WBB: Aggies Up Next in Big 12 Semis
Media Relations
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Iowa State women’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament with a 79-76 OT win over Nebraska in the quarterfinals at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. ... the Cyclones will face the top seed, Texas A&M, at 6 p.m. Thursday in the tournament semifinals ...
ISU has won its last seven straight and eight out of the last nine ... the Cyclones have now advanced to the quarterfinals over the last four years and qualified for the semifinals for the sixth time in Big 12 history and the first time since the 2002 season ...
ISU will try to earn its first championship berth since back-to-back appearances in 2000 and 2001 ... senior Megan Ronhovde became the 18th player in
ISU history to record 1,000 career points, eclipsing the mark at Baylor ...
ISU head coach Bill Fennelly earned his 250th victory at the helm of the Cyclone program with the win over Missouri on Feb. 4 and his 400th career win in the season opener vs. Cal State Fullerton ... the Cyclones are now 24-7 overall and finished 10-6 in the Big 12 to tie Nebraska for fourth place in the final Big 12 standings ... the Cyclones claimed their eighth 20-win season in school history and the seventh under Fennelly ... Iowa State has now reached 24 wins in six seasons in school history, all under Fennelly ...
ISU finished the home season with a 15-1 record at Hilton, while
ISU was 5-6 in true road games ... the Cyclones wrapped up the non-conference slate at 12-1 overall ... Iowa State defeated then-13th-ranked Texas A&M, 61-54, in Ames on Feb. 14 ... the win over the Aggies was the first for the Cyclones in their current seven-game winning streak ... senior All-America candidate Lyndsey Medders missed games at Nebraska and Baylor and played limited minutes against Missouri due to a minor concussion ... in the Cyclones’ win over Loyola Marymount, Medders broke the Iowa State career assist record and now has 691 ... Medders is
ISU’s leading scorers with 12.9 points per game ... Nicky Wieben is
ISU’s second leading scorer with 12.3 ppg and has 1.8 blocks per game ... Toccara Ross continues to lead the Cyclones on the glass with 7.5 rpg.
On the Tube
The semifinal games of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament on Thursday, March 8, including
ISU’s game vs. Texas A&M, will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net (cable channel 40 in Ames), check your local listings ... Kevin Eschenfelder (play-by-play), Debbie Antonelli (color) and Brenda VanLengen (sideline) will be calling the action.
On the Air
The game will be broadcast live on the Cyclone Radio Network (1430 AM in Ames) ... every game is broadcast live on the internet at Cyclones.com ... broadcasts will be streamed by Yahoo! Sports and will cost $4.95 per month, which will include broadcasts of football, men’s basketball and the Coaches shows.
Last Time Out
Lyndsey Medders scored 27 points, including a 3-pointer in the last seconds of regulation, to pace Iowa State to a 79-76 overtime victory over Nebraska Wednesday afternoon in quarterfinals of the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship ... the game began as a see-saw affair, as both teams traded baskets in the first eight minutes. Nicky Wieben scored
ISU’s first six points on a trio of buckets and Medders posted eight points, including a pair of treys, to keep
ISU close at 18-16 ... Nebraska grabbed its biggest lead of the game at the 6:38 mark of the first half when Kiera Hardy buried a trey from the left wing to give the Huskers a 30-20 advantage ... the Cyclones quickly answered with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 32-30 with 4:46 left ... Alison Lacey was responsible for eight of
ISU’s 10 points in the run behind a pair of 3-pointers ... NU closed the half making its last four baskets while holding a 45-36 lead at intermission ... the Huskers were on fire in the first period, making 18-of-28 shots from the floor (64.3 percent), while the Cyclones hit at a 52.0 percent clip ... both teams cooled off in the opening moments of the second period ... the Huskers missed their first nine shots and
ISU was just 1-of-its-first-7 from the floor, as NU led 47-41 with 15:10 remaining ... Wieben cut the Husker lead to 47-44 with a 3-pointer at the top key, but NU finally made its first field goal of the second half at the 14:01 mark with a lay-in by Danielle Page to increase its lead to 49-44 ... the Cyclones finally closed the gap and took the lead with 7:32 remaining on five quick points from Wieben and Lacey, culminated by Lacey’s third trey of the game to give
ISU a 57-55 lead ... the lead was short, however, as the Huskers responded with a trey from Chelsea Aubry on their next possession ... after another hoop from NU’s Hardy, Lacey drilled another 3 followed by a Rachel Pierson basket off a nifty feed from Medders to make it 62-60 in favor of the Cyclones with 4:32 left ... the momentum shifted back to NU, as the Huskers took the lead with 1:12 left (68-66) on a Page lay-in ... after Megan Ronhovde made one of two free-throws (68-67), the Cyclones got a stop on the defensive end, setting up a chance for the last shot, but Medders mishandled an inbounds pass resulting in a turnover ... Page was fouled and sank two free-throws to push NU out in front 70-67 ... needing a three to tie, Medders dribbled off a double-screen to nail a trey with :01.7 left to force the overtime ... Medders got
ISU rolling in the extra session, drilling her fifth 3-pointer followed by a lay-in from Wieben to give
ISU an early 75-72 edge ... two more free-throws by Medders pushed the Cyclone lead to 77-72, but NU answered with four-straight points to cut the lead to 77-76 with 1:24 left in the overtime period ... Ronhovde then got a key steal with under a minute left to set up a pair of free-throws from Medders to pad
ISU’s lead to 79-76 with :29.6 remaining ... Nebraska had one last chance, but Hardy’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.
About the Cyclones
Iowa State has used six different starting lineups this season ...
ISU is 24-7 on the year and finished 10-6 in the Big 12 ...
ISU was 15-1 at Hilton Coliseum this year ...
ISU is outscoring opponents by a margin of +8.2, and is averaging 68.4 ppg ... the Cyclones are shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 34.2 percent from three-point range ...
ISU has outrebounded opponents with a +3.5 margin ... Iowa State is in its 34th season of women’s basketball and holds a 494-470 overall record ... the 2006-07 Iowa State roster has 14 active players on it, the largest number on an
ISU roster to start the season since 2001-02 when the Cyclones had 15 players ... the Cyclones are coming off an 18-13 season in which they made it to the second round of the WNIT for their ninth postseason appearance in the last 10 years.
