WBB: No. 14 Georgia Ends
ISU's Season, 76-56
Media Relations
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—No. 14 Georgia raced out to a 20-2 lead and never looked back, defeating No. 24 Iowa State, 76-56 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Monday night in Minneapolis.
"I was proud of how we kept playing,"
ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. "I told our kids at halftime that there is more in life to worry about, so let's keep playing to the end. They (Georgia) have great players and they made shots. When you play great teams when they are feeling it, they are going to burn you. We made a couple of defensive mistakes early and they made us pay. Georgia is a great team and they have a great coach. You have to give them all of the credit."
Georgia set the tone right after the tip, scoring the first eight points of the game on three field goals. Lyndsey Medders got
ISU on the board with a lay-in at the 18:01 mark, but the Bulldogs answered with 12-straight points to take a commanding 20-2 lead with 14:52 left before intermission. UGA’s Cori Chambers made it 25-4 with her fifth basket in five attempts, including a 3-for-3 effort from beyond the arc in the first seven minutes of the contest. At that point, UGA was 10-for-13 from the floor as a team.
Alison Lacey was
ISU’s go-to player early on, scoring seven of
ISU’s first 13 points. The Bulldogs held a 27-point lead (40-13) with 5:48 left in the opening period until the Cyclones made a run. Medders hit
ISU’s first trey to start the spurt. Another Medders 3-pointer and a pair of layups by Toccara Ross and Nicky Wieben helped
ISU mount a 12-3 run to cut the lead to 43-25 with 3:25 remaining. However, the Bulldogs closed out the half on an 8-2 run to take a 51-27 lead at the break. Chambers made another trey to help her go 7-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-4 from downtown en route to 18 points in the first half.
The Bulldogs were 8-of-16 from 3-point range (50 percent) in the opening period after shooting just 17 percent (8-for-46) from 3-point range in their three previous games.
Georgia cooled down in the second half, but
ISU could not get much going either. The Bulldogs grabbed a 32-point lead (63-31), their biggest of the game, at the 12:22 mark in regulation and cruised the rest of the way.
ISU cut the lead down to 17 points (66-49), the closest margin since the opening minutes, going on an 18-3 late in the second half. The Cyclones shot just 34.5 percent for the game (20-58 FG), their fifth-worst outing of the season.
Medders finished her career as
ISU’s all-time leader in assists with 719. The senior posted 11 points and dished out nine dimes in the game, breaking her former single-season school record for assists. She recorded 216 assists this year compared to 215 dimes last season, the two best single-season marks in school history. Wieben led the Cyclones in scoring with 13 points, while Ross added 11 points and nine boards in the loss.
"Our seniors have done a phenomenal job," Fennelly added. "They (Medders, Megan Ronhovde, Abby Reinert) found a way to find another level and it started at home and continued to the end. I hope these seniors will be remembered for more than wins and losses. They will be known as phenomenal people more than basketball players and I am really proud of them. Our fans who came up here were awesome. They were showing their appreciation of this program and I can't thank them enough. They could have been heading for the exits, but they stayed with us."
The Cyclones end their season with a 26-9 overall record, the third-most wins in school history, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time, all under Fennelly.
WBB: No. 14 Georgia Ends ISU's Season, 76-56 
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