CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In its first appearance ever in the “Big Dance,” the Iowa State women’s basketball team lost a defensive battle to the fifth-seeded Utah Utes.

The game, in the first round of the West Regional, was played on Friday March 14. ISU lost 66-57.

The loss ended the careers of seniors Tara Gunderson, Julie Hand, Alecia Lee, Kim Martin and Cheyenne Palmer.

Despite the loss, Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly said he was pleased with the effort put forth by his team.

On numerous occasions in the second half, the Cyclone women found themselves trailing by 15 points.

But the women managed to battle their way back by applying an aggressive full-court trapping defense.

The defensive change then propelled the Cyclones and helped them claw back into the game by cutting the margin to less than 10 points.

“We are not a pressing team,” Fennelly said. “But we had to press and we didn’t do bad (at it.)”

From the tipoff, the Cyclones appeared as if they were playing “tight” or nervous with most of the shots coming up short.

“We were excited to get here and it showed early,” junior forward Jayme Olson said.

But Olson said she didn’t want that to be an excuse for the loss.

In fact, she offered a lot of praise for the victorious Utes.

“I think that they are a very good team. They are very well disciplined (and) they made shots when they needed to make shots when we made a run on them. They hit the critical shots that kind of put us back down. That is just qualities of a good team.”

Olson lead the Cyclones in scoring and rebounding as she posted her fifth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Of the 18 points, she scored all but four in the second half on 4-of-8 from the field, including a three-pointer.

She hit 5-of-6 second-half free throw attempts.

Janel Grimm kept the Cyclones in the game in the early-going.

The charismatic junior tallied the team’s first seven points while keeping the game close. Twelve of her 14 points came in the first half. She pulled down four offensive rebounds before the halftime intermission.

Gunderson also contributed, but the senior was pestered by the defense of Utes guard Alli Bills.

Bills was named to the all-WAC Mountain Defensive Team.

Gunderson hit 4-of-8 from the field, with all her attempts originating from behind the arc. She had 12 points for the game.

“Defensively I thought they were very solid,” Fennelly said. “But we did some good things, but that is a very good team. They didn’t win 25 games this season for [no] reason.”

Hand was 3-of-5 from the field, including a three-pointer from the right wing to add seven points for the Cyclones.

The senior also swiped three steals while dishing out a pair of assists in the loss.

Although Martin had three points, her nine rebounds and defense helped to inspire the Cyclones in the comeback, though they fell short in the closing minutes.