Kansas City, Mo. — For the second consecutive year the Iowa State women knocked off Texas A&M in their opening round conference tournament game, this year by the final of 88-68.

The 10th-seeded Aggies upset Texas 98-74 on Tuesday night to advance to the second round to face the second-seeded Cyclones.

ISU won the only previous meeting between the two this season 68-52 in College Station, Texas.

“Jayme Olson and Janel Grimm have led this team for four years, and they came out and played great,” Coach Bill Fennelly said. “We definitely took advantage of their fatigue in the second half.”

Olson finished the game with 21 points and six assists, while Grimm had13 tallies and dished out a team-high eight assists, while snatching nine caroms.

ISU continued its excellent three-point shooting by going 12-24 from behind the arc. Stacy Frese once again led the way. The first-team all-conference performer nailed five three-pointers and ended the game with 21 points. She also had five assists and two steals.

“They are a great shooting team,” Texas A&M Coach Candi Harvey said. “You expect them to cool off and they just don’t.”

“We were just cranking it in and then Janel, Jayme and Monica (Huelman) kept cranking back out to us which gave us good looks,” Frese said. “That is when we are at our best, when we are all touching the ball and getting open looks.”

The Cyclones continued their dominance versus southern division teams. Since entering the Big 12, ISU is 11-2 versus the South, while only 11-10 against the North. This season ISU is 5-1 against the South and 7-3 against the North.

ISU never trailed in the contest, with the score tied only once, at two apiece. The Cyclones jumped out early making five of their first eight shots to take a 12-5 advantage. Grimm made two baskets while Frese and Erica Haugen each nailed a three-pointer.

“What worked for us against other teams, like Texas and Texas Tech, is that we would double down from the perimeter, but against this team you can’t. You have to decide whether you want to give up the two or three,” Harvey said.

The Cyclones owned a 10-point advantage at 18-8 just five minutes into the game, but the Aggies came storming back to get within three, at 30-27, with 6:36 remaining in the half.

“It really never seemed like we had a 15-point lead,” Olson said. “Give (Texas A&M) credit, they are a scrappy team, and they didn’t give up. I was glad to come away with a victory. We did a nice job of not getting caught up in their running game.”

Sparked by Amanda Bartz off the bench, ISU went on a 17-7 run to finish the half. The sophomore nailed two of three three-point attempts in the first half and had a critical offensive board that led to a Grimm basket.

Olson and Frese both nailed threes and Huelman made a basket in the final three minutes to give the Cyclones their commanding halftime lead.

“All three of them (Bartz, Huelman and Haugen) played well,” Fennelly said. “We have four pretty damn good players, and we are always looking for that fifth player to step up. I challenged them this morning, because at Nebraska we had a shot to win, and we got absolutely nothing from them. Bartz really gave us a jolt of enthusiasm.”

Bartz finished the game with 10 points.

In the second half ISU continued its dominance even though the team did not score in the first four minutes of the half. The drought allowed Texas A&M to get with in seven, but that was as close as it got.

After a pair of three-pointers by Megan Taylor and Frese, the Cyclones once again staked themselves to an 18-point lead. ISU led by as much as 22 points in the second half.

Taylor had 17 points and nine boards.

ISU will take on the winner of Kansas and Kansas State tonight at 7:30 in the semifinals. KSU upset Baylor in the second round.

Texas Tech and Oklahoma State will play in the other semifinal match; OSU knocked of the four seed, Nebraska. ISU beat all the remaining teams at least once this season.

“All of the upsets certainly made us ready,” Frese said. “It really got us mentally prepared.”

“I told them that I didn’t care what it takes, I just want to be able to play [Thursday],” Fennelly said. “I didn’t care how pretty it was, or what the media may say about it. I just wanted to advance.”