BERKELEY, Calif. – It’s safe to say the final possession of the Saturday night’s NCAA regional semifinal could be dubbed as “the seven seconds nobody remembers”.

With Iowa State clinging to a 69-68 lead, Michigan State’s attempt to steal a win in the final seconds resulted in a scramble in which at least six different players fumbled with the ball and two shots were put off-target before Iowa State guard Denae Stuckey snatched the ball and the siren sounded.

Then, pandemonium.

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

Thanks to a furious 8-0 run in the final 1:09, the Cyclones are bound for the Elite Eight for the first time in a decade.

“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?’”

Lost in the wild finish was the frantic comeback assembled by the Cyclones after they were down 68-61 with just over a minute remaining. During the following 45 seconds, another whirlwind of events put Iowa State up by one with 27 seconds to go.

With Iowa State down seven, senior Nicky Wieben grabbed an offensive board and hit her only field goal of the game, and Iowa State’s full-court pressure allowed Kelsey Bolte to knock away the Spartans’ inbound pass to set up another offensive possession. Then the basketball gods threw a blessing in the Cyclones’ direction, as senior Heather Ezell managed to bank in an off-balance three-pointer off the glass to cut the Michigan State lead to two.

“You have to give our kids credit because we don’t press a lot,” said coach Bill Fennelly. “Enough to have an idea where to line up, anyway. But when you have kids like we have that are competitive, you find ways to win the game, and certainly that is not a normal way for us to win a game.”

The Cyclones’ all-out press continued to yield positive results, as they proceeded to force a bad pass from the corner that caromed off the hands of Michigan State’s Aisha Jefferson and out of bounds with 47.3 left on the clock.

Both Amanda Nisleit and Bolte missed shots from under the basket in the next sequence, but both shots were followed by monumental offensive rebounds. In the subsequent scramble Ezell found Lacey wide open behind the arc at the top of the key.

Then came the season-defining shot. Nothing but net.

“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.”

The Spartans had a 3-point shot from Kalisha Keane rim out with 10 seconds left, and Stuckey was in the right place at the right time again to wrestle her way into a tie up for a jump ball, which lead to the final seven-second blur.

Lacey drove the Cyclone offense with a season-high 29 points, marking the fifth straight game in which the junior has notched double digits in the scoring column. She also chipped in a team-high four assists while turning the ball over just once.

Iowa State was forced to overcome a spectacular performance of 6’9” Michigan State center Allyssa DeHaan, who scored a team-high 24 points and led the Spartans to a 30-14 advantage in the paint.

The Elite Eight now includes the Cyclones for the first time since the 1998-1999 season when they defeated No. 1 Connecticut in the Sweet 16 to reach the first regional final in program history.

The victory was the 27th on the season, which ties the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 teams for the most all-time single season wins for an ISU women’s team.

Iowa State will now face No. 2 Stanford, which advanced by beating No. 3 Ohio State 84-66 in the other regional semifinal game on Saturday evening. Game time is 8 p.m. Monday in Berkeley on ESPN.

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