Earlier in the week, Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly said that 3-point shooting was “near the top of the list” of things the Cyclones need to do well to win games in the Big 12.

On Sunday afternoon, that 3-point shooting went missing, and Iowa State paid the price for it.

In a physical Big 12 game during which 45 total fouls were called, the Cyclones shot just 25 percent from the 3-point line and lost to Oklahoma, 74-69.

Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale said that forcing Iowa State to miss 3-pointers was a key part of the Sooners’ gameplay.

“That’s typically the best thing that they do year in and year out,” Coale said. “They have targets everywhere.”

The Sooners played physical defense, switching on screens and running Iowa State players off of the 3-point line. The infrequent use of a full-court press stopped the Cyclones from getting into their sets, forcing them to take contested threes late in the shot clock.

A crucial stretch during the middle told the story.

The Cyclones did not hit any 3-pointers in the second or third quarters, going 0-for-12 in that span and watching a 19-18 first quarter lead turn into a 58-49 deficit by the end of the third quarter. Funny enough, the Sooners also missed all five 3-pointers they took during the second and third quarters, and only shot 4-for-14 from behind the arc for the game.

The difference was that Oklahoma shot 60.8 percent overall in the second and third, while Iowa State shot 32 percent. The Sooners also outscored Iowa State 36-to-28 in the paint over the course of the game. For a team that’s set up the way Iowa State has been this year (guard heavy and reliant on outside shooting), getting outscored in the paint and going 7-for-28 from three is not going to win basketball games.

Fennelly said as much postgame.

“We’ve gotta shoot the ball a lot better, obviously,” Fennelly said. “We had a couple times where we were open but weren’t ready to catch and shoot.

“I think their defense had something to do with it, and I think we missed a lot of shots we’ve gotta make.”

The game was evenly matched throughout stats-wise, as the Sooners and Cyclones made the same number of field goals (24) along with 17 turnovers for Oklahoma and 16 for Iowa State. Both teams were called for at least 20 fouls over the course of the game as well, as the referees kept a quick whistle and made the game stop-and-start throughout.

Iowa State never found an offensive rhythm, despite having 12 more shots than the Sooners and grabbing 16 offensive rebounds.

The Cyclones also had an injury scare in the third quarter, as junior center Bride Kennedy-Hopoate exited the game after taking an elbow to the nose from Oklahoma center Vionise Pierre-Louis.

Kennedy-Hopoate later returned to the game after going through concussion tests, but the Cyclones sorely missed having a center with a legitimate inside-out threat on the court.

Sophomore forward Adriana Camber hit four of the team’s seven triples – Madison Wise had the other three – and credited the Sooners with scouting Iowa State well, but put the onus on the Cyclones to create better shooting opportunities.

“I think we could have done a better job of getting more open shots,” Camber said. “That’s something we have to work out.”

With only three days until a road matchup with No. 6 Baylor, Iowa State has to get their perimeter shooting back on track. And fast.