Iowa State pulled it out.
With their backs against the wall, the Iowa State women’s basketball team completed a 2-0 week with wins over Texas and on Saturday, Baylor, finishing the week with an 81-77 double-overtime victory in Waco.
“I’ll tell you, it’s really hard to put into words how proud I am of this team,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said on the Cyclone Radio Network. “To think where we were (on the plane Saturday) to what we did tonight… I hope it’s something they’ll always remember.”
The Cyclones took every inch the Bears were going to give them. Lexi Donarski made a game-tying three in the waning seconds of overtime. She had the first points of the second OT frame.
Her 16-point, 5-rebound performance will get overlooked on the box score, but her last minute heroics, on multiple occasions, got Iowa State this win.
“There’s just so much going on and the team has so much energy,” Donarski said on the radio broadcast. “You don’t really notice how tired you are… it was a full, all-5 person effort. Denae (Fritz) had to play their 4 man and she did a really good job with that.”
Ashley Joens finished the first half with only two points to her name, but something came alive in the final 30 minutes.
Joens finished the night with 27 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
“As the game continues and you go into your first overtime, people start to get tired,” Joens said. “That’s what we build our conditioning around… I think we hung in there and kept fighting and that’s what got us the win.”
Both Nyamer Diew and Morgan Kane, who were rotating playing the number five spot, fouled out before the end of regulation.
Iowa State wasn’t prepared for it, but executed anyway.
“The lineups we threw out there, we never even practiced them,” Fennelly said. “We made a lot of great plays at the right time.”
The win marks Iowa State’s first time winning at least one game against every conference opponent in a single regular season.
“Not getting swept is a pretty big deal,” Donarski said. “That’s a really good goal to have… but we’ve got to get focused on winning the next game we have.”
The win gives Iowa State a 17-7 record on the season with a 9-5 mark in Big 12 play.
The No. 22 Cyclones return to the court on Wednesday to face an Oklahoma State team that its tied with in the standings at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
Big 12 WBB Standings
1. Texas 11-3
1. Oklahoma 11-3
3. Iowa State 9-5
3. Oklahoma State 9-5
5. West Virginia 7-6
6. Baylor 7-7
7. Kansas 6-7
8. Texas Tech 4-10
8. Kansas State 4-10
10. TCU 1-13
Saturday, Feb. 18
F/2OT: No. 22 Iowa State 81, Baylor 77
F/3OT: Oklahoma State 92, Texas Tech 80
TCU 75, Texas Tech 62
Sunday, Feb. 19
No. 15 Oklahoma @ Kansas (2 p.m. ESPN+)
West Virginia @ No. 17 Texas (3 p.m. ESPN+)
Next round
Wednesday, Feb. 22
No. 22 Iowa State @ Oklahoma State (6:30 p.m. ESPN+)
Kansas @ Kansas State (6:30 p.m. ESPN+)
Baylor @ TCU (6:30 p.m. ESPN+)
West Virginia @ Texas Tech (7 p.m. ESPN+)
*Oklahoma and Texas are off, face each other on Saturday.*
