DES MOINES — It was only the second game of the season for the ISU women’s basketball team, but it has already found adversity.

Iowa State’s offense met its opposition Sunday in a 74-70 loss to Drake at the Knapp Center in Des Moines.

In a battle of two high-paced, all-out offenses, the Bulldogs attempted to slow down the Cyclones’ up-tempo attack with a zone defense that focused on shutting down the perimeter shooting game.

It worked.

Iowa State’s offense looked out of whack throughout the game, giving up 11 turnovers. The turnovers have been a problem for the Cyclones early in the season, and they came to the forefront in this game.

Whenever Iowa State tried to mount a comeback, it gave the ball away.

“We just have to capitalize on that momentum,” said guard Jadda Buckley, who had six turnovers. “We can’t let their defense turn into their own offense. If we’re going to get steals and get turnovers on the defensive end, we have capitalize on that on the other end and knock down shots.”

The Cyclones tried to implement an offense around the middle of the court. TeeTee Starks and Seanna Johnson camped at the top of the paint and tried to get the stagnant ISU offense kickstarted.

But successes were few and far between for the ISU offense, as it started to resort to throwing up 3-pointers and perimeter shots. Normally that would work for a Cyclone attack that revolves around the perimeter, but on Sunday those shots just weren’t falling.

“We said before the game that we’re going to have to make a lot of threes in this kind of game and we didn’t,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly. “That’s basketball.”

The Cylcones put up 33 3-pointers but only made eight. But it wasn’t as if those shots were coming at bad times, the team just wasn’t sinking them when there were open looks.

“The game is not that hard,” Fennelly said. “When you miss 52 shots and get zero out of your post game, you’re not going to win. When you get the ball on the wing, you’ve got to make that shot.”

Whatever success Iowa State didn’t have on the offensive side of the ball, Drake did.

The Bulldogs couldn’t be tamed from outside the arc as they hit 11 3-pointers in the game. Even though their efficiency was below average — they shot 11-for-35 from long range — the shots came at big times in the game, which helped them pull ahead and keep Iowa State at arm’s length.

“We didn’t hesitate on taking any shot. Tonight we took the shot,” said Drake coach Jennie Baranczyk. “It’s a game changer. That’s another thing Iowa State does extremely well.”

The Cyclones will have a week off before their next game on Sunday. Although this loss is deflating for the team, the week will give it a chance to improve.

The focus in that week-long practice: knocking down open shots.

“It’s just a missed shots. We just need to get into the gym more — that goes for all of us,” said Kidd Blaskowsky, who went 4-for-13 from 3-point range. “This game is over, so we’ve got to focus on the next one.