No. 12 TCU's beats Iowa State 80-73: Horned Frogs’ fourth quarter rally stuns Cyclones

Editor’s note: Story was written in Iowa

For roughly 35 minutes, the Iowa State women appeared poised to end TCU’s nation-best-tying 40-game home win streak.

Then Horned Frogs star Olivia Miles took over.

The super senior and Notre Dame transfer scored 17 of her game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter to fuel 12th-ranked TCU’s furious five-minute rally as the Cyclones fell, 80-73, Sunday afternoon at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

“Obviously, Olivia Miles is a great player and made some great plays, but it’s a game we certainly had some opportunities to do great things,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said on the Cyclone Radio Network. “I thought our kids really, really did play hard. I don’t have any problem with that. It’s just (that) we’ve gotta coach better in certain situations.”

The Cyclones (21-7, 9-7 Big 12) led by 13 points with 7:35 remaining, but the Horned Frogs (23-4, 13-3) immediately responded with a 9-2 run to pull within four, and then struck for 14 straight points late in the game to fully secure the win.

“We’ll continue to work on it and, hopefully, even though it’s late in the season, there’s still a chance to get better,” Fennelly said.

Star center Audi Crooks led ISU with 22 points, but fouled out with 1:35 remaining. TCU led by just one at that point, but held ISU to just three points in the final 6:25 of the game.

“We were pretty cohesive for about three and half quarters, so definitely some positives to be taken away from this,” Crooks said.

Point guard Jada Williams notched her seventh double-double this season with 15 points and 11 assists, and but shot just 6-for-23 from the field.

“I think we take away the good things, learn from the bad things and then go into (Wednesday’s final home game of the season against Oklahoma State) just prepared (and) confident,” Williams said.

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