The Cyclones seemed dead and buried.

Down 45-19 with 4:04 to play in the first half, everything had gone wrong for Iowa State. After tying the game at 15 apiece with 4:58 left in the first quarter, No. 22 Oklahoma State had gone on a blistering 30-4 run in just over 10 minutes of action. 

The one-two punch of Loryn Goodwin and Kaylee Jensen was terrorizing the Iowa State defense, and the Cyclones were in the midst of a 2-for-15 second quarter from the floor. 

A 6-0 run to end the half brought Iowa State back to within 20 points, but much like the Cyclones’ past four home games (all against ranked opponents), Iowa State was getting run off of its home court.

This time, though, the Cyclones were able to make a run. Iowa State got to within one point of the Cowgirls before falling 81-73 on Saturday night at Hilton. 

Both teams started off hot on the offensive end, but after a 6-for-9 start from the floor, Iowa State went 2-for-23 the rest of the first half. 

The Cowgirls’ defense was suffocating and focused on stopping star junior guard Bridget Carleton, who had scored a career-high 39 points when the teams last met on Jan. 24. 

Carleton had five points at the half on 2-for-8 shooting and was largely kept away from the ball in the first 20 minutes. She finished with 13 points, going 5-for-17 from the floor.

Carleton credited Oklahoma State for their subtle defensive adjustments this time around. She said the Cowgirls helped earlier and switched on ball screens frequently Saturday night.

“I was able to get to the rim in Stillwater a little bit easier,” Carleton said. 

Iowa State also missed some wide-open opportunities to stop the Cowgirls’ run. Coach Bill Fennelly said that both teams equally contributed to the Cyclones’ rough second quarter. 

“They made us go side-to-side a little bit,” Fennelly said. “A combination of good on-ball defense and some shots we gotta make.

“All of the sudden, you look up and you’re down 26 points.”

Once the second half began, though, the Cyclones looked like a different team entirely. The ball began to move with more zip, and for the first time since the midway point of the opening quarter, the shots were falling.

A quick 8-0 run brought the Cyclones within 10 at 48-38, and the fans at Hilton began to wake up from their first-half malaise. 

With the crowd getting louder (and more upset at every foul call), the Cyclones kept the Cowgirls at bay before an 8-1 run to end the third quarter down by only two points. 

Oklahoma State coach Jim Littell said that the Cowgirls “didn’t have any intensity on the defensive end of the floor.”

“I just knew that it was going to be a ballgame.”

Freshman guard-forward Madison Wise led the charge for the Cyclones, scoring 11 of her career-high 21 points in the third quarter with help from senior guard Emily Durr, who tacked on 13 of her own. 

Iowa State outscored the No. 22 Cowgirls 30-12 in the third, matching a school record for most points in a single quarter. 

The Cyclones cut the lead down to 59-58 with 9:32 to play, but were never able to “get over the hump” and take the lead. As so often happens when a team comes back from a large deficit late in the game, the energy exerted getting back into the game can leave them exhausted. 

A jumper from Carleton got the Cyclones within three points with 46 seconds to play, but a dagger 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock by Oklahoma State’s Braxtin Miller with 17.2 to play ended any Cyclone hopes. 

Wise said the reason Iowa State lost was pretty straight-forward. 

“We just have gotta come together and play a full game,” Wise said. “We can’t just play one half.”

Iowa State showed fight until the final whistle, but for the sixth time in seven conference games at Hilton, the visitors won, and the Cyclones walked off the court wondering how their home floor had become a house of horrors for the wrong team.