A back-and-forth game turned to heartbreak for the Cyclones when Oklahoma State’s Brittney Martin caught an inbound pass, calmly faded away, and drilled a jumper to put the Cowgirls up by one point with just a single second remaining.

After Nikki Moody blocked a fast break layup out of bounds and another shot was no good, but tipped out of bounds by the Cyclones, Oklahoma State’s third and final shot at taking the lead was the charm.

An inbounds play led to a fairly open Martin, who faded away and decided the game in favor of the Cowgirls.

“I just think it was miscommunication,” said Seanna Johnson of the play that decided the game. “We were supposed to switch and there was kind of a delay.”

Iowa State had one last-second chance, but Nicole “Kidd” Blaskowsky’s full-court heave was tipped away and the Cyclones were unable to get a final shot off.

The Cowgirls celebrated while the Cyclones slumped down in disappointment after losing back-to-back home games against Kansas and Oklahoma State, teams that were previously both at the bottom of the Big 12 standings.

ISU coach Bill Fennelly described his week in a single word, “miserable,” before explaining further.

“We’ve worked hard to get to where we were,” Fennelly said. “We [were] 5-4 [in conference play], we’re hanging around … we let a lot of people down this week. I let a lot of people down this week and that’s not a good feeling.”

The final-second fireworks would not have been possible without the early game heroics of freshman center Bryanna Fernstrom, who scored the Cyclones first 13 points of the game.

“If Bry doesn’t show up, we’re down 25 at halftime,” Fennelly said. “I don’t know if they thought the game was at seven o’clock or what, but Bry was the only player to play the first half.”

Fernstrom scored 19 points in the first half and finished with 23 points for the game, just two shy of her career-high, which was set in her first collegiate game.

The 6-foot-5-inch freshman showed her full repertoire of moves in the post, scoring with ease from both blocks and even stepped out and showed her range by hitting jumpers.

It was a solid performance following a shaky game last time out against Kansas, where she only scored seven points on a rough shooting night.

“I thought some of them were a little lucky … I was fading away more than going up in the post but you know whatever works,” Fernstrom said after the game.

Fernstrom’s strong play was somewhat overshadowed by the Cyclones’ lack of rebounding.

The Cowgirls outrebounded the Cyclones 41-27 and were especially damaging on the offensive glass, where they held a 16-2 advantage against the Cyclones.

“In the women’s game, every rebound comes off below the rim and sometimes, this sounds really simple, you just got to want the damn ball more than they do,” Fennelly said.

The loss concludes a seven-day stretch that saw the Cyclones go 1-2. Previously this week, Fennelly had said this week was one of the most important weeks of the season for his team.