A low offensive output and minimal defense were the thorns in Iowa State’s side as it dropped its first home game of the conference season, 45-44, to Oklahoma State.

The loss was the team’s first of the year at home and came at a time when the team’s morale needed a boost by playing in front of a familiar crowd. Iowa State (13-4, 1-3 Big 12) was hoping for a resurgence at home after faltering in two straight road games.

“Without a question, this is the lowest point of my career at Iowa State,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly. “Not to take away from Oklahoma State, but it’s one of those things that I’m at a loss for words to know what the problem with this team is.”

Both teams struggled scoring in the contest, which Iowa State led at halftime, 23-21. Oklahoma State (14-2, 2-1 Big 12) netted the first two buckets, but Iowa State quickly jumped on board with 3-pointers by sophomore Heather Ezell and senior Lyndsey Medders. The game took on a slow pace as both teams struggled to make ends meet.

“We didn’t capitalize on the open shots, we weren’t finishing around the basket and they just weren’t falling in,” said sophomore Nicky Wieben. “Mentally we just couldn’t get the defensive stops we needed.”

At halftime, Medders led all scorers with eight points, while Wieben earned seven. Iowa State shot just 32 percent, while the team was only 3-of-8 from the free-throw line. With no team clearly in control, the second half was only more painful for the Cyclones.

“I don’t know how many looks of ours weren’t good ones, but we just couldn’t shoot the ball,” Fennelly said. “Shots were available, but we couldn’t make them at the critical times.”

Iowa State held its greatest lead of the game, nine, with 10 minutes left, but watched the Cowgirls whittle it away.

With less than four minutes to go, a three by Oklahoma State’s Taylor Hardeman and a basket by Danielle Green put the Cowgirls up 45-41, until Iowa State’s Megan Ronhovde made her second three of the night to bring the game within one.

With four seconds left in the game and the ball in Oklahoma State’s possession, Iowa State was given a second chance when Andrea Riley lost the ball out-of-bounds under the Cyclones’ basket. Ezell’s jumper didn’t connect in the resulting play, and the Cyclones were defeated by a solitary point.

“We didn’t make open shots top to bottom, and we didn’t score enough down the stretch,” Medders said. “We’re at a really low point right now, and we need to turn this around.”

Medders capped the night with 14 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Wieben scored a game-high 15 points, as well as chipping in nine rebounds and two blocks. Green led the Cowgirls with 13 points and helped her team keep Iowa State to a shooting percentage of 29.6.

Wieben agreed with Medders that the feeling of alarm is evident among the team.

“There is still a long road of Big 12 games, and we need to have a sense of urgency right now,” she said.

Fennelly said there are obvious changes that need to be made at this point, but he is still unsure of what actions must be taken.

“As a coach you search for reasons as to what happened,” he said. “We will try some personnel changes for the next game. I just don’t know what else we can do different right now.”