The `Big Three’ may have carried Iowa State for most

of the season, but Saturday was Mary Cofield’s night.

Cofield tied an NCAA Tournament record by going six

of six from the three-point arc and scored a game-high

20 points to lead the third seeded Cyclones past 14

seed Temple, 72-57, and into the second round of the

tournament.

“It just seemed like the basket was wide open,”

Cofield said. “I don’t know what to say.”

Cofield scored 12 of the Cyclones first 20 points and

made seven of eight shots in the game, her only miss

was on a jumper just inside the three-point arc at the

top of the key.

Her accuracy tied the mark set by Heather Haanen of

Colorado State. She made all six of her threes in a

first round game against Maryland last year.

“After the first one it just seemed like every time I

got the ball it felt like it was wide open,” she said.

Cofield made up for an off night by guard Lindsey

Wilson, who finished with nine points, 10 below her

season average.

The other two members of the `Big Three’ – Angie

Welle and Tracy Gahan – each recorded double-doubles.

Welle finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds while

Gahan scored 13 and grabbed 11 boards.

“The points that Wilson usually gets, Cofield got,”

said Temple head coach Dawn Staley. “You can’t have

three of them giving you double-digits. You have to at

least take out one, if not two, of the `Big Three.’ “

Temple’s defense kept constant pressure on the

Cyclone guards, pestering them up the court each time

and pressing for most of the second half. The Owls

forced 17 Cyclone turnovers, but ISU head coach Bill

Fennelly wasn’t too upset, considering that is 1.5

turnovers below the team’s season average.

“Seventeen turnovers and that’s under your average,

that sounds good doesn’t it?” Fennelly joked. “The

goal was 16, to be quite honest with you . 17

turnovers in an emotional game against a very good

defensive team – very well prepared team – is not

bad.”

Iowa State out-shot the Owls, making 53.8 percent of

its shots (28 of 52) and nailing nine of 16

three-pointers. Temple was held to an icy 32.8 percent

from the floor (19 of 58.)

Stacey Smalls led the Owls with 18 points hitting six

of 14 shots from the floor, including four of eight

three-pointers. Ari Moore was the only other Owl

player to score in double-digits with 10 points.

Iowa State held senior Natalia Isaac, the Owls

leading scorer at 13 points per game, to nine points

but most of those points came when the game was out of

reach.

“You don’t want your seniors to go out on a bad note

like that,” Staley said. “But they’re not quitters.

They played their hearts out and that’s all you can

ask for.”

The Owls didn’t go away without their leading

scorer. In fact they took the lead 23-22 with 3:45

left to go in the first half on a jumper by Christena

Hamilton, which capped an 11-0 run.

Iowa State responded by going on an 11-0 run of its

own.

Wilson nailed a three, which was followed by two from

Gahan. Melanie Bremer hit two free throws and Welle

scored to put Iowa State back up 10, 33-23. The

Cyclones finished the half on a 13-2 run and went into

the locker room up 35-25.

“They took the momentum back into halftime,” Staley

said.

The Owls fought back as the second half got underway,

scoring the first six points, all by Lisa Jakubowicz

but Iowa State answered with four straight points to

keep the lead at eight, 39-31.

It wasn’t until4:36 left in the game that the

Cyclones put it away, but a 9-0 run did the trick. The

Cyclones led 61-51, but after Gahan scored five points

in a row and Wilson and sophomore guard Erica Junod

added two each, Iowa State led 70-51 and was well on

the way to the NCAA Tournament second round.

Fennelly wasn’t surprised by the Owls effort.

“You’re gonna battle and fight and claw until the

horn goes off and the officials say it’s time to go

home – you lost,” he said. “That’s Dawn Staley’s

personality – that’s her kids personality.”

While Fennelly gained respect for Temple, he most

wanted to talk about Cofield, who has struggled

somewhat this season after transferring from St.

Ambrose to join the ISU team.

“I think the best part about it is that Mary took a

heck of a gamble to come to Iowa State,” Fennelly

said. “She was an NAIA All-American. She gambled to

come to Iowa State and to see her come to a press

conference and to see her get interviewed on TV. when

she walked into the locker room after being on ESPN

the whole locker room went nuts and everybody just

jumped on her. “That’s what this tournament is all about is stories

like Mary Cofield,” Fennelly continued. “She’ll

remember this game the rest of her life and she

should. To see a kid work that hard and have that kind

of a night I think is really special and it couldn’t

happen to a better person.”

While 20 points isn’t her career-high, she scored 22

points in a 95-55 win over Northern Iowa on Dec. 22,

2001, but this game was of slightly more importance.

“I’ve always told her `Good things happen to good

people,’ ” Fennelly said. “She had her moment in the

sun tonight. She did it against UNI, but this is a

pretty big stage to do it when we really needed it.

Lindsey wasn’t her normal self tonight and we had a

lot of trouble getting the ball to Angie.

“It’s one of those things where the other players

[beside the stars] make a huge difference. The other

players have hurt us in some of our past games. The

other player tonight was on our team and obviously was

a huge factor in the outcome of the game.”

The Cyclones will now focus on their fourth straight

trip to the Sweet Sixteen when they face 11 seed

Brigham Young University Monday at 9:36 p.m.