For the seventh-straight game in the series, Iowa State dropped its matchup with Texas on Sunday, taking a close game into the fourth quarter before Texas ultimately pulled away in the 68-53 loss for the Cyclones.
Iowa State finished the game with 20 turnovers as a team.
“That was the one thing we talked about in the locker room – you’re going to get punched in the mouth with physicality,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said on the Cyclone Radio Network. “But we came out in the second half and missed layups and missed free throws. We didn’t do anything to help ourselves.”
When looking at the numbers side-to-side, Texas’ 16 turnovers make Iowa State’s 20 look somewhat reasonable. However, it was what Texas did off of the Cyclones’ turnovers that changed the direction of the game.
On four different occasions, the Longhorns went on runs of 6-0 or better. The 12-0 run in the fourth quarter was enough to put the Cyclones away.
“We knew that Texas was going to be tough,” Ashley Joens said on the Cyclone Radio Network. “They bring a lot of good talent and we have to keep grinding for 40 minutes. We came up a little short today, but there were some good things in there.”
Joens finished the game 21 points, six rebounds and two assists. At times, she was the only thing that could spark the Cyclones to close a two-possession deficit.
But then stepped up Izzi Zingaro, who tied the game at 42 points late in the third quarter with a tough finish near the hoop.
She finished with six points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist.
“Going in, it was kind of nervewracking because I don’t get in as much,” Zingaro said on the Cyclone Radio Network. “To be able to know that I’m contributing is good… Sometimes I can kind of get in my head, but I have amazing teammates that are always there to remind me, ‘You’re here for a reason.'”
Iowa State drops to 11-4 on the season and 3-2 in Big 12 Conference play and is left with another reminder of hard right turn that the season took.
“We’re going to have to just keep grinding with Izzi (zingaro) and (Morgan Kane) and find a way for them to do what they do better,” Fennelly said.
If anyone has experience with something like that, Fennelly is a good bet.
The Cyclones will have another game on Wednesday against Oklahoma State (6:30 p.m. ESPN+) – a team that is coming off of a win against Texas – with another chance to rectify an everchanging gameplan.
