Twister Sisters topple Bulldogs, head to Sweet Sixteen

Well, after surviving UT Arlington in quite the battle in the first round, the Cyclones hosted the 6th seeded Georgia Bulldogs in the Round of 32.

This time, the Cyclones were ready.

Iowa State jumped all over the Bulldogs right out of the gate scoring the game’s first 11 points. It took Georgia almost half of the first quarter to finally get on the board, and credit to them, they were able to cut the early 11-0 run by the Cyclones in half to 11-5 before the 4:00 minute mark of the first. That was as close as they would get the entire rest of the game. Led by sophomore Lexi Donarski and her 20 points, the Cyclones ran away with this one EARLY and suffocated the Georgia defense for a full 40 minutes. By the end of the first quarter, Iowa State was already up SIXTEEN points at 23-7, capped off by an Emily Ryan layup with about 6 seconds left.

After the hot start, the Cyclones went more into just limiting what Georgia was able to do. The remaining 3 quarters were actually fairly even (14-11, 12-12, 18-14), but with the lead well in hand, the Cyclones didn’t have to do much else.

The Cyclones frustrated the Bulldogs all night long on the offensive end. Georgia really couldn’t get any clean looks, and a lot of that is a credit to Morgan Kane and the rest of the frontcourt for Iowa State. They didn’t give any square inch of the paint up, and they made driving to the basket living hell for everyone on the other side of the ball. Another big difference Morgan Kane made was on the offensive end. Kane fought all night long for a 10 point-6 rebound (3 offensive) performance. Izzy Zingaro added 7 more boards on the defensive end as Beatriz Jordao was on some form of minute count tonight.

Iowa State will take on the 10th seeded Creighton Blue Jays on Friday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Creighton will be riding high off their upset of the 2nd seeded Iowa Hawkeyes, so they’re definitely not a team to look past, despite the 10th seeding in the region. Get ready, Cyclone Nation. Your dance is not done yet.

GAME STATS

Iowa State Cyclones

Georgia Bulldogs