For nine straight seasons, the Cyclones have played basketball in late March.

But after one of the team’s toughest seasons, with adversity on and off the court, Iowa State won’t be headed to the NCAA National Tournament, putting an end to a streak of nine straight appearances. 

No. 8-seeded Iowa State’s (13-17, 5-14 Big 12) dreams of an automatic bid by way of the Big 12 Tournament were dashed Friday night. No. 9-seeded Texas Tech (13-17, 4-15 Big 12) defeated the Cyclones, 88-82, in the first round of the tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla. 

“It’s not good,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly after the game. “I’m not going to lie about it. It’s disappointing that we’re not going to be playing in March, and I feel bad that I let so many people down.”

But in the middle of the game, the Cylcones looked poised to pull off the first-round win. Midway through the third quarter, Iowa State took a five-point lead. Freshman Bridget Carleton had a game-high 19 points and junior Seanna Johnson had 16 of her own. 

But Texas Tech wouldn’t go away. 

The Lady Raiders fought back to tie the game at 63 going into the fourth quarter. Despite the Cyclones wrestling back a four-point lead in the final ten minutes, Texas Tech came back and made free throws down the stretch to grab the victory. 

Johnson and Carleton did their best to lead their team to victory, putting up 28 and 27 points, respectively.

“We played great, so I think coming to this game, they had the mind-set that if you play hard and you hit shots, …and that’s what they did,” Johnson said. “They came out aggressive, and I think at the end of the game they got stops when we didn’t.”

Although Iowa State put up one of its best shooting performances of the conference season, shooting 44.3 perecent, Texas Tech shot 47.8 percent.

The Cyclones especially struggled to slow down freshman Japreece Dean, who had 28 points and five rebounds. 

“We were trying everything we could,” Fennelly said. “We tried to mix and match, but they hit some big shots and you gotta give them credit.”

Even though the streak of postseason appearances came to a close Friday night, the future looks bright for another streak. 

Carleton put up a big night under do-or-die circumstances and freshman Meredith Burkhall had 11 points with seven rebounds. Freshman TeeTee Starks lost her season to knee surgery in December, but figures to be in the starting rotation moving forward. 

“[It’s] so tough for them to learn on the job,” Fennelly said. “But they will be better for it and hopefully down the road, they will look back at this and when they get to be seniors and they’re taking it out on some other freshmen, hopefully we’ll laugh about it down the road.”

So what’s Fennelly going to do with his extra time off for the first time in nine seasons? 

“Deb, my beautiful wife and I, we’re going to go somewhere, do something,” Fennelly said. “Get an early start on recruiting, I guess.”