A bracket that had all the elements of a classic did not disappoint. This was a bracket featuring several homecomings, two friends battling it out, and four great teams, any one of which could have gone on to the Sweet 16.

The three games were decided by a total of seven points, and all of the teams that ended up on the short end of the stick had chances to win at the end.

In the first round last Saturday, the Rutgers Scarlet Nights staged a second half comeback to defeat the Oregon Ducks 79-76, while the Iowa State Cyclones fought off a tough challenge presented the Kent Golden Flash to win by an identical score.

Though the games started on Saturday, the madness started on Friday the thirteenth, with the teams getting to practice and holding their initial press conferences. All the teams came in confident, but with great respect for their opponents.

The games lived up to everybody’s expectations and then some. The crowd had already started to build when the Oregon/Rutgers game began at 3:30, with many of the Cyclone fans cheering for Oregon. Bill Yungclas, the Cyclone superfan, went so far as to wear a green shirt and an Oregon Ducks hat.

The game was a battle, pitting the Scarlet Knights’ athleticism against the Ducks’ craftiness and shooting. After the Ducks jumped out to an early 11-5 lead, Rutgers appeared somewhat fazed.

But the team battled back with a 16-7 run to take a 21-18 lead with 7:45 left in the first half. Then, in a battle for a loose ball, Oregon’s Natalie Bowyer fell to the ground, writhing in pain. She was taken off the court with a separated shoulder.

Rutgers, capitalizing on the Bowyer’s early exit, extended its lead to 10. But the Ducks rallied around their senior leader, Kirsten McKnight who came off the bench, to help Oregon tie the game at 40 at the half.

In the second half, the battle continued, with neither team able to jump out to a sizable lead. Oregon’s freshman center, Angelina Wolvert, kept the Ducks in the game with repeated trips to the foul line. With 1:06 to go, she hit two free throws for her 22nd and 23rd points of the game, giving the Ducks a 76-74 lead.

On Rutgers’ ensuing possession, the Lady Knights nearly failed to get a shot attempt, barely drawing iron on a lay-up as the shot clock buzzer sounded. Thinking it was a violation, the Oregon players celebrated the defensive stand, only to see Rutgers track down the rebound as play continued.

With the Ducks in disarray, Rutger’s star freshman point guard Natasha Pointer drove the lane, and passed the ball to Tomora Young, who stepped up and drained her fifth three-pointer of the game with 25.5 seconds left.

After the game, Oregon guard Natalie Hughes said, “We thought the shot clock went off and the ball was ours. They were kind of lucky there. It’s sad.”

After the Ducks missed their next shot, Linda Miles of Rutgers grabbed the rebound, her 17th of the game, and was fouled. Miles then proceeded to hit both free throws, and after Oregon missed a desperation three-pointer, Rutgers advanced to the second round by the score of 79-76.

Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer said, “I was extremely proud of this team. It thought that they stayed focused. As we said prior to the start of the game, this game was going to be decided by five points or less, and the team that blinked was going to lose. This young group did not blink.”

Rutgers was led by Young’s 23 points and Pointer’s 17 points, seven assists, and two steals. Miles tallied 13 points and 17 rebounds.

The Ducks were disappointed, yet proud. Coach Jody Runge said, “I thought our kids played hard, and we had chances to win. I am extremely proud of these kids.”

The Ducks were led by Anglenia Wolvert’s 23 points and 10 boards, while Sonja Curtis had 17 points.

The Cyclone game was a barnburner as well. ISU started out on fire, burying jumper after jumper to stake out to a 10-0 lead. But Kent came right back, reeling off 14 straight to grab a four-point lead.

The game see-sawed back and forth until the end of the first half, when Stacy Frese buried a three to send ISU into halftime with a 46-39 advantage.

The Golden Flashes of Kent kept coming however, and midway through the second half their pressure finally paid off, generating several Cyclone turnovers and turning a 59-52 deficit into a 62-59 lead.

But ISU showed resilience by rallying and building up a 79-71 lead with under two minutes to go, with most of the points coming from the charity stripe.

A three-pointer from Dawn Zerman drew Kent within five, and after Janel Grimm was called for traveling, Kent’s Julie Studer made a basket for her 20th point and was fouled by Grimm to cut the lead to 79-76. After the Cyclones grabbed the rebound off the missed free throw, Erica Haugen forced up a wild three that missed as the shot clock ran out. However, Studer traveled at the other end, and Stacy Frese was fouled.

Frese missed both free throws, keeping it a one-possession ballgame. Kent had a final chance to tie the game, but missed two three-point attempts, as the Cyclones held on for their first NCAA Tournament victory in history.

The win also upped the school-record victory total to 25 and was the team’s 20th straight home win.

Cyclone Assistant Coach Brenda Frese, had to step in for the first few minutes, as Fennelly was being treated for hyperventilation at the end of the game.

When Fennelly arrived he said he was impressed with Kent. “They hit some big, big three-point shots when we were trying to double team”

Fennelly was thrilled, especially for his seniors, Jayme Olson and Grimm.

“I wanted our seniors to win so bad, I wanted our kids to win so bad,” he said.

Olson carried the team in the second half, by scoring 16 of her 18 in the stanza despite foul trouble.

“I was mad,” Olson said. ” I don’t like being in foul trouble. I got into foul trouble and had to sit down for six minutes. [So] I tried to make up for those six minutes.”

Stacy Frese led the team in the first half, pouring in 19 of her career-high 25 before the break. Megan Taylor added 17 rebounds and 15 points. The team won despite 26 turnovers, including 19 in the second half.

Kent expressed its displeasure with the seeding after the game, with Coach Bob Lindsay saying, “I think we showed some people we deserve some respect. We played ISU as tough as anybody on their home floor.”

But he also congratulated the Cyclones and his coaching friend Fennelly. “I want to congratulate ISU,” he said. “They shot the ball extremely well. I am very happy for Bill.”

Kent was led by Dawn Zerman’s 21 points and seven assists and Studer’s 20 points and 10 rebounds. Kent’s top player, Carrie Templin, was shut down, scoring only four points and picking up four fouls.

The crowd of 9,221, an all-time NCAA First/Second Round Mideast region record, was a huge factor. Frese said, “Our crowd we had at the game did a phenomenal job as always. They helped us, [as] our sixth player on the floor.”

On Sunday, both teams, ISU and Rutgers appeared loose and relaxed for the game. But as loose as the teams were on Sunday, they were equally as jacked up and ready to go on Monday.

In last Monday night’s second round contest, the Cyclones battled back from an early ten-point deficit only to fall just short against a spirited and poised Rutgers squad, ending ISU’s season and the careers of seniors Olson and Grimm.

The game went down to the wire for the straight time. For the second time in as many games, the Cyclones started out hot, with Taylor burying two threes to help ISU jump out to a 6-0 lead. But the Scarlet Knights came roaring back to take a ten-point lead midway through the half, 24-14.

The Cyclones cut that down to five by halftime, and had a chance to cut into it further with Frese at the foul line. But she missed the front end of a one-and-one, and committed a foul on the rebound, her third, which seemed to hamper her defense in the second half. As it was, the Cyclones trailed 36-31 at the break.

But the Cyclones, riding superb second half efforts by Taylor and Olson, jumped out to a 40-36 lead. But Rutgers quickly rallied to tie the game, and it was nip and tuck the rest of the way.

After Olson’s layin with 1:11 left, the Cyclones led by two, 60-58. But a basket by Rutgers’ Young pulled the Knights even on the very next possession. Olson was fouled with 24 seconds left, and made one of two foul shots.

But with nine seconds left, Rutgers’ Pointer drew a foul on ISU’s Grimm. Despite her 63 percent free throw average, 9,705 screaming fans and two timeouts by ISU, Pointer sank both shots.

Taylor’s desperation three-pointer as time ran out banged off the side of the glass and Rutgers held onto the rebound and the win.

As the Rutgers players celebrated at midcourt, the Cyclones, many of them crying, walked off with their heads held high, and to a standing ovation from the largest crowd in ISU women’s basketball history.

The crowd’s reaction drew high praise from Fennelly.

“I told our kids that the fans cheered louder for them when they came off the court than when they came on the court. That’s a tribute to Iowa State fans and our players. I’ve never been to very many basketball games where you get beat and people cheer when you walk off the court,” he said.

“It hurts like hell to lose this game, but there are so many good things, and they’ll think of it after. Those 9,700 people who stood up and applauded not only applauded a basketball team but an outstanding group of young people. Those people are proud that these players have Iowa State on their jerseys. And that means a helluva lot more to me than winning the game. And I wanted to win more than anything,” Fennelly said.

The Cyclones were led by Taylor’s sensational 28-point, eight- rebound performance, which gave her an average of 21.5 points and 12.5 rebounds for the tournament.

Olson chipped in 14 points, which pushed her into first place in ISU’s all-time scoring list, with 1,799 points. Frese, despite being held to only seven points, broke the single season scoring record with 524 points. Both records had been held by Tonya Burns.

According to Stringer, who celebrated her birthday [she joked it was her “Sweet Sixteen”], the key was shutting down Frese, whom she called the “head of the team.”

She said, “We believe if you cut off the head, the body dies. We cut off the head, and the body struggled.”

Fennelly was unable to restrain tears when discussing the accomplishments of Grimm and Olson at the end of the press conference. In fact, many local reporters also had tears in their eyes as the walked out.

Fennelly said, “[They’re] two of the best players I’ve ever coached and two of the most outstanding young people I’ve ever coached. They will leave Iowa State with a lot of points, a lot of rebounds, but they have touched the hearts and souls of a lot of the people in this town.”

“Iowa State is a better place because they were here,” he said. “And everybody’s life that they have touched is better because of those two people. Those two people allowed me to do what I wanted to do. They could have looked at me and said ‘You didn’t recruit me,’ but they didn’t do that. They may not have agreed with everything I said, but they never turned their back on me one minute. Anything I’ve done here, they deserve most of the credit.”

The Cyclones closed the season 25-8, while the Scarlet Knights, finished 22-10, after falling in the Sweet Sixteen to the unbeaten and No.1-ranked Tennessee Volunteers.