CINCINNATI — Five minutes and a three-point shooting extravaganza helped earn the Iowa State women’s basketball team its first-ever trip to the Elite Eight.

The Cyclones hit five of seven attempts from beyond the perimeter in the last five minutes of Saturday’s NCAA Mideast Regional Semifinal game to turn the women’s basketball world on its ear with a 64-58 victory over the top-seeded University of Connecticut Huskies.

“We don’t belong in the same sentence with UConn,” ISU Head Coach Bill Fennelly said. “They’ve done a whole lot more than we have, but a game like this is great for our program.

“We weren’t satisfied to just give them a good game and be happy making it to the Sweet 16. We’re not satisfied now,” he said. “Our kids are in the locker room right now talking about going to the Final Four.”

Iowa State held on to a narrow lead for most of the first half before a UConn basket by Swintayla Cash put the Huskies up 19-18 with 5:48 left before the half.

The game stayed neck-and-neck for the remainder of the first half, which ended with Desir‚e Francis nailing a 13-foot jump shot at the buzzer to tie the game, 28-28.

“We ran a play that wasn’t well-organized, but I always tell my kids to play all the way until the buzzer sounds,” Fennelly said. “That was a big lift for us … 28-28 sounds a lot better than 28-26.”

UConn pulled ahead in the second half with an Asjha Jones layup and two free throws by Svetlana Abrosimova to make it 32-28 UConn.

Iowa State struggled with foul trouble for much of the second half, with four Cyclone starters — Megan Taylor, Angie Welle, Monica Huelman and Tracy Gahan — tallying four fouls apiece.

“We had a lot of foul trouble, but it helped us save our legs for the end,” said Taylor, who came away with 13 points.

After an ISU foul on Gahan, two free throws by Stacy Hansmeyer gave UConn its biggest lead of the game at 46-39.

“We were stuck at 39 for a long time, but we were playing good defense,” Taylor said. “We held a team that averages 95 points to just … I know I should remember the final score, but we held them down.”

In fact, Iowa State held UConn to just 29.9 percent from the field, a season low for the 29-5 Huskies.

The definitive shot of the game came with five minutes, 26 seconds remaining, when ISU forward Monica Huelman nailed a 20-foot three-point shot, making it 50-47, UConn.

“That shot changed the momentum of the game,” Taylor said. “The momentum was going their way, and then Monica hit that big shot, and that seemed to be the start of our three-point rage.”

Huelman’s trey ignited a Cyclone three-point run, with Gahan and Taylor hitting one three apiece and Frese draining two.

“Coach always gives us the green light and tells us to keep shooting,” said Frese, who led all scorers with 16 points after being held to just two the first half. “Luckily, near the end we were getting some good looks, and they were starting to fall. That’s our game — shooting the three.”

The five three-point goals combined with a field goal and a free throw from Welle and one free throw each from Gahan and Frese propelled ISU to its 64-58 upset over fourth-ranked UConn.

“The Iowa State kids — God love ’em,” UConn Head Coach Geno Auriemma said. “For 35 minutes we did exactly what we wanted to do to them … and they stayed with it and still kept making the same cuts and taking the same shots and started knocking them down.

“Obviously, it’s tremendously disappointing whenever the season ends,” he said. “You feel like you’ve been kicked in the gut, and it really hurts.”

The unexpected Cyclone victory ousted UConn from Regional Semifinal action for the first time in Huskie history and gave 25-7 ISU its first win over a team ranked in the top four nationally.

“It’s hard to put into words what this team has accomplished,” Fennelly said. “Every game we do something special.”

The Cyclone victory is especially monumentous considering the ISU program went 18-63 between 1991-94.

“[This win] means a lot for our program considering where we were four or five years ago,” Taylor said. “We went from one of the worst programs in the country to the Elite Eight. It’s amazing how much we’ve turned it around.”

Big XII champion Texas Tech’s 53-42 loss to Rutgers on Saturday makes ISU the only Big XII team remaining in the tournament.

Iowa State kicked off its NCAA Tournament play with a 74-61 win over 13th-seeded Santa Clara on March 12 in Ames.

After trailing the entire first half, the Cyclones pulled ahead, 51-49, on a Taylor three-pointer, with 11 minutes, 14 seconds remaining.

A Santa Clara basket tied the game briefly at 51-51, before Frese hit a free throw to regain the lead.

Frese led the team in scoring, with 31 points. Gahan had 12 and Taylor had 10.

Iowa State then advanced to the second round of the tournament in front an all-time ISU record crowd of 12,337.

ISU defeated the fifth-seeded Oregon Ducks, 85-70, in the second round of the tournament on March 14 in Hilton Coliseum.

The score oscillated in the opening minutes of the game before a Taylor top-of-the-key three-pointer secured ISU its biggest lead thus far at 30-22.

Oregon brought it within three points four minutes into the second but never regained the lead.

A free throw by reserve forward Kelly Cizek with 53 seconds remaining gave ISU its biggest lead of the night at 85-67.

Welle was the Cyclones’ high scorer with 21 points; she also snagged 10 rebounds. Francis scored 19 points in 19 minutes, and Frese and Taylor each added 12 points.