Kansas tops Iowa State women after close battle

AMES - It was the play Iowa State wanted, just not the shot it was hoping to get.

With his team down three with 13 seconds to go, ISU Coach Bill Fennelly called for a dribble weave play to get a game-tying 3-pointer. A wide-open Nikki Moody caught the ball, turned and fired with roughly seven seconds to go but couldn't connect.

'That's my fault,” Moody said.

While the shot could have prevented Iowa State's 61-56 loss to Kansas Wednesday night in Hilton Coliseum, there was a bit more too it than one misfire. The Jayhawks (12-9, 3-5) forced 20 turnovers by the Cyclones (14-5, 5-3) to hand them their first home loss this season.

'A couple silly offensive fouls, but really just bad decisions with the ball,” Fennelly said. 'We had some people that kind of ran away from the play instead of helping. Offensively the last 10 minutes, we didn't do anything we talked about.”

After a slow offensive start, the Cyclones jumped to and eight-point lead early in the second half.

Two 3-pointers by Natalie Knight in a 42-second span tied it at 49-49. Free throws from Moody put the Cyclones back up by two, but then Chelsea Gardner, who scored a game-high 23 points, rattled off five-straight points to put the Jayhawks up for good.

KU Coach Bonnie Henrickson said part of that late production was the result of the Jayhawks' effort to be more aggressive and get Iowa State out of rhythm.

'If we're not aggressive and we don't speed them up and get them uncomfortable at least at some minimal level, they're just as good as anybody in the country from 3 and drive and kick and drive and drop,” Henrickson said.

'We were making plays we don't usually make and they deny strong side and I just kept passing it there,” Moody said. 'At the end of the day we killed ourselves.”

The loss ended a three-game conference winning streak as the midway point of Big 12 play nears. Coming off an emotional win Sunday at then-No. 8 Texas and now a hard-to-swallow home loss, Nicole 'Kidd” Blaskowsky said she knows the team will have to find a way to produce consistent energy.

'We won't be feeling sorry for ourselves,” Blaskowsky said. 'We've got Oklahoma State here on Saturday and that's our next game and our next focus.”

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