BERKELEY, Calif. — Just minutes into Saturday night’s regional semifinal game, you didn’t have to be inside Heather Ezell’s head to realize how badly she wanted to keep her ISU career alive.

The Cyclones struggled to find any continuity on offense in their opening possessions against a suffocating Michigan State man-to-man defense, as the team scored just four points in the first five-and-a-half minutes.

The Spartan defense dominated the beginning stages of the first half and helped them grab a 13-4 lead before Iowa State even knew what hit it.

Then Ezell decided she’d had enough.

With more than 10 seconds left on the shot clock on Iowa State’s ensuing possession, she pulled up with a hand in her face and hit a three-pointer from downtown San Francisco, sparking a run in which she scored 10 of Iowa State’s next 12 points in a six-minute time frame. And just like that, the Cyclones were only down by one.

“Early in the game we were stunned,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly.

“They came out and just popped us in the mouth and we recoiled. But Heather has a great sense of timing. She’s willing to take a tough shot and put herself out there. She’s made a lot of those in her career at Iowa State, not just tonight. She’s willing to take that pressure and certainly those two she made in the first half kept us in the game.”

Although Ezell only scored four more points in the final 28 minutes of the game, her job of jump-starting a lifeless ISU offense was just as big as any contribution that any player made all night. The Cyclones had made just one of their first 10 shots in the game before Ezell stepped up and knocked down her first 3-pointer.

“Our first four minutes we were playing not the way we’re capable of playing,” Ezell said. “We just needed something to get us going. And I was able to get my first 3-point shot down, which always gives you confidence and the defense had to respect that. We finally got some points on the board and were able to play our game for the rest of the first half.”

Since her arrival in Ames, Ezell’s heart, hustle and determination has cemented heras a fan favorite among almost all of the ISU faithful.

The inspiring performance she put on least season in the Big 12 Championships saw her hit a tournament record 17 three-pointers in Iowa State’s three games, including eight alone in dramatic quarterfinal victory over No. 1 Kansas State.

It was clear that Ezell was going to do everything in her power to make sure that she wasn’t playing her last game in cardinal and gold.

“In the first few minutes when you’re down 7-0, it hits you,” Ezell said.

“You have thoughts like ‘This could be it’ going through your mind. Knowing that I wanted to give anything I had to help the team and if that meant trying to score and trying to get offensive flow going, I was going to anything I could to get that done.”

Ezell will have a chance to become the all-time leader in one of Iowa State’s most revered statistical categories when the Cyclones face off in the regional final against Stanford on Monday evening. Her three 3-point field goals against Michigan State ran her career total to 277, putting her just one behind Megan Taylor for the most in ISU history.