Cyclones fall to Green Bay 71-57 in first round

AMES - The pressure proved unrelenting.

Start to finish, baseline to baseline.

That's the Green Bay way - and Saturday it left Iowa State's season in it's amped-up wake.

“They just keep hustling,” the Cyclones' lead hustler Chelsea Poppens said after a 71-57 NCAA women's basketball tournament loss to the No. 10 Phoenix. “They don't stop.”

Seventh-seeded Green Bay (31-1) forced an ISU season-high 30 turnovers and ended the first half with a 20-5 run.

The Phoenix - who have won 65 of their past 68 games since a second-round tournament loss to ISU two years ago - never trailed before a partisan crowd of 4,695 and maintained at least a double-digit lead for the final 24 minutes.

“You turn the ball over that many times and it's borderline impossible to win unless you do a lot of other things perfect,” said Cyclones coach Bill Fennelly, whose team fell to 6-1 in hosted first-round tournament games. “We certainly didn't do that.”

Tenth-seeded ISU (18-13) rallied to within 10 on Hallie Christofferson's free throws that made the score 63-53 with 3:02 left, but could get no closer.

Christofferson scored 12 points to lead the Cyclones.

Lauren Mansfield and Poppens added 11 apiece and Brynn Wlliamson drilled three 3-pointers in the second half.

“We tried to come together,” Williamson said.

Too late.

Green Bay's extended zone pressure and full-court traps forced 19 cough-ups in the first half alone.

Still, ISU trailed just 22-18 with 5:18 left before the Phoenix unleashed their win-sealing 20-5 barrage to close the half.

“We just couldn't handle it,” Poppens said of Green Bay's defensive style. “I think that's where they got their energy.”

Torrid shooting enhanced it - and the biggest run came when star Julie Wojta was quietest.

Sarah Eichler and Lydia Bauer nailed four 3-pointers each for the Phoenix, who led by as many as 22 points.

“There were no answers,” Fennelly said. “You've got to credit them. They're a great team.”

The Cyclones played in their sixth straight tournament, but fell in the opening round for the second year in a row.

They lose two seniors: Mansfield and Chassidy Cole, who held Wojta to four points in the first half.

“I think each season you're going to remember the seniors,” Christofferson said. “You're going to remember playing with them.”

Fennelly - who spoke in whispers much of the season because of undergoing successful treatments on cancerous lesions on his vocal chords - called this his most challenging of his 17 years at the helm.

The Cyclones lost their first five Big 12 games, but revived to finish 9-9 in the nation's toughest league and earn their 13th NCAA tournament bid.

“It's been the hardest year I've ever had for a lot of reasons, and, really, my health isn't the big one,” Fennelly said. “I would say that besides my family and my administration - without them, I wouldn't have made it. Coaching's hard. And it makes you think about things.”

Such as?

“How do we practice?” Fennelly said. “How do we run our staff? How do we do a lot of things? Who do we recruit? Everything, everything.”

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