-4 overall, 6-1 Big Ten) didn't have the start they would have liked. Senior guard Rene Haynes had four turnovers in the first six minutes, including two that came on two consecutive possessions, and she found a place on the bench.
MSU turned the ball over 15 times in the first half, and the lead changed 10 times in the first half.
"You light a fire under them to focus," McCallie said. "You can't waste away minutes, not at this level, not as this time a year, like we did in the first half.
"They were pretty ticked off at themselves. Fifteen turnovers at halftime? That's got to be a world record or something."
In the second half, the Spartans came out with the mind-set to get the ball inside and did just that.
Five of MSU's first six buckets of the half came from either DeHaan or sophomore forward Aisha Jefferson, as the Spartans opened after the break with a 13-4 run during a four-minute span early on to take a 46-37 lead.
MSU's defense continued to apply pressure, and Iowa never got within seven points.
DeHaan scored 16 points and recorded seven blocks. Her average of 4.5 blocks leads the conference and is second in the nation.
DeHaan's presence wasn't felt just on the offensive end. She blocked seven Iowa shots, "but probably changed 14," according to McCallie.
"It used to be you could get past the outside players and you could get to the basket a little easier. But she's a big target, and she alters shots," Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said of DeHaan.
"I think she got to our (post players) mentally. They had to alter their shots when they faced up against her."
Senior guard Victoria Lucas-Perry scored eight points to reach 1,002 career points.
The Spartans play their next game at 6 p.m. Thursday to start a two-game road trip at Penn State.
Matt Bishop can be reached at bishop20@msu.edu.
