Iowa State Completes Sweep of No. 8 Texas, 58-57

AUSTIN, Texas – Nikki Moody's free throws with 17.5 seconds to go, gave the Iowa State women's basketball team a 58-57 win over No. 8 Texas Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. The win, giving ISU a season sweep of the Longhorns, improved ISU to 14-4 overall, 5-2 in Big 12 play. UT fell to 14-4, 3-4 in league play.

The defeat of the No. 8 Longhorns are the highest ranked opponent Iowa State has knocked off in a road game in program history, and its second road win over a top-10 team in ISU history. The Cyclones also picked up its second season-sweep over Texas in the last three seasons.

How It Happened
Texas was first on the board and had the lead for the entirety of the first half. However, the Cyclones did well to ensure UT didn't run away with it. The difference for Texas early on came in the post, with Kelsey Lang leading the UT offense with 10 first-half points and Imani McGee-Stafford coming off the bench to record three blocks in her first four minutes. UT also benefitted with depth off the bench, with Texas posting 20 first-half bench points while ISU only got four.

Up 20-18, the Longhorns went on a 12-5 run to give itself some separation and its biggest lead of the game as McGee-Stafford laid one in to make it 32-23 in favor of UT. The Cyclones did not allow Texas to get out of sight, and credit goes to the effort at the free throw line, as the Cyclones took advantage of the Longhorns' fouling by going 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.

The first minutes of the second half were low-scoring, with only six points between the two teams in the first 6:42 of the second frame. However, the Longhorns were the benefactors of four of those points, as they were able to re-establish a nine-point lead. Brynn Williamson broke an over five-minute scoring drought with a 3-pointer to reduce the UT lead to six, 40-34. The Cyclones slowly chipped away and with 8:36 left, got it all tied back up at 46-46 as Nikki Moody found Fallon Ellis for an old-fashioned 3-point play.

A few possessions later, Kidd Blaskowsky picked off a Nekia Jones outlet pass and took it to the rack on her own to give Iowa State its first lead of the game 32:40 into the game at 48-46. UT re-took the lead at 49-48, but the lead didn't last one possession as Johnson drove into the lane for a bucket to re-establish the ISU advantage at 50-49. Lang gave UT the lead back with a putback at 51-50, but it was Ellis again who stepped up with a bucket to reclaim the ISU advantage at 52-51. The lead didn't even last one possession as Brooke McCarty drained a 3 from the right wing to make it 54-52 Longhorns with 2:15 to go.

After a Moody free throw reduced the Longhorn advantage to one, Jones completed a three-point play, converting a lay-in, drawing the foul that saw Ellis foul out for the game and making the free throw to give UT a 57-53 advantage with 55 seconds left. The Cyclones fouled to put the pressure on UT at the line, working as McCarty missed a free throw, leading to a Brynna Fernstrom lay-up to take the UT lead down to 57-56. Texas compounded its mistake by turning it over on the in-bound pass. Moody attacked and drew a foul on Lang. She hit both to give ISU a 58-57 advantage with 17.5 seconds to play. UT had the final shot, with McCarty missing a 3-pointer as time expired to give ISU the victory.

Cyclone GameBall Goes to…
Nikki Moody. The hobbled Moody was the leader for the Cyclones and hit the biggest shots of the game to lead ISU to its season sweep of the Longhorns. Moody led all players with 14 points, but shot only 3-of-11 from the field. Where her shooting mattered was at the charity stripe, where she went 7-of-9, including the game-winning free throws with 17.5 seconds to go. She also contributed five assists.

Cyclone Quick Hits
*Brynn Williamson recorded 11 points, her third-straight game in double figures and 41st of her career.
*Williamson's two 3-pointers marked her 65th career game with at least two 3s in a game.
*Nikki Moody finished with 14 points, her 55th career game in double figures.
*Iowa State hit a 3-pointer in its NCAA-record 630th consecutive game.

Up Next
Iowa State returns home Wednesday to take on Kansas at 7 p.m. inside Hilton Coliseum. The game will be shown on Cyclones.TV Powered by Mediacom.

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Players Mentioned

Fallon Ellis

Fallon Ellis

Nikki Moody

Nikki Moody

Brynn Williamson

Brynn Williamson

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