No. 2 Sooners Hold Off Cyclones 58-49

Wednesday, February 11

Norman, Okla.

7:00 PM

Iowa State

18-5, 6-3Big 12

Oklahoma

21-2, 9-0Big 12

Team	1	2	F
Iowa State	26	23	49
Oklahoma	26	32	58

No. 2 Sooners Hold Off Cyclones 58-49

02.11.2009 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: cyclones.com

NORMAN, Okla. ? Iowa State senior Heather Ezell hit big shots all night, but the No. 16 Cyclones struggled to hit shots at the end as second-ranked Oklahoma earned a 58-49 win over Iowa State Wednesday night at Lloyd Noble Center.

Ezell led the Cyclones with 15 points, hitting three treys for the 15th game this season. Kelsey Bolte pitched in eight points as ISU's second leading scorer. Iowa State shot 29.6 percent from the floor and 31.8 percent from three-point range. Amanda Nisleit led ISU on the boards with seven rebounds. The Sooners had three players finish in double figures, led by Courtney Paris' 25 points and 19 rebounds. Oklahoma shot 54.5 percent from the field, but was shut out from beyond the arc. OU outrebounded the Cyclones, 36-24.

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Final Statistics

Iowa State dropped to 18-5 on the season and 6-3 in the Big 12, while Oklahoma improved to 21-2 overall and 9-0 in the league. The loss snapped a five-game win streak for the Cyclones.

“That's a great team and we aren't going to outscore them on the road,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “We stayed in the game as long as we could. We got the score to 48-46 and got three open looks to go ahead and missed all three. We just couldn't finish and that is to their credit. It is hard to beat a great team any place, but we just couldn't make enough shots.”

The Cyclones went on a 9-0 run to end the first half with a 26-26 tie. Oklahoma got out to a 4-0 lead and held Iowa State scoreless for the first five minutes of the game. Freshman Whitney Williams finally knocked down a three from the corner, her first field goal in Big 12 play, to open the Cyclones' scoring.

The Sooners got out to an 11-5 advantage with 10:39 to go in the first period and extended it to 13-7 off a Courtney Paris basket. But Toccara Ross hit a pair of free throws and Nicky Wieben scored to close the gap, 13-12. Danielle Robinson scored consecutive field goals for a 17-12 OU lead. Ezell drained a three to cut the margin to two before the Sooners went on a 7-0 run to push their lead to nine, 24-15.

The Cyclones ended the half with their 9-0 run in thanks to five points from Bolte, who got a traditional three-point play with six seconds left in the half. Iowa State shot 32 percent from the field, but went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc. OU shot 47.8 percent from the floor. The Sooners outrebounded ISU, 18-11.

Nisleit hit a three and Ezell scored as the Cyclones posted five points coming out of the locker room to earn its first lead of the game, 31-26. The Sooners answered with a 7-0 run, with scoring from three players, to regain the lead 33-31.

Nisleit hit a pair of free throws to cut the Sooner margin to 37-35, before OU scored five unanswered to open a 42-35 lead. Ezell knocked down a trey as the shot clock expired to cut it to four and after an OU score, Bolte drained another three-pointer from the corner for a 44-41 OU lead.

The Sooners went back to the Paris sisters for back-to-back buckets to extend their lead to seven, 48-41, but Ezell bombed another huge three-pointer and Alison Lacey followed with a jumper in the lane that cut the lead to two (48-46). Oklahoma answered by rolling off six straight points to push the lead back to eight. Lacey got a field goal and free throw to cut the lead to five, 54-49, with just under two minutes to go. The Sooners stepped up to the line and hit free throws at the end to secure the victory.

The Cyclones return to Ames for a Sunday matchup with No. 13 Texas at 2:30 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum. It is Iowa State's Pink Zone game and fans are encouraged to join the Cyclones and the Longhorns in wearing pink to the game. The Pink Zone was started by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association to raise awareness for breast cancer.