After coming from behind to even the score at halftime, the MSU women’s basketball team fell flat in the second half, losing to Iowa 74-57.
MSU (15-10 overall, 7-5 Big Ten) got off to another slow start, as Iowa (16-10, 8-5) jumped out to an early 12-2 lead, before Porsché Poole led a Spartans comeback.
The senior guard scored 12 of MSU’s first 15 points, along with five rebounds and three assists in the first half.
Poole finished the game as the Spartans leading scorer, tallying 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, but also had eight turnovers and shot 2-for-7 from beyond the arc.
After trailing by as many as 10 points, MSU used an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the game 26-23 with 5:21 to go in the first half. Sophomore forward Annalise Pickrel scored five of the eight points in the rally and finished the game with 12 points off the bench.
Senior forward Lykendra Johnson had a sluggish game, finishing with seven points.
After MSU scored the first three points of the second half, Iowa had two 11-2 runs — one to regain the lead and another to extend the lead to double figures.
MSU shot 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) in the second half.
The Spartans also struggled defensively, allowing Iowa to shoot 15-for-28 (53.6 percent) in the second half, with four players making at least half of their shots.
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