By Iowa State Athletic Communications
AUSTIN, Texas – The 21st-ranked Iowa State women’s basketball team came back from 14-down in the second half to knock off 20th-ranked Texas 73-71 in overtime Saturday afternoon at the Frank Erwin Center. It was just ISU’s second win in Austin and the first since 2000. Alison Lacey hit a three-pointer with a few seconds left on the clock to tie the game at 68-all and send the game into overtime. She got the first field goal of the extra period and Texas responded with a two-pointer by Erika Arriaran and a free throw to take a one-point advantage. Kelsey Bolte drained the winning three-pointer with just over a minute remaining and the Cyclone defense did the rest of the work to earn the win. Iowa State improved to 15-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big 12 Conference, while Texas dropped to 13-6 overall and 2-3 in the league. The Cyclones have won three straight games after dropping their first two conference contests. Lacey finished with a double-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Bolte added 19 points, all in the second half, after going 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. Amanda Zimmerman came up big for ISU in several spots, scoring a career-high 14 points and grabbing five rebounds. Iowa State shot 42.6 percent from the field and 40 percent (10-25) from beyond the arc. The Cyclones were also 11-for-12 from the charity stripe. ISU outrebounded Texas, 36-30. The Longhorns had three players in double figures, led by Brittainey Raven and Ashleigh Fontenette with 18 apiece. Texas shot 38.2 percent from the field, including going 1-for-6 during the overtime period. UT was 9-for-20 from beyond the arc and 20-for-29 from the free throw line. The Cyclones were stumped early by the Longhorn defense, scoring its first points at the line five and a half minutes into the game and hitting its first field goal seven minutes in. Texas got out to an 8-2 lead before ISU finally got into the game. Iowa State eventually tied the game at 10-all at the half-way point of the first half. Lacey finally drained a three-pointer to put the Cyclones up 13-12. The Longhorns answered with a trey, but ISU scored the next five points to go up 18-15. Texas went on an 11-0 run, that ended with a Raven free throw after ISU’s Jessica Schroll was called for a technical foul. UT led 26-18 before Whitney Williams hit a three-pointer. Texas again answered with a three from Fontenette. Williams hit a pair of free throws to finish the scoring in the first half with Iowa State trailing 29-23. The Cyclones held a definitive lead on the glass for most of the first half, but Texas closed the gap over the last few minutes, as ISU led just 17-14 at the break. ISU shot 30.4 percent from the field and hit three treys, while Texas shot 34.8 percent and also had three three-pointers. The Longhorns went 10-for-17 from the charity stripe, while the Cyclones were 6-for-6. ISU was called for 14 first-half fouls, while Texas registered seven. Texas scored its first five points of the second half from the charity stripe. Bolte drained a three-pointer from the corner to close within four points, 34-30. But the Texas floodgates opened and the Longhorns hit five straight three-pointers to spur a 15-5 run opening their lead to 13, 49-36. Iowa State closed to within eight, 49-41, off a three by Bolte and a field goal by Chelsea Poppens. From there, the Cyclones got to within seven of Texas five times, but the Longhorns continued to find answers. Finally ISU put together back-to-back field goals from the post players and a pair of free throws from Lacey to cut the lead to three, 61-58 with 3:22 remaining. ISU tied the game at 63-all, when Lacey hit another two free throws and Bolte bombed a three-pointer from the corner with 1:07 left. Erika Arriaran missed a three-pointer on the other end, but got lost after the rebound and knocked one down from the top of the key with 38.2 seconds left. Lacey got a basket from just outside the paint with 27.5 seconds remaining. The Longhorns hit two free throws to push their lead back to three. On ISU’s final possession, Bolte missed two three-pointers, but Lacey nailed one from the top of the key to send the game to overtime tied at 68-all. In overtime, the Cyclones just needed five points to earn the win. Bolte hit the game-winning three-pointer with 1:07 to go and the defense toughened up on the other end to claim the victory. The Cyclones will play host to 13th-ranked Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.
