Echoing from the small, but strong fan section of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the words “Yes we can!” could be heard throughout Hilton Coliseum.

And while the Phoenix came close to gaining the official title of the 2010 Cinderella story of the tournament, it was the Cyclones who would prevail with a 60–56 win and a trip to the Sweet 16.

The Sweet 16 berth comes as a pleasant surprise for a team that was supposed to finish in the bottom half of the Big 12 standings.

“If you would have told me at the start of the season we’d be here, I don’t know if I would have believed you,” said senior guard Alison Lacey. “We started off 0–2 in the Big 12, we were really young and apparently this was a rebuilding year. But to the freshmen’s credit they’ve stepped up in the last two games and I am really proud to be the leader of this team.”

For the entire first half and most of the second, the Cyclones had a difficult time figuring out the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s defensive scheme and trailed by as many as 10 to the Phoenix.

Junior forward Kayla Tetschlag was the main source of offense for the Phoenix in the first half. With 18 first half points, Tetschlag demonstrated why she was named to the first-team All-Horizon League.

Tetschlag shot 6–8 from the field including going 3–4 from beyond the arc and as well as being perfect from the free-throw line.

While the Phoenix were thriving on offense, the Cyclones were struggling to find any consistency.

Combined, Lacey and junior guard Kelsey Bolte shot just 3–16 from the field in the first half. With the Phoenix not showing any signs of slowing down defensively, there were no real signs of turning things around offensively during the second half.

Then, the Cyclones’ fortune began to turn around when someone familiar to hitting clutch shots in the postseason would step up for the Cyclones once again.

Just as she did during last year’s postseason, senior guard Denae Stuckey came through for Iowa State when the team needed it the most. With 9:07 remaining, Stuckey made her only shot of the game: a three-pointer to give the Cyclones a 48–47 lead.

The lead would not last for long, but the shot clearly gave the Cyclones an added boost of energy on both offense and defense as the Cyclones would hold Green Bay to just nine more points over the last nine minutes of play.

After Stuckey’s shot, the Cyclones and Phoenix traded shots for the next six minutes.

But after nearly perfect for the entire game, going 10–13 from the field and leading the Phoenix with a career-high 29 points, it would Tetschlag who would give the Cyclones one of their first breaks of the game in the form of a costly turnover with 1:39 remaining in the game.

“It just seemed like we could never put back-to-back plays together; until we had to,” Bolte said. “The last two possessions we guarded really hard and certainly did the things we needed to do to win.”

Green Bay had one last shot at regaining the lead and leaving Hilton with a win when junior guard Celeste Hoewisch drove the baseline, trying to get in the lane for a lay-up. However, a strong defensive stand by Lacey would force Hoewisch to turn the ball over with four seconds remaining, giving the Cyclones the ball and the win.

With the win, Iowa State moves into the Sweet 16 and will play the Connecticut in a rematch of the 1999 Sweet 16 game.