ISU survives barrage of treys

AMES - When Bill Fennelly's Iowa State women's basketball team took the court Wednesday against South Dakota, he expected a gritty, fundamentally sound opponent.

But prolific 3-point shooting?

He hoped that wouldn't materialize - or become the deciding factor.

“Most teams don't shoot 52 percent,” said Fennelly, whose No. 22 team overcame a stellar long-range effort from the Lady Coyotes in an 88-72 win before 9,628 fans at Hilton Coliseum. “And if you go out and rush the shooter, they're going to go by you and you're going to foul. So we made the decision to try to contest and hope they'd miss a little bit more than they did, and to their credit they made them.”

That “most teams” comment includes South Dakota, which entered the game 8 of 32 from beyond the arc.

The Lady Coyotes (1-2) made 6 of 10 in the first half alone and continued to convert them at key times in the second half.

“Not too many teams come in here and shoot the ball like they did,” Fennelly said.

With 8:30 remaining, the score was tied 57-57 and tension ran deep.

That's when South Dakota super sub Raeshel Contreras drew a technical foul for shoving the Cyclones' Brynn Williamson after a box out at the free throw line.

Williamson was surprised - and resolute.

“Right after that was when we were like, ‘Now we're ready to put this team away and move on to the next one,” said Williamson, who scored 18 points and blocked two shots.

About five minutes later, the Cyclones (2-0) had capped a 21-3 run and led comfortably at 78-60.

“I said on the bench I thought the technical foul changed the game,” Fennelly said. “For whatever reason, it relaxed Hallie (Christofferson). I think it got Brynn a little excited. Brynn played a little bit different those last (several minutes).”

As did everyone else.

“I just don't think we stopped,” said Christofferson, who scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while enduring a rare off-shooting night. “We knew we weren't going to lose at home. That's something we stress a lot.”