Late bucket drops Cyclones

AMES - Oklahoma State's plan was pretty simple.

Down a point with three seconds left, the call was to hit Brittney Martin as she rolled off a screen for a jumper. Much to the disappointment of the Iowa State women's basketball team and its fans, the plan worked to perfection.

The shot by Martin went through the bottom of the net with one second remaining to give the Cowgirls a 63-62 victory Saturday night against Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum.

The loss was the second in a row at home for the Cyclones.

'We just said, ‘Do not let anyone come to the ball to catch it,'” said ISU Coach Bill Fennelly. 'Obviously, they did.”

Martin's game-winning bucket is the easiest place to look when trying to find the difference in the game, but another glaring statistic doomed the Cyclones (14-6, 5-4). The Cowgirls (13-7, 3-6) out-rebounded Iowa State, 41-27, and dominated in offensive rebounding, 16-2.

Fennelly preached the importance of rebounding against a team that prides itself on attacking the offensive glass, but missed opportunities, especially in the game-ending situation, stalled his team.

'Every rebound comes off below the rim and sometimes, this sounds really simple, you've just got to want the damn ball more than they do,” Fennelly said.

'They crashed the boards super hard today,” said forward Seanna Johnson. 'All five of them went to the basket and we just struggled.”

And as a team, Iowa State struggled to get going offensively, except for Bryanna Fernstrom.

The freshman scored the first 13 Iowa State points during an 8:10 period and finished with 23 points on 11-of-17 shooting.

'I think my teammates were finding me when I was open and I was finishing around the basket, which has been a struggle lately,” Fernstrom said. 'Once I made the first couple shots, I became more confident that my other shots would go down.”

Fennelly felt Fernstrom's defensive presence was lacking at times but noted the learning curve she is experiencing as a freshman post player. But it was her offense, he said, that kept Iowa State afloat in the first half.

'If Bry doesn't show up, we're down 25 at halftime. She was the only one up,” Fennelly said. 'I don't know if they thought the game was at 7 o'clock or what, but Bry was the only player that played in the first half and she has 19 points and we're in the game.”

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