The ISU women’s basketball team headed into the locker room at halftime Saturday with a seven-point lead over No. 21 Oklahoma. The Cyclones would be hard-pressed to find a better start.

But when they took the court for the third quarter, the Cyclones faced the Sooners’ specialty: a constantly changing defense. Iowa State successfully beat the defense early on, getting some open looks, but it couldn’t knock them down.

“We had three wide open looks and missed them,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly about his team coming out of halftime. “And it seemed to kind of go from there.”

That second-half downfall led Iowa State (11-9, 3-6 Big 12) to its fifth straight loss Saturday, 77-71, against No. 21 Oklahoma (15-5, 6-3 Big 12) at Hilton Coliseum. It’s Iowa State’s first five-game losing streak since the 2011-12 season.

The Sooners lived up to their ranking early in the game, jumping to an 11-4 lead thanks to an 8-0 run. But the Cyclones battled back with an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game at 17 at the end of the first quarter.

Iowa State kept up the hot shooting in the second quarter, finishing the half with a 41.9 shooting percentage and on a 10-0 run. But at halftime, the team knew the Sooners weren’t going to relinquish the game that easily.

“Yeah, obviously we were happy,” said guard Jadda Buckley. “It’s good to have a lead going into halftime, but we were pretty fired up. We know [the Sooners] were going to come out hot, ready to rumble, and getting ready to go. They were going to look for their shots.”

Oklahoma did just that, firing on all cylinders on the offensive end of the court and finishing the second half with a 46.9 shooting percentage. But it wasn’t as much as they did on the offensive end as it was on the defensive end.

The Sooners deployed their ever-changing defense and stumped the Cycloens’ offense. Iowa State shot 26.7 percent in the second half and committed seven turnovers. Oklahoma outscored Iowa State, 49-36, in the last 20 minutes as well to grab the victory and continue Iowa State’s tough stretch.

“For us, it would have built a lot of confidence,” said guard Seanna Johnson on what a win Saturday would’ve done for the team. “Every team has their downfalls. It’s those special teams that come out more ready and more focused. They don’t stop believing.

“You’ve got to stay confident and you’ve got to stay motivated. Games like this, you’ve got to let it go. You can’t just dwell on it.”

The loss wasn’t without bright spots, though. 

Johnson, who has been battling a left knee injury for the past week, looked like her old self again in the second half. After a tough first half with two points and five rebounds, Johnson exploded in the second 20 minutes, putting up 16 points and seven rebounds to finish the day with a double-double.

Johnson said she was playing tentative in the first half with her knee, but in the second half, she tried to just play. 

“I still babied it, which I shouldn’t have,” Johnson said about the first half. “I realized — if I’m going to play, I’ve got to play 100 percent and that’s what I did in the second half. I attacked the rim.”

As for the losing streak, Fennelly has no problem with the team’s effort level, the first part of Fennelly’s formula for a successful team. But when it comes to execution, Fennelly’s second part of the formula, the team has struggled.

“The effort — I have no problem with,” Fennelly said. “The execution isn’t what it needs to be on either ends of the floor on a consistent basis for us to have success as a team. I think as a coach, what I’ve tried to do is get our players to compete. Just go out and compete. We’ve got to find a way to play 40 minutes.”