In the preseason WNIT semi-final game, Iowa State beat Auburn 67-64.

So far this season, Iowa State has struggled with consistency shooting from 3-point land.

In Iowa State’s first game against Niagara, the team shot 39.1 percent on 15 shots from three. The next game against Northern Illinois, Iowa State shot 29.2 percent on 24 shots.

Against Auburn in the first half, Iowa State shot 28.1 percent from three. The next half Iowa State shot 40 percent from distance.

Iowa State had two players with double-digit 3-point attempts in Ashley Joens, who went 5-for-12 from three, and Madi Wise, who went 3-of-10.

“When you look at the stat sheet, there is no way Iowa State should have won that game,” said coach Bill Fennelly.

With 4:55 left in the first quarter, Iowa State was 1-of-9 from the floor. Of the nine shots, seven were from 3-point land where Iowa State didn’t make a shot.

In those seven shots, the Cyclones had some near misses, including a Joens three which rimmed out, but the team also had shots which were far off of its mark.

Wise had an off-balanced three in the corner which was an airball and another three which went off of the side of the backboard.

With eight seconds left in the first quarter, Bridget Carleton hit the first three of the game for the Cyclones on their 10th attempt.

Iowa State finished the quarter with 13 points on 3-for-17 shooting from the floor and 6-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. Auburn tallied 18 points in the first quarter.

In the first quarter, Iowa State struggled to get clean looks in the paint going 0-for-2 on layups.

Defensively, Auburn was running a zone in the half court and a press when Iowa State inbounded the ball.

Fennelly said Iowa State wasn’t prepared for Auburn’s defense at the beginning of the game.

With the zone in the half court, Auburn collapsed on Iowa State players driving to the basket, which prevented Iowa State from converting layups. In addition, the Auburn defense deflected several Iowa State passes which would have found open players.

But when they weren’t deflected, the kick-out passes found open shooters on the 3-point perimeter.

In the second quarter, Auburn alternated its zone defense with man defense, but still continued double teaming driving Iowa State players.

Iowa State shot 2-for-7 from three in the quarter to put its game 3-point percentage at 17.6 percent.

It wasn’t until 2:13 left in the quarter that Joens hit Iowa State’s first 3-pointer of the quarter on a crafty step-back shot.

With 1:27 left in the second, Wise hit a three off of a Carleton assist. Carleton had driven to the basket and was doubled when she made the pass to Wise.

To begin the second half with 8:09 left in the third quarter, Joens hit her second three of the game to cut Auburn’s lead to 41-34.

The following play on defense Carleton drew a charge on Auburn to give Iowa State the ball.

On the Cyclones’ following defensive possession, Alexa Middleton notched a steal and then hit Wise for a three with 6:34 left.

After Wise’s made shot, Carleton blocked an Auburn players shot out of bounds, and off the in-bound, Iowa State forced a turnover for a shot clock violation.

Iowa State forward Meredith Burkhall said when the team started to hit threes in the second half, it gave the team momentum to come back.

Off of the made three, Iowa State then trailed Auburn 41-39.

To tie the game 45-45, Carleton hit Wise who hit her third three of the game with three seconds left.

Iowa State shot 3-8 from three in the third which was good for 37.5 percent.

To put Iowa State ahead, Joens hit a three nine seconds into the fourth quarter.

A minute later, Joens hit another three. This shot came from the corner with an Auburn player closing out on her to put Iowa State up 53-45.

For Iowa State’s third straight made 3-pointer, Joens made a shot to add onto Iowa State’s 56-48 lead with 7:04 left in the game.

“[Joens] was huge for about four minutes. Early in the game she couldn’t make anything and was a little tentative,” Fennelly said.

Carleton said Joens hitting those threes forced Auburn to not sag on defense and created lanes to drive to the rim offensively.

Iowa State didn’t hit another 3-pointer the rest of the game. Iowa State shot 42.9 percent from three in the quarter.

Overall, Iowa State shot 28.1 percent from three during the game.

Gaining momentum late in the game, Auburn’s Janiah McKay hit three-straight threes to tie the game with 40 seconds left.

But because of late game heroics by Carleton, Iowa State was able to take the game.

Late in the game, Carleton said she knew she needed to make a play on defense.

With 13.3 seconds left in the game, Carleton drew a charge on a driving McKay, and the subsequent possession Carleton scored a layup to put Iowa State up two with 8.6 seconds left.

On Auburn’s last possession, Carleton blocked a driving McKay with 2.1 seconds left.

“Both sides were hitting shots, but I’m just glad we got enough defensive stops to win the game,” Burkhall said.

Auburn turned over the ball on the in-bound pass, and Iowa State shot free throws to ice the win.

Carleton played 40-straight minutes for the second game in a row and had 15 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.