Oklahoma State University Athletics
Iowa State Upsets No. 15 Cowgirls, 62-57
February 17, 2008 | Cowgirl Basketball
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -With close losses starting to pile up, Iowa State got just the kind of win it needed for its NCAA tournament resume.
Alison Lacey scored 15 points and Heather Ezell added 12, including the go-ahead free throws with 41.1 seconds left, as the Cyclones sustained a second-half rally by No. 15 Oklahoma State and beat the Cowgirls 62-57 on Sunday.
``This is huge on the road against a ranked team,'' Ezell said. ``It's hard to do, especially in our league with the way that everybody's been playing at home. It'll be a great win for us and hopefully can build for us for the rest of the season.''
The Cyclones (16-8, 5-6 Big 12) let a 13-point second-half lead slip away before getting it together in the final 2 minutes.
Ezell, who was fouled on the Cyclones' second straight offensive rebound, hit two foul shots to put Iowa State ahead 55-54 and the Cowgirls (20-4, 8-3) couldn't respond.
Lacey added two free throws to stretch the lead to 59-54 before Andrea Riley sank a long 3 from the right wing to give Oklahoma State one last chance.
Iowa State was able to inbound the ball to Lacey, who was fouled and hit one free throw with 3.3 seconds left, and 5-foot-8 guard Denae Stuckey put back the second foul shot to provide the final margin.
Bolte finished with 12 points and Amanda Nisleit hit a career-high three 3-pointers and scored all 11 of her points in the first half for Iowa State, which improved to 1-4 in games decided by five points or less this season. It was the second time the Cyclones have upset a Top 25 team on the road this year.
``They're a desperate team right now because they're playing for their NCAA tournament lives, and they played like it,'' Oklahoma State coach Kurt Budke said. ``They played like they wanted it more, they played smarter basketball, just more efficient.''
Riley led Oklahoma State with 18 points, Shaunte Smith scored 16, Maria Cordero had 13 and Danielle Green added 10. The Cowgirls were outrebounded 22-9 in the second half and had a four-game winning streak snapped.
``It's kind of like a learning experience,'' Riley said. ``We did come back and we fought back, but we also have to learn how to finish.''
``We came back, and those last 3 minutes it seemed like we weren't willing to do what we had to do to win.''
After starting out 9-for-15 from beyond the arc and building a 30-16 lead, the Cyclones missed their next eight 3-pointers as Oklahoma State started to claw its way back.
Ezell finally broke Iowa State's 3-point drought from the top of the key for a 52-47 lead with 5:59 left, but the Cyclones went more than 5 minutes without scoring to allow Oklahoma State to take its first lead on Cordero's fast-break layup with 2:08 remaining.
It was the only lead of the game for the Cowgirls.
``The last 3 minutes when we didn't play as well as we should have played was probably because of how hard we had to work to get back in the game,'' Budke said. ``We needed a better start than we had.''
