The toughest shot for the Cyclones may have been

the one that was not guarded by Brigham Young.

Two seed Iowa State shot over 52 percent (26 for

50) against the BYU defense, but struggled from the

free throw line, making only nine of 18, leading to a

75-69 loss to the No. 11 seeded Cougars Monday night

in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Hilton

Coliseum.

BYU (24-8) erased a 13-point second half deficit to

prevent Iowa State (24-9) from advancing to the Sweet

Sixteen for the fourth consecutive year.

The Cyclones, who had been shooting a solid 73.1

percent as a team from the foul line for the season,

could not put in their shots from the charity stripe

in the second half, hitting 5 of 12 (41.7 percent)

over the last 20 minutes.

“Obviously, when you don’t make free throws your

going to have a hard time,” ISU head coach Bill

Fennelly said. “We go nine for 18 from the free throw

line – that’s going to cost you.”

Even second team All-American Angie Welle had no

answer for the Cyclones’ troubles.

“Normally everybody’s making them,” she. “Today it

was uncharacteristic of our team and we didn’t make

free throws.”

Meanwhile, the Cougars could not miss from the line

hitting nine of 10 (90 percent), all over the last six

minutes of the game.

The cold shooting at the foul line affected each

member of the `Big Three.’ Welle shot one of five,

Lindsey Wilson hit two of five and Tracy Gahan went

six of eight.

“You can’t guard the free throw line. We got there

18 times. That was something we had talked about a

lot,” Fennelly said. “They are not a team that gets to

the free throw a lot. We do. We got there 18 times,

but unfortunately we didn’t make them when we normally

do. Angie went 1 for 5, that never (happens); she’s a

very good free throw shooter. It was one of those

nights when the ball wasn’t going in when we needed it

to go in.”

Gahan, sporting the fourth best free throw

percentage for a season in ISU history coming into the

tournament at 83.6 percent, missed two from the line

with Iowa State down 64-63 at the 3:14 mark.

Wilson, who was in a 0 for nine slump from the foul

line, hit two free throws to give the Cyclones their

final lead at 67-66 with 1:40 left.

The Cougars answered with a basket inside by

Jennifer Leitner and finished off Iowa State’s season

by making the Cyclones play catch-up and by hitting

five of six free throws down the stretch.

BYU made a 13-point run to change an 11-point

difference on the scoreboard into a two-point

advantage, 62-60.

“We had a lot of chances. You have to get BYU

credit for playing as hard as they did. They never

panicked. They just kept coming at us,” Fennelly said.

“We make a couple free throws in that run, maybe that

stops it. When you step to the free throw line and go

5-for-12 in the second half and miss three front ends

of the one-and-one.It takes one shot; that’s the

nature of the game. You have to make plays. They made

them and we didn’t.”

Turnovers hurt the Cyclones once again, as they

turned the ball over 20 times, compared to 10

turnovers by the Cougars and BYU converted Iowa

State’s mistakes into 21 points.

“We had a few too many turnovers, but that’s been

normal for us,” Fennelly said.