Recap: Depleted Cyclone Women Suffer Decisive Defeat Against Wildcats

Aside from the 1st quarter, almost nothing went right for the Iowa State women on Wednesday night in a 53-68 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones were without star junior guard Seanna Johnson, who left Ames to be with her father in Minnesota after he suffered a stroke. Senior Kidd Blaskowsky led the Cyclones with 12 points. Bridget Carleton had 11 points, but the freshman was just 3-15 from the floor. Iowa State failed to contain Breanna Lewis, who scored 25 points on 11-13 shooting for the Wildcats.

The Cyclones defeated the Wildcats 84-79 in Manhattan on December 30 to open the Big 12 season, but Iowa State found little similar success at Hilton. Even without Johnson, the Cyclones competed initially and were tied with the Wildcats at 17 to end the 1st quarter. It was all downhill after that. Iowa State got destroyed on the boards the entire game and could not get much going offensively in the final three quarters. Bill Fennelly's squad scored only six points in the 2nd quarter, and Kansas State had a 15-point advantage at halftime that it maintained the rest of the game. The Cyclones shot just 28% from the floor, and the Wildcats finished the game with a 50-29 rebounding advantage. Iowa State closed the game on a 13-2 run, but it was much too little and much too late for the Cyclones.

In his post-game press conference, coach Bill Fennelly said he's never been in a game where his team had just one turnover, but he noted the Cyclones simply must make shots. Fennelly also expressed the need for Iowa State to get much greater production out of its post players.

The Cyclones travel to Norman to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday at 2pm. Iowa State lost to Oklahoma 71-77 in Ames on January 30.