WBB: Cyclones Come Back for 64-61 Win at KSU

[Jeremy]

WBB: Cyclones Come Back for 64-61 Win at KSU
Media Relations

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Iowa State women’s basketball team trailed the Kansas State Wildcats all day, but came back to earn the win, 64-61, Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.

The Cyclones improved to 21-7 overall and 9-6 in the Big 12 Conference, while Kansas State dropped to 16-12 overall and 4-11 in the league. Iowa State swept the series with the Wildcats for the first time since 2001 and swept both Kansas State and Kansas in the same season for the first time in school history.

Iowa State tied the game for the first time at 59-all with 1:52 remaining when Lyndsey Medders got the steal and the breakaway layup. KSU’s Ashley Sweat got a layin with 1:03 on the clock, but Medders found fellow senior Megan Ronhovde in the corner for a three to give the Cyclones their first lead of the game, 62-61, with 27 seconds left. Iowa State got the defensive stop on the other end and the Wildcats were forced to foul Medders, who knocked down both free throw attempts to give ISU its final three-point cushion, 64-61.

Medders led the Cyclones with 16 points and seven assists, while Ronhovde had 12 points and five rebounds as the seniors led ISU for the second straight game. The Cyclones shot 40.7 percent for the contest and outrebounded KSU, 36-34. Sweat turned in 25 points for the Wildcats, while Shalee Lehning finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Shana Wheeler had 10 points for Kansas State.

The Cyclones went cold to start the second half, going 2-of-11 from the field and committing seven turnovers over the first eight minutes of the second half, as Kansas State raced out to a 49-39 lead and held ISU without a field goal for over seven minutes. Iowa State finally answered with a 7-0 run, ignited by a Ronhovde three-pointer, to make the score 49-46. ISU kept cutting the KSU lead down, but the Wildcats seemed to find answers until the very end.

Kansas State held just a 40-35 lead at halftime after leading by as many as 14, 23-9, with just over 11 minutes left in the period. The Wildcats hit one of their five first-half treys to take a 33-24 advantage, before ISU started chipping away at the KSU lead. Amanda Nisleit and Alison Lacey knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to cut the advantage to three points, 33-30. KSU got up by as many as eight from there, but Medders got a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to make the score 38-35. Kansas State got a final score by Sweat to push its halftime lead to five.

Eight Cyclones scored in the first half, led by Medders and Nisleit with seven points each. ISU shot 50 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes, but allowed the Wildcats to shoot 51.7 percent and 5-of-9 from three-point range. Sweat had 14 and Lehning had 13 first-half points.

The Cyclones will close out the regular season on Thursday when they travel to Texas Tech to face the Red Raiders. Then Iowa State will move on to the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City, March 6-10.