Although enough fans from Ames made the journey to Kansas City for Municipal Auditorium to be dubbed “Hilton South,” it appeared the faithful left one important ingredient back home: The Magic.

The Iowa State women’s team fell 73-59 to the Texas Tech Lady Raiders (28-3) on Saturday night in the Big 12 championship game.

“I was real proud of the effort our kids gave. We put ourselves in a position to win the game, but like most great teams, when we had a breakdown, they jumped on us,” ISU coach Bill Fennelly said.

It looked early on as if this would be just another big Cyclone win in front of a partisan crowd.

ISU (22-7) jumped out of the gates, obviously inspired by the tournament record crowd of 8,127, most of whom were clad in cardinal and gold.

After the two teams played an even and intense first eight minutes, the Cyclones switched into another gear that has been saved for truly special occasions.

Up 12-10 with 11:30 left in the half, Desiree Francis hit a jumper. Then Stacy Frese hit two free throws.

After a Tech turnover, Megan Taylor hit a jumper on a nice dish from Tracy Gahan.

The play continued in this fashion for the next four minutes, and Iowa State soon found itself with a 28-14 lead and playing its best ball of the season.

Monica Huelman had a chance to extend the lead but missed a layup, and that’s when Tech made its move.

The Lady Raiders outscored ISU 13-4 for the duration of the half, capped by a three-pointer by Melinda Schmucker with :05 to play.

“A couple things happened to get them back in the game. We’re up 14 and we miss a breakaway layup that would’ve put us up 16, and then we forgot to guard people two possessions in a row, and they hit three-pointers,” Fennelly said.

ISU’s half-time advantage was a tenuous five points at 32-27. The half-time stats revealed some rather alarming numbers for the Cyclones.

Texas Tech’s two leading scorers, All-American Angie Braziel and guard Rene Hanebutt, had a combined two points at the break.

Braziel, the Big 12 Player of the Year, was scoreless in missing all four shots from the field.

Further, the Cyclones were tearing up the nets with 52 percent field goal shooting. Tech, meanwhile, was 10-30 from the field.

With all of this and just a five-point lead, the Cyclones knew a run was coming.

Texas Tech made no hesitation in showing ISU that the second half would be a different story.

They opened the stanza on a 6-0 run that featured all the points being scored by Braziel.

The Cyclones hung in with the Lady Raiders for the next couple of minutes behind big baskets by Welle and Taylor.

Iowa State held its last lead at 38-37 with 14:43 left in the contest on a jumper from Taylor.

Braziel then made the next three points before the outside attack took over.

The Tech lead was extended to five after Julie Lake nailed a three. The next trip down the floor, she nailed another one, and the lead was 46-38.

ISU would eventually get the lead back down to two at 50-48 on a tough scoop shot from Taylor.

Again Lake answered with a three. Then it was Braziel who came through with a jumper.

After Frese made one of two free throws, Tech went on a 13-2 run that would spell the end of the line for the Cyclones.

“We were OK offensively, but we just didn’t play defense. They have great shooters, and we just didn’t do a good job of finding them,” Frese said.

Lake led Texas Tech in scoring with 20 points. The senior guard was 4-7 from behind the arc, including 3-4 in the deciding second half.

Braziel scored all 17 of her points in the second half, and added 10 rebounds.

“She’s a hell of a player. She got real aggressive offensively, and got some rebounds, and that helped her. She just wanted the ball more in the second half,” Fennelly said.

As a team, the Lady Raiders shot 7-10 from three-point land in the second half to pull away for the victory.

The Cyclones were led by Frese, who scored 14 points, and Welle and Taylor, who split 26 points and 20 rebounds down the middle.

Iowa State will now face Santa Clara back in the friendly confines of Hilton Coliseum this weekend in the first round of the NCAA tournament.