Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus UCF on January 31, 2026 , Win , 65, to, 52
Final
Women's Basketball
65
UCF
52
Iowa State University Athletics
Ezell Advances to Semis of Three-Point Contest
04.02.2009 | Women's Basketball
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. ? Iowa State senior Heather Ezell advanced to the semifinals of the 21st Annual State Farm Slam Dunk and 3-Pt Championship Thursday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the site of the men's NCAA Final Four. Ezell scored 15 points to advance out of the first round.
Ezell fractured her hand during a practice before the Big 12 Championship and is still shooting with a broken hand. Despite the injury, the Springfield, Mo., native knocked out some other great long range shooters in the first round, including Kristi Toliver (Maryland), Kristi Smith (Iowa), Karee Houlette (Georgetown) and Angel Chan (Central Michigan).
As the first competitor in the semifinals, she scored 14 points, hitting two money balls, to tie Duke's Abby Waner. Ezell and Waner were each one shot shy of moving on to the finals. Briann January (Arizona State) scored 16 points and Melissa Liebschwager (Furman) scored 15 to advance to the finals. Liebschwager went on to win the competition with 19 points.
“It was a great experience to be in the competition and represent Iowa State,” Ezell said. “I had a lot of fun being around all of the contestants. I was nervous going first and then I had to sit and watch the other three and hope they missed.”
The competition aired on ESPN Thursday night along with the men's three-point shooting contest and the dunk championship. In the three-point contests, each contestant had to make it through five racks that contained five balls each in 60 seconds. The last ball on each rack was the “money ball” and was worth two points, while the other four balls on the rack were worth just one point.
In the semifinals, Ezell hit money balls off the first and second racks. The second and fourth racks were her best, hitting three shots in each.
Ezell equaled the Iowa State career record with 287 three-pointers. She hit one three-pointer in the NCAA Regional Final against Stanford to tie Megan Taylor's school record. She also finished her career ranked 10th in Iowa State career scoring with 1,339 points.
Players Mentioned
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