Another Fourth-Quarter Rally, And The Hawkeyes Are Alone In First Place
It was Megan Gustafson's day, and her former teammates weren't about to spoil that.
Iowa was honoring Gustafson, it's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, by retiring her jersey number in a post-game ceremony, but before the Hawkeyes could get there, there was still the matter of defeating Michigan State.
They needed a fourth-quarter run to do that, taking a 74-57 victory on Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
And when they were done, the Hawkeyes were all alone in first place in the Big Ten at the halfway mark of the conference season.
"We had to win for Megan, right?" said coach Lisa Bluder. "We didn’t want to be the spoilers tonight."
The Hawkeyes (17-3 overall, 8-1 Big Ten), ranked 19th nationally, took sole possession of the conference lead by outscoring Michigan State 28-9 in the fourth quarter.
It was actually an Iowa player who wasn't on the team with Gustafson last season who saved the day. Freshman McKenna Warnock scored 15 of her career-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, firing up a crowd of 13,420, the fourth-largest attendance in program history.
"She’s a stud," senior guard Kathleen Doyle said. "She was finishing, going by people. That’s big-time, playing in front of however many people as a freshman."
Warnock, pressed into a bigger role after center Monika Czinano suffered a severe ankle sprain in the second half, took her teammates' advice.
"Everybody on the court told me, ‘Take it at them,'" Warnock said. "Everybody just gives me confidence. Honestly, they told me to play my game, play with confidence."
There were times it seemed like the Hawkeyes were off against the Spartans (11-9, 4-5), who led for most of the third quarter before Iowa rallied.
The Hawkeyes, on an eight-game winning streak and a 31-game home winning streak, have needed big second halves in recent games, so this was nothing new.
"We’ve been in this situation before," Bluder said. "We’ve pulled it out."
They pulled this one out by holding Michigan State to just 4-of-16 field goals in the fourth quarter.
"Honestly, it was our defense," Bluder said of the key to the win.
Warnock finished with 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
Doyle added 20 points. Makenzie Meyer had 13. Amanda Ollinger had 10.
