After rolling over their first five Big 12 opponents, head coach Bill Fennelly and the Cyclone women’s basketball team saw a dream start turn into a nightmare against the Texas Tech Lady Raiders last night, falling 71-47.

“They outplayed us in every phase of the game,” Fennelly said. “They played very hard and very aggressively, and that’s why they’re ranked No. 6 in the nation.

“We talked about playing our ‘A’ game and we really brought anything but that with us tonight.”

The Cyclones were kept off-balance all night by the suffocating Raider defense and seemed to play scared against a much more physically aggressive team.

“I think we played very hard,” Fennelly said. “We just struggled in every phase of our game.”

Texas Tech played only average offensively in the first half, but turned it up in the final 20 minutes, hitting seemingly every shot they took.

The Cyclones, on the other hand, got very few clear shots at the basket.

“We had a few good looks,” Fennelly said, “but when we got them, we either didn’t take them or we missed them.”

In addition to solid defensive play by the Lady Raiders and a huge turnover ratio, ISU was also hampered by the combination of intense aggressive play by TTU and very conservative officiating.

The Lady Raiders entered the contest leading the conference in fouls, having committed 100 more than their opponents, but were whistled for only 19 yesterday, the vast majority of those coming in the second half.

“You can’t blame the referees,” forward Desiree Francis said after the game. “They’re playing at home, so we have to expect the referees to be on their side. We can’t get emotional when we don’t get the calls.”

Angie Braziel led the Raiders with 14 points on 7-for-17 shooting.

For the Cyclones, Francis rebounded from a poor showing at home on Saturday to lead all scorers with 16 points.

Stacy Frese finished the game with 12 points and Angie Welle had nine.

Megan Taylor’s seven points were a season-low for the sophomore.

On the boards, ISU stuck with TTU, trailing the Lady Raiders by only one rebound, 42-41. TTU, however, took better advantage of their offensive boards, scoring over 20 second-chance points.

Welle led all players with 10 rebounds for the game.

The Cyclones fell behind early in the first half and never led throughout the contest.

TTU built their lead consistently through the half, closing out the first twenty minutes up 28-9.

In addition to being held to single-digit scoring, the Cyclones also shot only 10 percent in the first half and committed 14 turnovers to the Raiders 5.

The low point for the Cyclones in the opening frame came as they trailed 24-8.

As the shot clock ran out on the Cyclones, a foul was called on TTU that made head coach Marsha Sharp livid. Believing that the clock had expired before the foul, Sharp stalked onto the court, irate with the officials.

Sharp was not penalized for her actions, but Megan Taylor was flagged for a technical foul on the Lady Raiders’ following possession on a swat that not only appeared unintentional, but may have even been clean.

In the second half, TTU quickly extended its lead to 26 points, around which it would stay for the remainder of the game.

“I’m as disappointed as anyone, but we just have to bounce back,” Fennelly said. “We’re 13-2, we lost a game here where nobody wins, and we just have to hope for another shot at them in the Big 12 tournament.”