OKLAHOMA CITY – ISU women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly loves her. Opposing coaches dread her. And when it matters most, the shots just seem to fall.

And on Wednesday, ISU senior Lyndsey Medders showed why she’s the face of ISU basketball.

Her dramatic 3-pointer against Nebraska didn’t define her. It just added to her already illustrious career.

“There’s not a player in the country I would trade for her,” Fennelly said. “Not one.”

Nebraska coach Connie Yori, on the other hand, would love to see Medders in a uniform other than cardinal and gold.

“She’s a senior who has broken my heart on numerous occasions,” she said. “And that was a big shot.”

In a situation eerily similar to Iowa State’s first-round tournament game against Colorado two years ago, it was the same face that emerged after the 3-pointer went down – Medders’.

Medders’ basketball persona isn’t limited to the court, though. She has proven to motivate and teach her teammates both on and off the basketball court.

“She’s the face of our university, of our athletic department,” Fennelly said. “I have been on her butt for four years and asked her to do things that, at times, weren’t fair.

“But the impact she’s made is dramatic. And I think she will go down as one of the greatest student athletes at our university. One of the best players in the league.”

The drive to win seems to motivate Medders more than most college athletes. That drive prompted Medders to talk about using ball screens, and to wake up early Wednesday morning and review game film with Fennelly.

With 1.7 seconds left in the game, Medders earned the ultimate payoff, which means she’s not coming home just yet.

“I think as a senior, I’m playing in my first semifinal game in a Big 12 Tournament,” Medders said. “I mean, people I played with the past four years have been pretty special, so I’d say this [win meant more] a little bit.”

And after the Cyclones stepped off the court with a dramatic overtime win, rather than take credit for a clutch shot, Medders credited teammate Nicky Wieben with the screen she set.

And it’s noticed throughout the league. Not every team has a Lyndsey Medders, but every team wants one.

“I think she’s awesome – a great player,” Yori said. “She just makes that team go and she makes great decisions. She did it in regulation and she did it in overtime.”

While Thursday’s semifinal game against Texas A&M undoubtedly pins the Cyclones as the underdogs, Medders’ Big 12 career isn’t over just yet, and Fennelly is perfectly fine with that.

“It’s been a tremendous honor to coach her and be around her every single day, because she leads by example,” Fennelly said.

“She’s playing the game the way she’s capable of playing it, and it’s great she’s ending her career that way.

“That’s the way it should be.”