Upset bid for Michigan State women's basketball comes up short in OT against No. 10 Iowa

EAST LANSING — All night, the Michigan State women's basketball team made things difficult for one of the nation's biggest stars in Caitlyn Clark.

But the junior guard came through with the game on the line.

Clark scored the go-ahead basket with 30.6 seconds to play and added a pair of late free throws to help No. 10-ranked Iowa escape the Breslin Center with an 84-81 overtime win over MSU on Wednesday night.

The loss marked the third in overtime at home in Big Ten play this season for the Spartans (10-9, 2-6 Big Ten).

MSU had its chances, leading by six during the middle stages of the fourth quarter and by as much as four in overtime after a 3-pointer by Tory Ozment.

But Iowa (15-4, 7-1) outscored the Spartans 11-4 over the final 2:28 in OT while winning its fourth straight. Clark, who had a game-high 26 points on 6 of 19 shooting from the field, had six points during that late stretch.

"We have opportunities to kind of seal things with open lay-ups or open shots and we don't hit them," MSU coach Suzy Merchant said. "I think that's the difference — executing down the stretch on the offensive end. We had every opportunity to win that game."

Iowa also went on an 8-0 run in the middle stages of the fourth quarter that was key in fighting back.

"We had plays at the end where we could kind of finish the game out and we just couldn't really close it out," said Ozment, who had five of her eight points in overtime. "I guess we've got to kind of go back to the drawing board and figure out how we can finish those shots or get a better shot and go from there."

Kamaria McDaniel had a team-high 23 points on 6 of 21 shooting from the floor for MSU — her best scoring game since scoring 24 in the Spartans win over then-No. 4-ranked Indiana at Breslin in late December.

McDaniel hit a pair of free throws with 5.3 seconds left in overtime after an intentional foul was called on Clark to cut the MSU deficit to 82-81. Then with a chance to win the game in the closing seconds, she was called for traveling.

Molly Davis made a pair of free throws with 2 seconds to play. McDaniel missed a half-court 3 as time expired to end the Spartans' bid for their second victory over a top-10 ranked opponent.

Iowa's Monika Czinano had 22 points on 11 of 11 shooting from the field and seven rebounds before fouling out.

Isa Alexander had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Spartans before fouling out late in regulation. Matilda Ekh had 13 points and Moira Joiner scored 11 for MSU, which dropped its fourth straight.

Wednesday's setback showed the potential ceiling the Spartans have. Now they hope to reach it and find consistency.

"That inconsistency is kind of our thing right now," Ozment said. "We're trying to navigate that and figure out how we can be more consistent. That is something that we are focusing on and hopefully we can change. We have a lot of season left, but also we need some big wins. We needed that win for later down the road. We've just got to figure it out every day at practice, get a little bit better and go from there."

Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State edged in overtime by No. 10 Iowa