The Cyclone women’s basketball team dropped their second consecutive game last night and the fourth of their last seven. After falling on the road to Nebraska, 68-67, the Cyclones failed to bounce back, losing to the Kansas State Wildcats, 70-63.

“We didn’t compete like we usually do,” head coach Bill Fennelly said. “We struggled to get into the flow of the game, and we had trouble making shots.”

The Cyclones jumped out to an early lead on the Wildcats, but each time they had a chance to put their opponents away, KSU would respond with a run of their own.

After leading for the majority of the first half, ISU fell behind for the first time, 20-19, with 6:50 to go.

The Wildcat lead was short-lived, however, as the Cyclones quickly reclaimed the lead at 21-20 and finished the half up 33-28.

Unfortunately for ISU, the competitive spirit faded midway through the second 20 minutes, as did the ability to contain the Wildcats’ Brandy Harris and Kim Woodlee.

“They outplayed us in every phase of the game,” Fennelly said, “and more importantly, they outcompeted us.”

The Cyclones were able to extend their lead to 52-45 with just over nine minutes remaining in the game, but that was when KSU heated up.

Woodlee scored nine quick points as the Wildcats went on a 15-point run and never trailed thereafter.

Harris chipped in a career-high 21 points, as well as nine rebounds.

The Cyclones tried desperately to climb back into competition in the waning moments, but KSU answered every basket and hit their free throws in the clutch.

In addition, the Wildcats were also able to limit ISU’s top gamebreakers in Megan Taylor, Stacy Frese and Desiree Francis, holding the trio to a combined 28 points and 15 boards.

The trio was even less effective after the break, combining for a paltry 10 points in the second frame.

Fennelly was upset that no one was able to step in and pick up the slack when his stars faltered.

“Usually, somebody comes out and picks you up,” he said, “but we didn’t have anybody tonight.”

Monica Huelman came the closest, scoring 10 points on four-for-six shooting and pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds to complete the double-double.

Angie Welle also played well for ISU, scoring 18 points and pulling down seven rebounds, but the freshman shot just 50 percent on the night.

In addition to outscoring ISU 42-30 in the second half, the Wildcats also outrebounded the Cyclones 43-38 on the game.

Like all of her teammates, Erica Haugen was very disappointed after the game.

“We’ll just have to come back,” Haugen said, “work even harder and hopefully things will go our way again.”

“We didn’t do anything to put ourselves in a position to win,” Fennelly said. “This is the most disappointed I’ve been in a long time.”

After a mandatory day off tomorrow, the Cyclones will begin preparing for a home meeting with the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday.

Quotations courtesy of the Cyclone Radio Network

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KANSAS ST. 70

No. 16 IOWA ST. 63

 IOWA ST. (16-5)ÿ
Gahan 1-6 1-2 4, Huelman 4-6 2-2 10, Welle 6-12 6-8 18, Frese 3-14 0-1 8, Taylor 5-11 0-0 12, Haugen 1-4 0-0 3, Homeyer 0-1 0-0 0, Cizek 0-0 0-0 0, Francis 4-8 0-0 8. Totals 24-62 9-13 63.
KANSAS ST. (13-8)ÿ
Harris 10-19 1-3 21, Ramage 4-12 0-0 8, Rethman 2-9 1-2 7, Woodlee 3-5 4-5 13, Perry 1-3 3-5 6, Firsova 5-10 0-0 10, Finneran 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 27-62 9-15 70.
Halftime—Iowa St. 33, Kansas St. 28.
3-Point goals—Iowa St. 6-14 (Gahan 1-2, Frese 2-5, Taylor 2-2, Haugen 1-4, Homeyer 0-1), Kansas St. 7-18 (Rethman 2-8, Woodlee 3-5, Perry 1-3, Finneran 1-2).
Fouled out—None.
Rebounds—Iowa St. 38 (Huelman 10), Kansas St. 43 (Harris 9).
Assists—Iowa St. 11 (Frese, Taylor 3), Kansas St. 17 (Harris, Perry 5).
Total fouls—Iowa St. 15, Kansas St. 14.
A—2,605.