It had to happen sooner or later. The ISU women finally played a subpar game, but they still managed to come up with a 64-61 win against Kansas State Tuesday night at Hilton Coliseum.

The Cyclones managed to survive a flurry of five shots in the last :30 and won their 11th game in a row.

Iowa State shot a season-low 33 percent from the floor for the game and missed 22 of the 29 three-pointers the team attempted.

Among the lowlights were Megan Taylor, who was 2 for 13, and the normally reliable Stacy Frese, who made 4 of 12 shots for 10 points.

However, there were some bright spots. Lindsey Wilson scored 12 points in a career-high 22 minutes, including hitting both ends of a one-and-one with :41 left to provide the final margin of victory.

“Lindsey was huge for us. She brought energy off the bench and was ready to play when some of the rest of us weren’t,” Frese said.

Desiree Francis was particularly effective, scoring a game-high 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.

And the crowd, while relatively small at 9,681, was especially vocal when the team needed a lift.

“I thought the crowd helped us win the game,” coach Bill Fennelly said.

And Kansas State coach Deb Patterson was duly impressed by the fans at Hilton.

“This is my favorite atmosphere in the country,” he said. “I’ve been to UCONN and Tennessee, but this one is my favorite. Except when I play here.”

The Cyclones were down seven points with under eight minutes to play before they finally put together the run that has been the signature of the team thus far this season.

First, it was a deep three-pointer from Frese, which made it 52-48 with 7:11 left to play.

“When Stacy hit the three, it was like ‘whoa.’ it really fired everybody up,” Francis said.

Frese was not so impressed with the magnitude of the shot.

“I was just happy I finally made one,” she said.

Angie Welle, who was held to 12 points, then rebounded a miss by Frese and put in a shot to get the Cyclones to within two.

And finally, Francis got a nice feed from Taylor and was fouled as she hit the lay-in. When she converted on the three-point play, the Cyclones had the lead back at 53-52 with 5:11 left.

The rest of the game was a back-and-forth affair, with the Cyclones grabbing the lead for good on an old-fashioned three-point play by Welle that put Iowa State up 60-57 with 2:25 left.

Kansas State did, however, have plenty of chances to get back in the game.

With :08 left in the contest, the Wildcats called time-out and set up a play for an unlikely source, 6-foot-6 center Olga Firsova. She got an open look but missed the shot from beyond the arc.

“Believe it or not, I really think that’s a good shot for us. Normally when she gets an open shot, she hits it, but it didn’t fall tonight,” Patterson said.

However, after the rebound went out of bounds, the Wildcats still had .6 seconds left to tie it up.

“Normally, you just go up and grab the rebound, but not tonight,” an exasperated Fennelly said.

Angie Finkes, who had shot only one three-pointer all year, hoisted up the shot from the corner.

It was off the back rim, and the Cyclones were off the hook.

“I told the kids after the game that only championship teams find ways to win games like this,” Fennelly said. “And tonight we found a way.”