“We need to come out with a win. We will.”

Staring at their first losing streak of the season, it’s gut-check time for the MSU women’s basketball team (16-4 overall, 4-3 Big Ten), as the Spartans look to stay in contention for the Big Ten title Thursday (8 p.m.) in Evanston, Ill.

After being ranked last week for the first time in almost two years, the Spartans are looking to regroup at Northwestern (10-10, 2-5) before back-to-back tough games against Michigan (16-4, 5-2) and at No. 7 Penn State (17-2, 7-0).

A bright spot during the team’s recent losing skid has been the play of Kiana Johnson, who has led the team in assists and steals since returning to the lineup.

The sophomore guard has raised her game of late, averaging 18.7 points in the past three games, but despite her success, said she hasn’t done enough to help her team avoid back-to-back losses and ultimately feels the responsibility falls on her.

“Be a better leader, be more vocal on the court,” Johnson said of the areas she must improve. “I’ve got to lead by example a bit more.”

To help get out of its funk, the team has started practicing differently this week, using more live, full-court scrimmages to prepare, as opposed to the less-physically taxing walk-throughs they’d been using throughout the season.

One person hoping to benefit is junior guard Klarissa Bell, who has averaged just four points the past two games after averaging 18.3 points in the three prior games.

When asked what she could do to help the team get back to winning, Bell’s answer was simple: “a lot.”

“I can’t overthink when I’m out there,” Bell said. “I was really trying to focus on scoring when I need to focus on rebounding, and my scoring will come.”

After watching film, Bell said she’s diagnosed the problem in her recent struggles and traces it back to mental focus.

As her own “worst critic,” Bell said she’s been putting too much pressure on herself to perform, and needs to relax in order to regain her form.

“I just can’t put pressure on myself, and when I’m out there I can’t second guess,” Bell said. “That’s what I’ve been doing the past couple games.

“I’m just really tough on myself, always want to do well, and when I’m doing well I want to do better.”

Still, the hallmark of the team’s early season success, when the Spartans won 13 of their first 14 games, was balanced scoring, with four or more players regularly scoring in double figures.

For MSU to return to its winning ways, junior forward Annalise Pickrel believes contributions up and down the depth chart will be critical.

“We’ve just got to find our flow back,” Pickrel said. “If we go into this game aggressively, like we did at the beginning of the season, the beginning of the Big Ten … we need to come out with a win. We will.”