A late mistake by South Dakota proved to be just what Iowa State needed to get going offensively.

In fact, ISU coach Bill Fennelly saw the technical foul by Raeshel Contreras as a game-changer.

“For whatever reason, it relaxed Hallie [Christofferson and] I think it got Brynn [Williamson] a little excited,” Fennelly said. “Brynn played a little different those last 10 or 12 minutes. You tell your player’s all the time, “You’ve got to be smart. You never know what you do, how you do it changes a game.”

The ISU women’s basketball team took advantage of that technical foul late in the game en route to an 88-72 win on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.

After the first shot of a one-and-one opportunity for Contreras and the score a 57-56 ISU lead, she pushed Williamson out of the lane after the shot was made. 

After the ensuing call by the official and second free-throw make by Contreras, Christofferson went to the other end of the court and sank two free throws.

The baskets by Chris-

tofferson put Iowa State up 59-57, a lead it never lost again, with 8:30 left in the second half. 

When a technical foul is called, the Cyclones feel like it brings the team closer together.

“It’s one of those things where if coach gets one, we’re going to win for him. If it happens with one of us, we’re going to win for each other,” Williamson said. “I think that was a moment where everyone came together and were like, “Hey, this is our time now.” I think right after that is when we were kind of like it’s been too long, now we’re ready to put this team away and move on to the next one.”

With the Cyclones leading 59-57, they went on a 19-3 run that lasted until there was 2:18 left in the game, effectively putting it out of reach. After Christofferson’s free throws, things got going offensively for Iowa State after a quick layup by Williamson and two free throws by Nikki Moody.

Christofferson finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds while Moody and Williamson finished with 20 and 18 points, respectively.

“I just don’t think we stopped,” Christofferson said. “We just kept playing. We played that first half and felt like we had errors to improve on, and we knew we weren’t going to lose at home. That’s something we stress a lot and we wanted to give our fans what they deserve.”