KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lyndsey Medders hit what may have been the biggest shot of her young career Tuesday — in what might have been the worst game of her life — pushing the fifth-seeded Cyclones past the Colorado Buffaloes, 64-62.

With six seconds left in the game, and Iowa State down 62-61, Colorado’s Anna Nedovic missed a lay-up.

Senior Katie Robinette rebounded the ball and passed to sophomore Megan Ronhovde.

Ronhovde fired the ball to Anne O’Neil, who dished it to Medders for the game-winning shot over Yari Escalera. The ball went through the hoop with 0.2 seconds left, giving Iowa State its winning margin.

“Anne kicked it over to Medders and she hit the shot, which was huge,” Robinette said. “I didn’t know if she was going to make it or not, because she wasn’t playing very well.

“I was thinking rebound, honestly.”

A rebound wasn’t necessary, as Medders drained the three, putting Iowa State ahead for the first time since it held a 20-18 lead with 5:00 left in the first half.

“Anne, who has hit game-winner after game-winner through her career,” Medders said, “still ends up getting the ball to the person who has played not too well for 39 minutes and 58 seconds until those last two.”

Through the second half, Iowa State had kept its deficit in single digits, but the Cyclones trailed by nine points with only eight minutes left in the game.

“I tell them, ‘You’ve got 40 minutes to play or you go home.’ Then it was 20, then it was 15, then it was eight,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly. “For the first time in a long time, this team had that glazed look in their eye, I think for the first time feeling a little jitters.”

Making the game bittersweet for Fennelly was the loss for one of his peers, retiring Colorado coach Ceal Barry.

Barry said she would retire at the end of the season, and Colorado’s record will prevent it from playing in any postseason tournaments.

“I’m really excited for my kids, but I didn’t want to be involved in [Barry’s] last game, especially not that way,” Fennelly said.

“She totally outcoached me today, without question. Her team was better prepared, played better, played harder.

“I love my team; I’m glad that we get to keep playing, but I feel bad that it happened that way for her.”

With all of the emotion surrounding the last-second win, Robinette’s sixth double-double in her last eight games went somewhat unnoticed.

She ended with 22 points and 10 rebounds against Colorado’s forwards, three of which stand over 6 feet, 3 inches.

“They dictated the tempo of the game on both ends of the court, and it was a struggle to score,” Fennelly said.

“Luckily we got some inside points for Katie, and that made a difference.”

Leading Colorado was Yari Escalera, who hit 4-of-6 shots from behind the arc and finished with 19 points.

Both teams came out of the gate sluggishly, with the first half marked by 11 Colorado turnovers and nine by Iowa State.

Colorado stayed ahead for the majority of the half, mostly because of 5-of-11 shooting from 3-point range.

The Cyclones shot 29 percent from the field in the first half but outrebounded the Buffaloes 21-14, 10-2 on the offensive glass.

Senior Lisa Kriener also helped keep Iowa State in the game, coming off the bench to score seven first-half points and grab five rebounds.

Colorado’s suffocating man-to-man defense kept the rest of the Cyclones from getting in a groove, and only O’Neil hit double digits in the first half, scoring 10.

She ended the game with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting.

“The two best looks we got were probably the two that Lyndsey Medders hit [at the end of the game]. We didn’t get many after that,” Fennelly said. “Every time we did one or two good things, we did one or two bad. We just could not get any flow.”

Colorado took advantage of the sputtering Cyclone offense to build a second-half lead that reached nine points at its largest. Twice, Iowa State cut the lead to one, but both times the Buffaloes had an answer.

Iowa State moves on to face fourth-seeded Texas Tech in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.

The game is set for 2:30 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium.

Game Notes

• The No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament moved to 9-0 all time versus the No. 12 seed. Cyclone coach Bill Fennelly improved to 4-1 in first-round games and 14-6 overall in the tournament, the most wins of any Big 12 coach.

• Tuesday’s game was only the fourth in Big 12 tournament history to be decided by two points. The last was a 2003 first-round game between Oklahoma State and Missouri.

• Colorado freshman Yari Escalara scored a career-high 19 points, only the second double-digit scoring game in her collegiate career.

• Mary Fox scored 10 points, all in the second half, to record her seventh consecutive double-digit scoring game, her 20th on the season.

• Iowa State’s 24 first-half points were the second-lowest offensive output in a half this year. The Cyclones scored 22 in the first half against Missouri on Jan. 15.

• Colorado coach Ceal Barry ends her career with a overall record of 510-284 in 26 seasons, 427-242 in 22 seasons with the Buffaloes.

— Nathan Wilcke