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Nov. 20, 2006

Final Stats

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -             The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team could not hold on to a 13-point second-half lead as Iowa State rallied to come away with an 80-74 overtime win in the McLeod Center opener on Monday. 
            UNI senior Tara King led all scorers with a career-high 38 points. The Ottumwa, Iowa, native finished 15-of-24 from the floor, setting new career highs for both field goals made and field goals attempted.

            "Tara had one of the most impressive performances I've seen in my time coaching for UNI," UNI head coach Tony DiCecco said. "She just had an unbelievable game."

            Senior Jessie Biggs and Megan Keefe also scored in double figures for the Panthers, adding 17 and 16 points, respectively. King, Biggs and Keefe combined to score 71 of UNI's 74 points, with freshman Lindsey Swanson being the only other Panther to score in the game.

            The Panthers (0-3) led through most of the first half, and built a seven point lead when Keefe hit a three at 13:56 that made the score 16-9. Iowa State chipped away at the lead, and the Cyclones tied the game at 20-20 when Medders connected from three with 9:35 left in the half. The Panther stayed within four points of the Cyclones, and a free throw from King with 28 seconds on the clock tied the game at 27. A pair of free throws from Pierson gave ISU a 29-27 lead with three seconds left in the half. The Panthers pushed the ball up the floor, and an ISU defender tipped the ball out of bounds with .7 seconds remaining. Sarah Larsen found Biggs at the three-point line with the inbounds pass, and her shot fell true to put UNI up 30-29 with the break.

            The teams traded baskets and one-point leads until a three from Biggs put UNI up 35-33 with 18:33 to play. That was the beginning of a 9-0 run by the Panthers that included a layup and free throw from King and a set of three free throws from Biggs that put UNI up 42-33 with 16:32 remaining. The Panthers went up by double figures for the first time when Keefe hit a turn-around jump shot that gave UNI a 54-43 lead.

            King was 6-of-8 from the floor and scored 15 points through the first 13 minutes of the second half. Her jump shot with 7:26 to play put the Panthers up 60-47, giving UNI its largest lead of the game.

            Iowa State scored on four of its next five possessions to cut UNI's lead to 64-58 with 3:22 to play. Ezell connected on threes on consecutive ISU trips to bring the Cyclones to within two, 66-64 with 2:17 to play.

            Biggs brought it back to a two-possession game with a jump shot with 1:45 remaining. Pierson scored two unanswered layups for Iowa State to tie the game at 68 with 43 seconds to play.

            The Cyclones rebounded UNI's missed jump shot with 20 seconds remaining, giving ISU a chance at the final shot. Medders went up for the shot with 5 seconds remaining, but Biggs came up with a block. Pierson grabbed the offensive board, but her shot did not fall, sending the game into overtime.

            Keefe scored on UNI's first possession of the extra period, but Ezell answered on the Cyclone end to tie the game at 70. King gave the lead back to UNI with a jump shot with 3:06 left in overtime, but a three from Ross put ISU on top, 73-72 with 2:45 to play. UNI came up empty-handed on its next two trips, and ISU took advantage with baskets from Medders and Pierson that gave ISU a five-point lead, 77-72 with 54 seconds left. A pair of free throws from Biggs brought UNI back to within three, but were unable to completely close the gap.

            "This was simply a tremendous college basketball game," DiCecco said. "After our first two games, we knew we had some work to do. I think that if we play this hard every night, we're going to have success."

            The Panthers shot 41.5 percent (27-of-65) from the floor, and finished 9-of-28 (32.1 percent) from three-point range. UNI was 11-of-14 (78.6 percent) from the free-throw line.

            Iowa State shot 29-of-62 (46.8 percent) from the floor, including 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from three-point range. The Cyclones were 15-of-20 (75 percent) from the free-throw line.

            Iowa State dominated down low, outscoring UNI in the paint 38-20 and holding a 47-29 rebounding advantage. Iowa State turned 17 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.

            "I think we did as well as we could with the size difference," DiCecco said. "We tried to keep the ball around the perimeter, because we knew if they got the ball down low we were in trouble. Their rebounding advantage really hurt us."

            A crowd of 2,874 was in attendance for the first women's game to be held in the McLeod Center.

            "I wish we could have come away with this win to really make this opening special," DiCecco said. "But, this atmosphere and this arena are even better than we imagined. This will still be a night that these players remember."

            The Panthers return to the road for their next two contests when they travel to Seattle to compete in the Husky Classic hosted by the University of Washington. The Panthers will face Miami (Ohio) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., then will play either St. Louis or Washington on Sunday.