Senior night for the No. 6 Texas women’s basketball team was supposed to be different.

Texas had two home losses all year. The first was a close loss to then-No. 3 South Carolina, and the second came last Monday to No. 4 Baylor, a game that was decided by just three points.

Hosting Iowa State, a team with a losing conference record, seemed like the perfect chance for Texas to end the regular season on a high note.

Iowa State had other plans.

The Cyclones (17-11, 8-9 Big 12) moved one win closer to the NCAA Tournament with a season-changing 70-66 win over the Longhorns (21-7, 14-3 Big 12) on Friday in Austin.

With a one-point lead and just a few seconds left in the third quarter, Iowa State sophomore Bridget Carleton came up with a big steal on a Texas outlet pass and drilled a 3-pointer from about 35 feet.

“It was a great play,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “That was a great individual play. It was just a basketball play. She saw the play, she jumped the passing lane and obviously throws in a long shot.

“Those are the plays that change games … that was a great individual effort by a kid who understands the game.”

Iowa State took a 58-54 lead into the fourth quarter. Texas proceeded to go on a 6-0 run to take its first lead since the 2:13 mark in the first quarter.

The Cyclones have lost multiple games this year in the final minutes after leading for the majority of the game. For a brief period, it seemed like that was destined to repeat itself again Friday night.

Iowa State called a timeout with just over seven minutes remaining, trailing by two.

“I just said to them, ‘Hey, get your head up,” Fennelly said. “We’re down two on the road to the sixth-ranked team in the country. We’re in a good spot.”

Fennelly said this was one of the biggest wins in his 22 years at Iowa State.

“It’s one of the big ones,” Fennelly said. “I don’t like to say best or whatever because it takes away from other teams, but if you wrote down 10 of them, it’d be on the list.

“Especially the time of year, how important it was, the quality opponent on the road … on paper, it’s the highest ranked team on the road we’ve ever beaten. Anytime you beat Texas it’s good in anything, so it would definitely be on the list somewhere.”

Iowa State missed the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time in a decade. Friday’s win, however, moved the Cyclones into the tournament field, according to ESPN’s latest bracket projection.

Over the past few games, Fennelly has emphasized the importance of getting good play from his big three of Seanna Johnson, Jadda Buckley and Carleton. The big three combined for 54 of Iowa State’s 70 points while shooting 19-for-38 (50 percent) from the floor against Texas.

The turnaround over the last few weeks for Iowa State has been miraculous. Iowa State started 1-6 in Big 12 play with the only win coming at home against last-place Kansas.

In late January, the Cyclones found their footing with a pair of home wins, but still sat at 3-8 in league play. Since then, Iowa State has won four in a row and five of its last six to get to 8-9 in the Big 12.

With the Big 12 Tournament starting in less than a week, Iowa State has clinched the fifth seed after West Virginia lost on Saturday. That gives the team a first round bye in the Big 12 Tournament, which is handed to the top six teams. But the Cyclones will still be playing for the seniors and to rack up another win against Oklahoma State on Monday in the final home game of the regular season.