No. 2 Baylor Bears 63

No. 3 Iowa State Cyclones 57

OKLAHOMA CITY – It didn’t matter what the Cyclones were going to do. There was no stopping Jessica Morrow.

The Baylor senior finished the game with a 6-of-8 mark from behind the 3-point line while pouring in a season-high 24 points and hitting one critical shot after another to lead Baylor to a 63-57 victory.

After a having a tough time finding the bottom of the basket in the first half, Iowa State rallied back from an 11-point second-half deficit to take a four-point lead against second-seeded Baylor with just over five minutes to play.

But Morrow wouldn’t let the Cyclones off easy.

She immediately hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game on the next possession, her fifth two possessions after to regain the lead, and then her sixth two minutes later to put the Bears up by four with just under two minutes remaining.

“Jessica Morrow has proven the player that she can be,” said senior guard Jhasmin Player. “This is the third game in a row that Jess has stepped up big. She hit shots that seniors hit. She made plays at the end of the game at the offensive end of the floor.”

Morrow’s first eleven points came in the first eight minutes of the game, and she also scored eleven points in the final five minutes of the game. She also led the team with 15 points in a come-from-behind quarterfinal win against Oklahoma State on Friday, as well as a 23 point performance last week in Baylor’s final regular season game against Texas A&M that locked up the No. 2 seed for the Big 12 tournament.

“Believe it or not, Jessica Morrow was the first name on the scouting report in big black letters: ‘No threes.’ Didn’t quite work out that way,” said Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly. “We didn’t guard her the right way and she made her first shot, and got into the flow of the game right away. When we made a defensive mistake and left her open, she made it.”

Iowa State (24-8) also had great success from behind the arc in the first half, as they matched Baylor with six treys before intermission. Despite their long-distance success, the Cyclones shot just 2-12 from inside the three-point line in the first half.

The six-point Baylor lead at halftime swelled to double-digits in the opening minutes of the second half, but Iowa State still found a way to get themselves back in the game. Senior Amanda Nisleit buried three consecutive three-pointers on her way to 13 second-half points, helping the Cyclones creep back and regain the lead after trailing for over 27 straight minutes. Her 13 points were a team-high for Iowa State in the game.

“You can have a 20-point lead and not feel comfortable because of their ability to shoot the three-ball,” said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey.

After seeing no more than nine minutes on the floor for the past month, senior forward Jocelyn Anderson came off the bench and sparked Iowa State by making several key defensive stops in the second half. Within a span of five possessions, Anderson snagged three rebounds and blocked a shot, as well as converted two shots from the free throw line to pull the Cyclones within two.

Anderson entered the game with a 50 percent mark from the charity stripe this season.

“I thought our bench play was good, very good,” Fennelly said. “I thought Jocelyn and [Ashley Arlen] did a great job. We don’t ask them to do a lot as far as scoring, but they took care of the ball. They defended. They rebounded. Jocelyn steps up and make two free throws, and gave our kids some enthusiasm with this things she does.”

Iowa State got 14 assists and turned the ball over just seven times in the game, which was their lowest mark in Big 12 play and the fewest they have given up in a game since they lost five against Detroit on Dec. 14. Alison Lacey and Heather Ezell were a big part of Iowa State’s offensive efficiency, as the two dished out six and five assists while giving away one and zero turnovers, respectively.

The loss snapped a five game winning streak for the Cyclones, who will now head back to Ames to await a call from the NCAA to learn their fate for the NCAA Tournament, which begins next weekend. The field of 64 will be released at 6 p.m. Monday on ESPN.