The women’s basketball team had a slim two-point lead at halftime Wednesday but couldn’t hang on, suffering their second loss in three games, 59-56, on the road in Austin, Texas.

The Longhorns (13-4, 1-2) picked up their first win of the young, but already grueling, conference season. The Cyclones (12-4, 1-2) faltered to a tie with Texas in the conference standings.

Iowa State out-shot Texas, 39 percent to 33 percent, but 10 more shot attempts for the Longhorns than the Cyclones trumped those percentages.

At halftime the score favored Iowa State, 27-25, and the teams played a defensive slugfest. The offense picked up slightly in the second half. The Longhorns quickly captured the lead after the break, and the Cyclones, although close, saw very little of it the rest of the way.

With 1:27 remaining, guard Alison Lacey made a lay-up to give Iowa State one of its rare second-half leads. Immediately, Texas junior Carla Cortijo drilled a three-pointer, and drained the Cyclones of fuel. Texas shot free throws the rest of the way, and the Cyclones failed to garner another bucket.

Kelsey Bolte led Iowa State with 20 points, including 13 in the second half. She also had a game-high nine rebounds, along with guard Denae Stuckey. It was Bolte’s third straight 20-point game – ironically, the string of 20-pointers come in the true freshman’s first-ever conference games.

Cortijo led the Longhorns with 13 points and freshman Kathleen Nash recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Cyclone center Nicky Wieben had two blocks and is now the all-time leading shot-blocker in Iowa State history.

Unfortunately for Iowa State, an injury hampered Wieben’s record-breaking night. She left with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

She accomplishes the feat as a junior with still a year and a half to add on to her record. Angie Welle previously held the blocked shot record.

The Cyclones will have three full days of rest before returning to their home court to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday at 7 p.m.