After a hard-fought game against No. 12 seed Wisconsin-Green Bay, Iowa State’s reward for its victory is a date with the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed Connecticut.

“They are the best team I’ve ever seen in the women’s game,” said coach Bill Fennelly.

“But the bottom line is we get to play. The difference is either you want to play UConn or you put the balls away tomorrow and go home tomorrow morning. So we’re going to go to Dayton and play UConn, I guess.”

Sunday’s game in Dayton will serve as a rematch of the 1999 Sweet 16 game that saw the Cyclones upset the number one seeded Huskies.

Former ISU forward Monica Huelman was part of that ‘99 team that beat the Huskies and said that like the ‘99 team’s ability to shoot 3-point field goals, this year’s team will have to rely on its ability from beyond the arc to have a chance at beating the Huskies.

“It’s always been about 3-point shooting and in the game we played against them it was 3-point shooting at the end that help us win and beat UConn,” Huelman said. “[Freshman center] Anna Prins is just an amazing 3-point shooter for being the big girl inside. Hopefully the shots will fall and they can keep pace with UConnand beat them. They are a tough team, but who in the nation wouldn’t want a shot at them.”

Seniors step up again — Senior guards Alison Lacey and Denae Stuckey provided possibly two of the biggest plays during Tuesday’s win.

Lacey’s perfectly played defense on Phoenix junior guard Celeste Hoewisch with the Cyclones leading by one with four seconds remaining in the game helped clinch the Cyclones’ victory.

While Stuckey’s 3-pointer with nine minutes remaining in the second half gave the Cyclones a much-needed boost and their first lead of the game.

“To be honest with you I don’t think we believed we’d be here, but I have great assistant coaching and a team that believed in themselves and played hard,” Fennelly said. “And in Stuckey and Lacey we have two of the best leaders we’ve had here all year.”

Both players were important to the team’s Elite Eight run last season and are familiar playing under the pressure of the NCAA Tournament.

However, despite the similarities between this team and last year’s Elite Eight team in terms of postseason success, Stuckey said this team is a much different team.

“Last year we had a great team and we went all the way to the Elite Eight,” Stuckey said. “This year we did things that a lot things people didn’t think could be done. They see how young our team is and they didn’t expect us to get this far. But we had to prove them wrong. If you can get your freshmen to be in chemistry with the upper class everything will be fine. We have great friendships on our team and we play together, we have each others back and I think that is where our success came from.”

Look around the tournament  — Sunday’s Iowa State/Connecticut game will be one of three 1–4 match ups in this year’s tournament.

The winner of the Sweet 16 game between the Cyclones and Huskies will play the winner of Florida State and Mississippi State.

Underdog Mississippi State is fresh off a 20-point blowout of No. 2 seed Ohio State and will attempt to continue their Cinderella story with a trip to the Elite Eight.

However, the lowest seed left in the tournament is not Mississippi State, it is San Diego State who is seeded 11th.

The Aztecs will play the second-seeded Duke Blue Devils, in hopes of advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.

The Aztecs will play the winner of the other No. 1  vs. No. 4 game: Tennessee vs. Baylor.

Former Lady Volunteers star Candace Parker put herself on the map when she became the first women’s basketball player to dunk in the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Pat Summitt now finds her team on the opposite side of having a female dunker on the team when the Lady Vols match up against Baylor and freshman center Brittney Griner.

The Kansas City bracket holds the distinction of being the only bracket with the top four seeds left playing.

Number one seed Nebraska will face fourth-seeded Kentucky. While Oklahoma will play Notre Dame in the three versus two game.

This set of Sweet 16 games could potentially lead to a rematch between Big 12 rivals Oklahoma and Nebraska.

In the one game played between the Huskers and Sooners, Nebraska won by 16 led by a 30 point, 13 rebound performance by senior forward Kelsey Griffin.

Winner of the Kansas City bracket will face the winner of the Sacramento bracket.

Number one seed Stanford has looked dominant in the tournament winning by an average of 30.5 points.

While Georgia was able to keep Oklahoma State’s senior guard Andrea Riley to just 9–31 shooting in its win over the Cowgirls.

Sunday’s last game will be between Xavier and upstart Gonzaga Bulldogs who recently upset Big 12 Conference Tournament winner Texas A&M.

Behind senior forward Vivian Frieson’s jumper with 20 seconds left, sent the Bulldogs to only their second Sweet 16 appearance.

Both Gonzaga and Xavier enter Sunday’s game with a winning streak of 20 games.