The ISU women’s basketball team narrowly passed its first test of the year, defeating the Creighton Bluejays last night.

Creighton guard, Angela Timmons, a senior from Des Moines, said “I was pretty pumped up. I wanted to win this game pretty bad.” She scored 23 points for the night, but the points she did not score brought her to tears.

After Angie Welle gave Iowa State the lead, 72-71, with only a few seconds remaining, Timmons was called upon to regain the advantage for Creighton in a game that swayed back and forth for the last 25 minutes of the contest.

With the game clock dwindling away the last ten seconds, Timmons drove past ISU’s zone perimeter, as she had all night, and encountered Welle in the paint.

Timmons recalled receiving a “pretty hard elbow to the face,” as the shot fell out, in and out again as Welle secured the rebound and was fouled.

Tears streamed down Timmons face at mid-court as Welle strode to the free throw line with five seconds remaining on the clock.

Welle hit her 17th and team-high 18th point from the line, and Creighton called timeout trailing 74-71.

ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said that everybody in Hilton Coliseum knew Timmons would get the ball when the teams emerged after the timeout.

She did.

And after making her way past the half court line, she feigned left and right, giving herself enough room to get off a good shot a few feet behind the three-point line.

As the ball bounced high off the back of the rim, Timmons dropped to the hardwood and turned her head away. She missed the final drama.

The ball bounced off the rim again before making its way harmlessly to the hardwood.

Timmons laid on her back covering the tail of the Cyclone at mid-court, with her hands covering her face, as Hilton Coliseum breathed a sigh of relief.

“We wanted to make her hit a tough shot,” Fennelly said.

He believes that all eight of the Cyclones that took the court played hard. But no one, with the exception of forward Kelly Cizek, played their “A game.”

Cizek grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds. She was a field goal shy of a double-double, ending with eight points.

As Cizek played the tail end of her 23 minutes—the most for her this year — in an almost surreal moment, it was announced to the crowd that “tonight is Kelly Cizek night,” by the public address man. Fans were told to stick around after the game because Kelly would be signing autographs.

Still, Fennelly was pleased with his core group of players.

Welle, who had two points at halftime, finished with 18 because “I was more patient in the second half.” She also grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.

Senior Megan Taylor had 14 points by halftime. She scored her last two of the half on a drive as time expired to give Iowa State a two-point lead, 38-36.

Fennelly said Creighton is a “hard team to match up with. They are very well-coached.”