The Iowa State women’s basketball team used a big third quarter to beat the TCU Horned Frogs 66-63 on Wednesday night. 

The first quarter featured two teams playing good defense and not-so-good offense. The Cyclones went up 9-7 with 4:33 left to play in the first, but they failed to score the rest of the quarter. At the end of the first, the Horned Frogs led 10-9.

In the second quarter, both offenses began to wake up, and the contributions of junior guard Bridget Carleton and senior guard Emily Durr kept Iowa State in the game. TCU led 28-25 at halftime.

Iowa State got off to a very quick start in the third quarter, and Carleton and Durr put the Cyclones up 45-34 with 2:33 left in the quarter. Carleton had 26 points on 10-20 shooting to lead Iowa State. The Cyclones had a 47-39 lead heading into the fourth.

TCU scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter, and suddenly the Cyclones found themselves trailing 48-47. Redshirt junior Claire Ricketts’ four offensive rebounds (out of 13 total boards) led to extra opportunities and the Cyclones led 62-56 with 2:18 to play. 

TCU had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but the 3-point attempt from Amber Ramirez was no good.

The Cyclones move to 11-14 on the season and 5-9 in the Big 12. 

Up next for Iowa State is a home game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Tip-off from Hilton Coliseum is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17.