The Lowdown:

Green Bay fans silenced the Cyclone fans in Hilton Coliseum on Saturday.

The Kingston number 10 seeded Iowa State lost to the seventh seeded ladies from Green Bay 71-57.

This was the Cyclones’ second time meeting the Phoenix ladies in the NCAA tournament. In 2010 Iowa State won 60-56.

Iowa State’s usual hot-shooting from beyond the arc went cold. In the first half the Cyclones made only two of five attempts.

Green Bay owned the three point land making nine of 18 attempted 3-pointers in the first half alone.

Green Bay ended the game with a lower shooting percentage but still slowed Iowa State from getting looks at the perimeter.  

The Turning Point:

Poor shooting from Iowa State was matched with an abundance of turnovers.

The Cyclones averaged almost one turnover per minute in the first half. In the first 15 minutes they collected 15 turnovers and ended the game with 29 total turnovers.

Green Bay at its best led the Cyclones by 22 points in the second half.

Hilton fans began to get a little louder as Iowa State slowly caught up.

With three minutes remaining Iowa State dented the Green Bay lead but was still down by 10 points. 

X Factor:

Green Bay’s senior Julie Wojta.

Wojta is the Horizon League player of the year. She averages almost 20 points per game. Against Iowa State she dished out four assists, pulled down five boards and scored 14 points. 

By the Numbers: 

14 – number of double doubles by junior Chelsea Poppens

4 – number of points Iowa State beat Green Bay by in the 2010 NCAA Tournament

19.8 – average points per game by GB senior Julie Wojta

15 – number of ISU turnovers in first 15 minutes of the game

9 – number of 3-pointers Green Bay made in the first half

Post-game Chatter:

Coach Bill Fennelly:

“There really were no answers for the some of things we did wrong.” 

“Green Bay was outstanding from start to finish.”

Freshman Brynn Williamson: 

“I think we dug ourselves into such a big hole going into half time that we couldn’t get out of it. We tried to come together, but it just didn’t work in the end for us.”

“We turned it over thirty times, they had the ball more than us. They were just making good decisions, they were making shots and we couldn’t convert on our end.”

Green Bay junior Adrian Ritchie on their seventh seed when ranked in the top 10: 

“We definitely had a little chip on our shoulder, we didn’t want to make it anything than it was. Hey, it’s a seven we’ll take it, let’s go play. As soon as the ball goes up we forget about the number. “

Green Bay senior Julie Wojta

“One of the fun things is silencing that big of a crowd. We were able to do that multiple times tonight and that is just as powerful as all the noise.” 

Up Next: 

Green Bay will advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament and take on second seeded Kentucky at 8:30 in Hilton Coliseum.