Cyclones run into brick wall, Iowa takes advantage of cold shooting

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The No. 10 Cyclones landed in Iowa Metropolis with heads held excessive following a robust bounce again sport towards SIUE.

The Cyclones had just one loss on the season and felt assured in competing exhausting towards in-state rival No. 16 Iowa. Nevertheless, it appeared Iowa had been watching tapes, as comparable points from the loss to North Carolina arose when the Cyclones crumbled within the second half to fall to Iowa 70-57.

“Our incapacity to shoot the ball continues to hang-out us slightly bit,” Iowa State head coach Invoice Fennelly stated.

A second half that felt eerily paying homage to the Phil Knight Invitational noticed Iowa not solely erase a 5-point Iowa State lead however placed on a taking pictures show that left Iowa State within the mud.

The Cyclones battled exhausting, however in the long run, the energy of the house crowd gave the Hawkeyes an edge, because the Cyclones dropped their second sport of the season.

It began with a chilly first quarter. Identical to many video games this season, pictures weren’t falling early, however the Cyclones weren’t frightened of placing the ball up.

It appeared like three-pointers weren’t going to fall till Stephanie Soares lastly let one fly that caught nothing however web. After lacking the primary 4 threes, the Cyclones wanted that to get right into a groove.

On the first media timeout, the Cyclones had shot 1-11, making just one three-pointer within the first 5 minutes of the sport. That chilly taking pictures continued, as they didn’t rating one other level till two minutes left within the quarter. 

“I feel after we’re lacking that many pictures, you’re upset as a result of… that’s not who they’re,” Fennelly stated.

With time ticking down, the Cyclones wanted a spark on offense, they usually obtained simply that.

Emily Ryan drove to the rim and, with a defender in her face, tossed the ball as much as decide up a layup that become a three-point play. That play gave the Cyclones sufficient momentum to chip away at Iowa’s lead. 

With lower than a minute left within the first quarter, Ashley Joens had been quiet all evening. The frustration mounted as the primary 5 pictures she put up couldn’t make their manner into the basket. 

The Iowa defenders noticed how chilly Joens was and let her shoot on her subsequent try. That proved to be a giant mistake as Joens knocked down a shot from past the arc to tie up the sport going into the second quarter.

Proper earlier than the half, Ryan put up a shot from past the arc to take again the lead. A foul down low gave the Cyclones one other possession, and Ryan went again for spherical two. 

After she nailed her second-straight three, Ryan sprinted down the court docket to go one-on-one with Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and blocked her shot. Her efforts helped propel the Cyclones to a 28-23 lead at halftime.

Nevertheless, simply as shortly as the great instances got here, the tough evening forward unfolded. 

Trailing by 5 factors in the beginning of the third quarter, Iowa did its finest to surge again because the Cyclones clung to a lead. On the media timeout, the rating had come down to at least one level, with Iowa State nonetheless main because of a few putbacks by Soares. 

The recent offense that went into the locker room was nowhere to be seen, because the second half felt sneakily acquainted to the beginning of the sport. The Cyclones got possibilities to cease the bleeding on the free throw line however got here up quick time after time.

“Clearly, once you miss eight free throws in a row, that will get in everybody’s head,” Fennelly stated. “I don’t know if I’ve ever… I feel my grandson Will’s workforce had eight misses in a row as soon as.”

Clark additionally made her presence recognized, as she had been held to simply 2-14 within the first half. Clark pulled up from the emblem to empty a 3 in signature trend to present Iowa the lead.

The Cyclones wanted to get one thing working and shortly. Nevertheless, only a few possessions later, Clark caught Donarski slacking once more and pulled up from the emblem once more so as to add to her sizzling streak.

Iowa scored extra factors within the third quarter than they scored in the complete first half, getting into the ultimate quarter with a 50-36 lead. The Cyclones couldn’t get pictures to fall, hitting solely 5 three-pointers of their 20 tries within the sport as much as that time. 

With how chilly the workforce was from three, the Cyclones had been beginning to shrink back from the three-point line, opting to drive the ball extra usually.

“After we handed up pictures, we kinda performed into their protection slightly bit extra,” Fennelly stated. “We’re able to making these pictures; we’re simply not doing it.”

The hesitation the Cyclones confirmed allowed Iowa to tug forward as the ultimate quarter approached. Fennelly had prided his workforce on their potential to maintain confidence in themselves, even when the outcomes weren’t going of their favor.

Nevertheless, identical to different low-scoring nights, the gamers had been searching for different methods to place factors on the board.

“There’s in all probability a small quantity, however I’ll say there aren’t many coaches within the nation that everybody on our workforce has a inexperienced mild, and I’m begging them to shoot it,” Fennelly stated, “after which they don’t.”

As time was operating out, the Cyclones had been desperately attempting to chop into Iowa’s lead, however the Hawkeyes didn’t budge an inch. Iowa State performed exhausting by every possession, however Iowa continued to knock pictures down on the buzzer.

Late within the sport, Iowa’s Kate Martin threw up two miracle pictures from deep on the shot-clock buzzer and hit them each. The nail within the coffin for the Cyclones.

The roaring Iowa crowd drowned out the ultimate buzzer as Clark and the Hawkeyes stood victorious. One other win for Iowa within the Cy-Hawk collection.

Regardless of the poor taking pictures and second lack of the season, Fennelly nonetheless has religion that the workforce can do nice issues sooner or later. Iowa is a tricky workforce and deserved each little bit of that No. 16 rating. Including to that, enjoying in Iowa Metropolis offered one other robust problem for the Cyclones.

“I like our workforce. I like our workforce, and that’s not even up for debate,” Fennelly stated. “We obtained beat by a very, actually good workforce in a tricky setting. That’s a credit score to them, and we’ve misplaced a number of video games over right here previously and kinda rebounded from it and carried out OK. We’ll be OK.”