Adios, Bad Morgan; hello, Good Morgan

IOWA CITY -- She was terrible. She was terrific.

She was horrible. She was heroic.

Morgan Johnson morphed from Bad Morgan to Good Morgan early in the second half and lifted the Iowa Hawkeyes to a 58-47 win over Virginia Tech in front of an announced crowd of 4,798 Wednesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It was Iowa's first win in five tries in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

"That was pretty much the worst (I've played), and I'd kind of like to keep it that way," said Johnson, who missed 12 of her first 13 shots from the field before recovering to lead all scorers with 23 points. "I went to the locker room at halftime, and the first thing ... my teammates were saying, 'Morgan, you're better than you're showing.' "

Johnson was languishing at 1-for-13 and Iowa was clinging to a 31-29 lead before the junior post turned it around, 180 degrees.

She converted on an offensive rebound, scored on a nifty duck-under move, then tallied again on a feed from Jaime Printy in the matter of a minute and a half to put the Hawkeyes (5-2) in front by eight.

"I'm proud of the way she came back," said Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder. "It was a tough start for her. I'm really, really proud of her effort."

Johnson started 1-of-13, then finished 7-of-8. She finally made the Hokies (2-5) pay for their strict attention to the Hawkeyes' perimeter game.

"Our lack of size hurt us again tonight," said Virginia Tech Coach Dennis Wolff. "We guarded the perimeter really well, but they stayed with wanted to do longer than we did."

Iowa prevailed despite shooting 2-of-15 from long range.

Both teams were icy in the first half. Iowa led 27-23 at intermission despite shooting 22 percent (7 of 32).

"It's nice to know we can win if we don't get off to a quick start," said Iowa's Kelly Krei, whose basket 4 1/2 minutes into the game accounted for the first points.

Virginia Tech didn't score until Latorri Hines-Allen's basket 6:20 into the contest.

Aerial Wilson, who led Virginia Tech with 18 points, scored the first six points of the second half to give the Hokies a 29-27 lead, but Bad Morgan morphed into Good Morgan in time to ignite a 10-0 run for a 37-29 Iowa advantage, and the Hawkeyes led the rest of the way.

Printy added nine points for the Hawkeyes. Krei and Samantha Logic scored eight apiece.

Kamille Wahlin was shut out for only the third time in her career.

The Hawkeyes have another Challenge game Saturday night -- the Big Ten/Big 12 variety -- at Kansas State.

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IOWA 58, VIRGINIA TECH 47

At Iowa City

VIRGINIA TECH (47): Porschia Hadley 0-3 0-0 0, Aerial Wilson 8-20 1-2 18, Alyssa Fenyn 2-7 0-0 5, Larryqua 1-3 0-0 2, Monet Tellier 4-13 7-11 16, Brittni Montgomery 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Ayers 0-0 0-0 0, Kelsey Conyers 0-0 0-0 0, Latorri Hines-Allen 3-10 0-0 6. Totals 18-57 8-13 47.

IOWA (58): Kelly Krei 3-8 1-2 8, Morgan Johnson 8-21 7-8 23, Kamille Wahlin 0-3 0-0 0, Samantha Logic 3-7 2-2 8, Jaime Printy 3-9 3-4 9, Kalli Hansen 0-3 0-0 0, Melissa Dixon 2-3 0-0 5, Theairra Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Kathryn Reynolds 0-1 1-2 1, Virginia Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Bethany Doolittle 1-4 2-2 4. Totals 20-60 16-20 58.

Halftime: Iowa 27, Virginia Tech 23. 3-point goals: Virginia Tech 3-8 (Wilson 1-4, Fenyn 1-2, Tellier 1-2), Iowa 2-15 (Krei 1-3, Logic 0-3, Printy 0-3, Hansen 0-3, Dixon 1-2, Reynolds 0-1). Team fouls: Virginia Tech 19, Iowa 11. Fouled out: Montgomery. Rebounds: Virginia Tech 38 (Hall 8), Iowa 47 (Johnson 8). Assists: Virginia Tech 10 (Wilson 4), Iowa 13 (Logic 5). Steals: Virginia Tech 9 (Fenyn 4), Iowa 7 (Wahlin 2). Turnovers: Virginia Tech 15, Iowa 13.

Attendance: 4,798.