Dang, I hated writing that title. I'm not ready for this season to end. I've enjoyed it every step of the way. But here we are. I'm going to start with a couple of personal comments. I couldn't be more proud of this team! This absolutely amazing group of freshmen and upperclassmen showed no fear. Never gave up. Never backed down. They took blow after blow and just kept answering. They were going play for play with one of the top ten teams in the country. As I look back at this season I'm just kind of bursting inside with pride.
The first quarter saw Stanford break out to a quick lead with a sign of things that would happen all night. Iriafen drained a couple of early shots, but guess what. The ladies answered back. Our three point shooting throughout the night was just stellar. Belanger would drain one. Ryan would hit. All of a sudden the ladies not only caught up to Stanford, they actually created a 7 point lead. Throughout the rest of the quarter it was a battle to stay ahead, but the energy the ladies brought to the floor kept Stanford at bay. By the end of one ISU led the #2 seed 23-16. Our big hammer - the three - was being played hard here as the ladies went 6-8 from deep. Through the first, we outrebounded Stanford. We outshot Stanford. Our defense frustrated Stanford. This was a good start. What was also pretty clear was Crooks was having a rough start on the night facing the twin towers of Stanford.
As the second started, Stanford just kept creeping closer. ISU's offense just stalled out for a while as the Cardinal's height kept challenging the ladies. What became very clear was that one of our players in particular wasn't going to go away without the fight of her life - Emily Ryan. Em would do a bit of everything including dice the lane for layups. Just like Iriafen, she kept ISU in the middle of this game. You take those two players out and this would be an ugly mess on both sides. Crooks continued to struggle as every time she actually caught the ball it was tough to finish with the way she shoots the ball. Brinks would have two arms draped over her shoulders on every possession. The second quarter was another battle for points with Stanford outscoring State 15-10. The sisters shot an ugly 25% in this frame. Zero percent from three. Zero assists. It was a real struggle. But at the half the ladies still held the lead 33-31. More fireworks were to come.
The second half started with what we would see the rest of the game. It was a back and forth battle. Fouls were called. Brink would get her 4th foul early in the 3rd and go to the bench. Unfortunately, the Cardinal still had another giant to play defense (actually better defense) against Crooks and she continued to be frustrated. One critical piece that I felt really hurt us was free throws. Crooks missed two and a usually reliable Bristow missed a pair. In all we missed five of nine attempts in the quarter. What a difference those could have made. But again, Ryan was in the mix and doing everything in her power to keep ISU alive. Unfortunately, our other guards were struggling a bit more to get free. We weren't setting effective screens. But the never quit sisters were still going blow for blow with Stanford. At the end of three the score was dead even at 50 all.
So, the game (at least we thought) would come down to the last ten minutes. All knotted up each team started with Stanford missing on its first possession and ISU rebounding and scoring at the other end. But believe me, this one just went back and forth the entire ten minutes. Emily kept scoring. Brown would hit a trey. Crooks actually got into the act a bit, but she was hampered with four fouls. One of the real highlights was seeing Bristow come in and make a difference on both ends of the court. She made a very real impact. Back and forth, back and forth, with neither team building more than a possession lead. Both teams made six shots. Both teams made two treys. Both teams made two free throws. Both teams held the lead nearly the same number of minutes (only about 2 min apiece). One big event was when Brink fouled out. But, they still had enough size and depth to keep Crooks at bay. She never was able to start dominating in any fashion. At the end of regulation, Crooks would miss on our end and Iriafen would miss a jump shot on their end. Overtime tied at 66.
It was amazing to watch these two teams. No one seemed tired. The energy levels in OT were buzzing. No one backed down. Crooks would end up fouling out. The death knell of the game for ISU was the last two minutes. Emily had a couple of turnovers and one offensive foul (it was a beaut!) that resulted in three empty possessions. This gave Stanford the chance to take the lead and from that point on it was ISU battling to tie versus actually lead. The game was last tied at 78 after a pair of Ryan free throws. ISU would have one last lead after a beautiful Brown trey and it was 81-80. But Stanford answered back in about 10 seconds as Demetre would hit a deep ball of her own. ISU would never tie or lead again. The rest of the game were the two Ryan turnovers and multiple fouls on Cardinal players. They wouldn't miss at the line. The difference in the game was the Cardinal getting to the line and going 7-7. To make matters worse, Stanford hardly missed a shot in OT shooting over 80% for the period. The last gasp was when Brown took the inbounds with ISU down two and forced up a shot between two defenders. She slipped, lost control and that was pretty much it. After the clock hit zero Stanford would advance winning 87-81.
I'm not quite ready to think about the future. I want to sit back and soak in all the fantastical things we got to experience by riding on the wagon with this team. Who would have thought in October that this young team would (a) produce a freshman all American, a first team all big 12 post, (b) with 21 games, (c) finish 4th in the conference, (d) start conference play 6-0, (e) see the freshmen grow by leaps and bounds to improve practically every game, (f) make the finals of the Big 12 Tournament, (g) overcome a 20 point deficit to advance in the NCAA tournament and (h) never, ever quit. Never surrender. Never Give Up. Great season ladies. We have a lot to look forward to.
