Iowa State women’s basketball finished its trip to Las Vegas with an 81-69 loss to Syracuse  Saturday. A tight contest went the way of the Orange in the end.

The first half was as even as it could get. The Cyclones and the Orange were tied after the first quarter and at halftime.

A second-half slump for Iowa State allowed Syracuse to pull away and win on the final day of the South Point Shootout.

Here are the three biggest takeaways from the game:

Good day shooting

Shots were falling for Iowa State, especially down low. The Cyclones finished with a shooting percentage of 46.7% from the field.

Scoring leaders for Iowa State were Audi Crooks with 23 points and Addy Brown with 19 points.

Crooks once again was the difference maker down low. In her first start this season, Crooks shot 10-for-12 from the field, all inside the paint.

On the outside, Brown led the way making three of her eight attempts from 3-point range. As a team, Iowa State made eight of its 29 attempted 3-pointers.

Brown shot 8-for-17 from the floor and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading the Cyclones.

Turnovers still an issue

Iowa State has had trouble turning the ball over early on this season. The Cyclones have turned the ball over 14 or more times in their four games leading up to this one.

Saturday was no different. Iowa State committed 16 turnovers, taking away what could have been crucial points for the Cyclones.

The Orange grabbed 15 points off of the turnovers, enough to gap the Cyclones and win the game. On the opposite side, Iowa State forced just five turnovers defensively.

Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly has talked previously about cleaning up the turnovers. It still appears to be a glaring issue that needs to be worked on before Big 12 play begins.

Scoring droughts

Though the Cyclones shot well, there were times where points were hard to come by. The fourth quarter was especially rough on offense.

Iowa State finished the game on a 3:07 drought. In that time, Syracuse finished the game on an 8-0 run to seal the seal.

Two other scoring droughts in the fourth quarter did not help either. Both lasted around two minutes in the early and middle portions of the fourth quarter.

Just 10 points in the fourth quarter were all the Cyclones could muster, which was not enough considering they were down six points after the third quarter.

Though Iowa State lost, it was still a good test to see where the Cyclones stack up against Power Five opponents.