No. 6 Texas notches win against Iowa State on rebounding strength

AMES — Iowa State was hanging with No. 6 Texas and even took a one-point lead as the third quarter wound down.

In a matter of minutes, Texas flipped a switch and dominated the glass to cruise in the final quarter.

'It looked like there were seven of them out there on the boards,' said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. 'We got caught standing around. A lot of times when you rebound, you get caught looking at someone else to go get it instead of you. They went after it and we didn't, not nearly as hard as we needed to.'

A suffocating performance with rebounds, particularly on the offensive glass, lifted Texas to a 65-49 win against Iowa State. It was the first for the Longhorns (21-1, 10-1) in Hilton Coliseum since 2009 and was achieved by exploiting the Cyclones (12-10, 4-7) lack of size.

Texas outrebounded Iowa State 52-33 and had 20 offensive rebounds — 16 of which came in the second half. The Longhorns held a narrow three-rebound advantage after the first half and allowed the Cyclones go into the locker room tied 20-20 at the break.

'They have a lot of height, but I thought we competed well in the first half,' said Emily Durr. 'We were limiting their rebounding, especially offensive rebounding. They had 16 offensive rebounds in the second half and that just can't happen, especially against a great team like Texas.'

Iowa State even led 37-36 with 1:35 to go in the third, but Texas started to find its rhythm offensively. A 13-4 run spanning 4:40 gave the Longhorns a 49-41 lead, but another surge late in the game secured the win.

Texas led by five with 4:43 to go, but ended the game on a 13-2 run while Iowa State went 0-for-6 from the field. The Cyclones had 16 turnovers to just six assists and shot 31.5 percent for the game — which was boosted by a 61.5 percent performance in the third quarter.

Jadda Buckley led the Cyclones with 19 points and Seanna Johnson had 16 points and eight rebounds. Texas' 6-foot-7 center Imani Boyette was held to zero points on 0-for-4 shooting, but Ariel Atkins carried the Longhorns with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Empress Davenport chipped in 13 points and Kelsey Lang finished with 10.

'We had it all the way until the fourth quarter and obviously the sheet shows 22-10,' Buckley said. 'You just can't have mishaps like that or have a quarter off. That's where it hurt us.'

l Comments: montzdylan@gmail.com