Iowa State Women Lose Lead Late Against Texas Tech

Iowa State (9-5, 0-3) fell to the Texas Tech Lady Raiders 66-75 in Lubbock on Wednesday night and failed to pick up its first win of the Big 12 season. Despite holding a lead for over 30 minutes, the Cyclones once again could not complete a full game of solid basketball.

Seanna Johnson finished with 16 points. Jadda Buckley scored 13, and Bridget Carleton had 12 points. Freshman Adriana Camber made a strong contribution off the bench with nine points in the first half.

Johnson got things started quickly for the Cyclones with two three-pointers. Then, Meredith Burkhall and Heather Bowe added their own jumpers to move Iowa State ahead 10-4. Johnson wasn’t done with her quick start, and another trey gave Iowa State a 15-8 advantage. The lead didn’t last long, however, and with an 11-0 run over the span of less than four minutes, the Lady Raiders took a 19-15 lead.

Iowa State was able to stop the bleeding at the end of the 1st quarter. Buckley hit a jumper, and Johnson hit another three-pointer at the buzzer to put the Cyclones ahead 20-19 at the end of the first frame.

In the 2nd quarter, Camber made her first Big 12 basket on a key three-pointer with 8:22 in the half to give Iowa State a 25-19 lead. The freshman from Sweden added two more threes to make the lead 31-24 after the Lady Raiders had trimmed the lead to just one point. Camber’s surge was paired with a Texas Tech scoring drought that spanned nearly four minutes, but the Cyclones couldn’t get much more separation over the Lady Raiders.

Carleton’s struggles shooting the ball were apparent in her 0-6 start from the field, but she took the lid off the bucket with a three shortly before the end of the half, and Buckley continued the trend of quarter-ending threes for the Cyclones to give Iowa State a 37-30 lead at halftime. Iowa State finished the half shooting 9-20 from beyond the arc. The Cyclones did not reach the foul line, and the Lady Raiders went 10-10 on free throws in the half.

The 3rd quarter started well for Carleton, who made a jumper to put Iowa State up nine points. The Cyclones hung on to a slight lead throughout the middle portion of the 3rd, before Texas Tech tied the game at 45-45 with 2:31 to play in the quarter. In the final minute of the 3rd, Iowa State was able to extend its lead to 51-47.

The Cyclones gave numerous chances to the Lady Raiders in the 4th quarter, and Iowa State initially had answers when Texas Tech got close, but the home team made two straight baskets to go ahead 60-57. The Cyclones could only get as close as one point, before Texas Tech dominated the final minutes to stay undefeated in Lubbock for the year.

The Cyclones head back to Ames for a 1pm game on Sunday against Kansas. The game is available on ESPNU.