March 28, 2009

Editor’s note: Thanks to a frantic comeback in the final minute of the game, the ISU women’s basketball team defeated Michigan State 69-68 to advance to its second ever appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight.

With a minute and 23 seconds left, it looked like the magic was all over.

Whatever momentum Iowa State had built during its tournament run to an NCAA Sweet 16 matchup against Michigan State had vanished into thin air, as the Spartans hit an uncontested layup to swell their lead to seven in the closing stages of the game.

The dream was slipping away for the five Cyclone seniors, who appeared to be playing their last game in the cardinal and gold.

But over the last 1:10 seconds of the game, their fate was drastically reversed as a once-in-a-lifetime series of events allowed them to pull of what was arguably one of the greatest comebacks in NCAA tournament history.

“I’ve been coaching a long time, and that was one of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of,” said ISU head coach Bill Fennelly during the post-game press conference. “That is what this game is about and thats what the Sweet 16 is supposed to be about.”

And it all started with an offensive rebound.

With the Cyclones trailing 68-61 on the ensuing possession, senior Nicky Wieben snagged a missed shot off the glass and put it back in for her first basket of the game, marking Iowa State’s first field goal in nearly five minutes.

Then, despite being a team that Fennelly said “presses once a decade,” the Cyclones managed to force two turnovers without the ball even getting to half court, and Iowa State capitalized by letting its three-point magic take over once again.

Iowa State was carried by the 27 shots it hit from behind the arc in the first two games, and the touch was still there in the waning seconds of their Sweet Sixteen matchup.

After the first turnover, senior Heather Ezell banked in an off-balance three-pointer to cut the lead to two before the Cyclones forced their second Michigan State turnover of the final minute.

After a missed Iowa State layup, the ball caromed into the hands of Ezell, who found a wide open Alison Lacey at the top of the key.

Lacey pulled the trigger with just under 30 seconds left, knocking the 3-pointer to put the Cyclones up by one with 27 seconds remaining.

“Coach told us we needed a quick two,” Lacey said. “I got the ball and thought, ‘Do I shoot this shot? I don’t know,’ but I let it fly, and I haven’t been that excited or relieved in a long time.”

Before anyone at the Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. that night even knew what had happened, Iowa State was suddenly ahead thanks to eight unanswered points in just 46 seconds.

The two retaliation possessions by Michigan State proved to be futile, though it put the hearts of every Cyclone fan into their throats.

Three shots went off target and several players wrestled for the ball in the final seconds that seemed like a blur. But when it was all over Iowa State had secured its second ever trip to the Elite Eight.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” said junior Alison Lacey. “It was kind of a whirlwind. I was up, down and when they took the shot, my heart dropped. When they got the rebound, the ball came to me and I just knocked it around. I thought, ‘When is the siren going to go off? When’s the time going to go off?’”

After the final buzzer sounded, junior Denae Stuckey launched the basketball into the rafters of the Haas Pavilion as the entire Cyclone bench flooded the court, assistant coaches jumped out of their shoes and the hundreds of Iowa State faithful on hand engulfed the arena with a deafening roar.

The pandemonium was monumental, especially for a group of five Cyclone seniors that had never made it out of the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

But thanks to their efforts on March 28, 2009, the 2008-09 squad can now be  mentioned in tales of Cyclone lore alongside names like Stacy Frese, Megan Taylor and Angie Welle.