The NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional will be in

Hilton Coliseum next week. The ISU women’s basketball

team won’t.

That’s because 11 seed Brigham Young continued its

Cinderella story into the Sweet Sixteen by upending

the third-seeded Cyclones 75-69 in Ames Monday night.

A stunned 7,621 fans at Hilton Coliseum watched as

Iowa State (24-9) blew a 60-49 lead with 8:30

remaining in the game. They watched as the Cougars

reeled off 13 points in a row to put the Cyclones down

62-60.

They watched Iowa State turn the ball over 20 times

and they watched the Cougars convert that into 21

points.

They watched the Cyclones uncharacteristically

struggle from the free-throw line, going nine of 18

(50 percent.)

And they watched ISU seniors Angie Welle, Tracy

Gahan, Kelly Cizek and Ashley Homeyer leave the court

– for the last time.

“You’ve got to give BYU credit for playing as hard as

they did,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “They

never panicked, they just kept coming at us.”

Jennifer Leitner led the way for the Cougars with 17

points, but her go-ahead basket off a feed from Stacy

Jensen with 1:22 to go might have been the biggest.

After ISU guard Lindsey Wilson had given the Cyclones

a 67-66 lead, Leitner slid under the defense and

Jensen found her for a layup that put the Cougars up

68-67.

Following a foul on Gahan, Leitner sank two free

throws for a 70-67 lead.

With :53 left on the clock Welle went to set a routine

screen for as the Cyclones attempted to tie the score,

but Welle was whistled for an illegal screen. Lisa

Osguthorpe sank one of two free throws to give BYU a

71-67 lead.

Welle hit a layup to pull to within two, but it was

the last points the Cyclones would score.

For the Cougars it was Leitner again who sealed the

deal, as she sneaked under the defense and Mela

Pearson found her all alone for an easy layup and a

73-69 lead.

“They just collapsed on me and Jennifer was wide

open,” said Pearson. “Anybody could make that play,

[the Cyclones] were just scrambling at that point.”

Erin Thorn added two more free throws for BYU (24-8)

to end the scoring at 75-69.

Thorn scored 16 and three other Cougars notched

double-digits. Jensen knocked in 13 points, Pearson

added 12 and Danielle Cheesman scored 10.

Iowa State was left to wonder how Leitner got so open

in such a critical time.

“Part of the time, I felt like they had six people

out there,” Welle said. “I felt like we had everybody

guarded and then somebody was wide open. They were

just making great cuts.”

Welle led all scorers with 22 points and collected 13

rebounds, Gahan was next with 20 and Wilson followed

with 14 points.

“They [BYU] put five people in double figures –

that’s a great team,” Fennelly said. “We get our three

that we normally have but we didn’t get much from

anybody else.”

Mary Cofield continued her sharp shooting, hitting

both or her three-pointers making her eight of eight

on for the tournament, but she only added 8 points.

Erica Junod, who had five points, was the only other

Cyclone to score.

Still Iowa State had its chances, up 11 with just

over eight minutes to play. But BYU played composed

and poised as Pearson buried a three to spark a 13-0

run.

It was missed free throws that cost the Cyclones

dearly as they went 5 of 12 in the second half.

“If we make a couple free throws in that run, maybe

that stops it,” Fennelly said.

Instead it was Cougar head coach Jeff Judkins who

would leave elated as his team became just the third

No. 11 seed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen since the

tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994.

“We’ve been down before earlier in the year and we’d

kind of get down on ourselves and try to shoot

three-pointers and do it ourselves,” he said.

“Tonight, all the preaching I’ve done to them the

whole year to just say `Hey, one at a time. Just take

care of one possession and just keep doing it.

“I’ve been here before as a coach,” Judkins, a former

assistant for the Utah men’s basketball team, added.

“This is even better than I can imagine.”

The Cougars will now prepare for two seed Tennessee.

Iowa State and Fennelly must say goodbye to two of

the most storied players in school history. Welle

leaves as the school’s all-time leading scorer and

rebounder and holds numerous other records.

Gahan, whose stats won’t tell how much she did for

the team, helped lead Iowa State to the Elite Eight as

a freshman and the Sweet Sixteen the past two seasons.

“The thing that hurts me more than anything is not

that we lost the game,” said a choked up Fennelly,

holding back tears. “It’s that I won’t get to see them

tomorrow in practice.”

BYU-ISU Box Score

BRIGHAM YOUNG (24-8)

Leitner 6-10 4-4 17, Osguthorpe 2-6 1-2 5, Cheesman

5-11 0-0 10, Thorn 6-8 2-2 16, Jensen 4-7 2-2 13,

Pearson 5-15 0-0 12, Rose 0-1 0-0 0, Hansen 1-3 0-0 2.

Totals 29-61 9-10 75.

IOWA STATE (24-9)

Gahan 6-11 6-8 20, Cofield 3-4 0-0 8, Welle 10-16 1-5

22, Junod 2-4 0-0 5, Wilson 5-15 2-5 14, Fox 0-0 0-0

0, Bremer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-50 9-18 69.

Halftime-Iowa State 36-34. 3-Point goals-Brigham Young

8-22 (Jensen 3-5, Thorn 2-4, Pearson 2-9, Leitner 1-2,

Osguthorpe 0-2), Iowa State 8-18 (Cofield 2-2, Gahan

2-5, Wilson 2-7, Welle 1-1, Junod 1-3). Fouled

out-None. Rebounds-Brigham Young 30 (Leitner 9), Iowa

State 31 (Welle 13). Assists-Brigham Young 21 (Jensen

7), Iowa State 19 (Wilson 8). Total fouls-Brigham

Young 18, Iowa State 12. A-7,621.