Playing in Hilton Coliseum for the first time in 2018, the Iowa State women’s basketball team suffered a tough 60-67 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats on Wednesday. Freshman forward Bride Kennedy-Hopoate led the Cyclones (7-9, 1-4) with 17 points, and junior guard Bridget Carleton added 16 points. Carleton also had 11 rebounds.
Kristin Scott got her first start in Big 12 play on Wednesday night. Points were hard to come by for both teams in the first couple minutes before the Wildcats got a layup with eight minutes left to play in the 1st quarter. With back-to-back three-pointers ahead of the mid-quarter media timeout, Iowa State took an 11-7 lead. Kansas State reclaimed the lead, but Emily Durr hit from beyond the arc to put the Cyclones back ahead at 16-15. At the end of the 1st quarter, Iowa State clung to a 19-18 lead. Carleton, the only Cyclone averaging more than 10 points per game, didn’t score in the initial period, but five other Iowa State players made it into the scoring column.
Similar to its struggles at the start of the game, Iowa State had trouble on offense at the beginning of the 2nd quarter. The Cyclones didn’t score until 6:30 left in the half, but four straight points, including Carleton’s first field goal, gave Iowa State a 25-24 advantage. Near the end of the half, the Cyclones had a few chances to extend the lead, but some open shots simply wouldn’t fall, and Iowa State had to settle for a 30-30 tie heading into the locker room. Carleton and Meredith Burkhall led the Cyclones with seven points each in the first half.
A three-pointer from Durr put Iowa State ahead 33-32, and Carleton added a trey of her own to extend the lead to 36-32. Kansas State, which normally plays zone, continued with the man-to-man defense it started in the 2nd quarter, but the Cyclones built a 38-32 lead midway through the 3rd quarter. Despite not forcing many turnovers and failing to score any fast break points more than half way through the game, Iowa State looked strong on defense. For a stretch of the 3rd quarter, the Cyclones held the Wildcats scoreless for more than seven minutes. Thanks to the defensive effort, Iowa State had a 45-38 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
But just minutes into the 4th quarter, the Wildcats surged to a 51-49 lead, and the defense that helped Iowa State build an advantage in the 3rd quarter suddenly disappeared. Kansas State would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
The Cyclones are back in action against Texas Tech on Saturday at 6pm in Lubbock.