Jan. 17, 2013

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EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's basketball team closed the game on a 14-3 run over the final 3:37 to pull away from Iowa, 65-54 tonight at the Breslin Center. The Spartans, who improve to 15-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten, were by junior Klarissa Bell's career-high 25 points and nine rebounds.

Iowa (13-5, 2-2) jumped out an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes, but the Spartans would use a 6-0 run midway through the half to take their first lead of the night at 13-12 with 9:06 on the clock. The rest of the half would go back and forth, until Bell drilled a 60-foot shot as time expired to tie that game at 25 into halftime.

The second half saw nine lead changes and five ties. The Hawkeyes scored the first four points of the half and MSU hung tough before tallying seven-straight points to go up 46-40 with 7:30 to go. Iowa followed with nine of the next 11 points to regain the lead at 49-48. With the game tied at 51 with 3:37 left, the Spartans ran off nine unanswered, behind six points from Bell, and closed on a 14-3 run to pick up the win.

Bell missed five of her first six shots, but ended the night 10-for-20 from the field, including 2-for-4 from behind the arc, and 3-for-3 from the foul line. Classmate Annalise Pickrel scored 10 points, all in the second half, knocking down three 3-pointers. Sophomore Kiana Johnson was key off the bench, posting eight points, a game-high six assists (with no turnovers), five rebounds and two steals in 31 minutes.

The Spartans head back on the road Sunday, traveling to Bloomington, Ind. for a 2 p.m. tip against the Hoosiers.

POST-GAME NOTES:
- Michigan State has won 10 of its last 12 Big Ten regular-season games.
- The Spartans have won seven straight games against Iowa in the Breslin Center.
- The Spartans have held each opponent's leading scorer below their season average this season. Iowa's Morgan Johnson was averaging 17.7 points and led the league with a 57.1 field goal percentage, but was held to 13 points on 5-for-12 shooting tonight.
- MSU held a 42-36 advantage in rebounds tonight, and have outrebounded 15 of its 17 opponents this season.
- MSU held Iowa to a season-low 14.3% (2-for-14) from the 3-point line.
- Iowa's 54 points was its second-fewest in a game this season.
- Michigan State has won 71 of its last 72 games when leading with 5 minutes left. The Spartans were up 48-47 with five minutes left tonight.
- Klarissa Bell set her career high in points for the fourth time already this season.
- Bell's 25 points were the most by a Spartan since Porsche Poole tallied 32 points vs. Penn State on Jan. 29, 2012.
- Bell has led MSU in rebounding in four of her last five games. She is averaging 9.4 rebounds during that stretch.
- Kiana Johnson tied her season-high with her six assists.
- Johnson is now 23-for-26 (88.5%) from the free throw line this season.
- Jasmine Hines tied her career high with two steals.
- Jasmine Thomas moved into a tie for 19th on MSU's career games played list with 114.