GREENSBORO, North Carolina – Iowa State (28-7, 14-4 Big 12) could not keep its magical, record-breaking season going as the Cyclones fell to Creighton (23-9, 15-5 BIG East) 76-68 Friday night in Greensboro Coliseum in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Sweet Sixteen.
After an attritional first half that saw the teams knotted up at 30-30, the Cyclones were unable to find the stops on defense to continue their season, with the Bluejays hitting 55.2 percent (16-of-29) of their shots in the second half. The Cyclones were down as many as 13 in the final quarter before a late charge came up a few points short.
In defeat, Iowa State was led by Emily Ryan’s 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting, eight rebounds and six assists. She was one of four Cyclones in double figures, with Nyamer Diew posting a career-high 15 points and grabbing five rebounds. Ashley Joens had 14 points, while Lexi Donarski had 11.
Iowa State got the first four points of the game, with Nyamer Diew breaking in her new plastic face mask after sustaining a broken nose last week against Georgia with a corner 3-pointer and a putback off her own miss to make it 6-2. The two teams traded the lead for a good chunk of the quarter, but Iowa State made a late-period 8-0 run (five points via Lexi Donarski) to move ahead 16-13 after one.
The second period was also attritional in the shooting department, with both teams combining to go 3-of-15 from the field across the first four minutes of the period. Emily Ryan kept the light on for ISU, as she got the Cyclones’ first seven points of the second period. Ryan helped keep ISU in the picture, scoring 11 of ISU’s 14 in the period, but Morgan Maly’s lay-up with 40 seconds left tied it at 30-30 at the half.
The lid came off for both teams int the third quarter, but more so for the Bluejays, as they hit three of their first four 3-point attempts of the half to move ahead 43-36. ISU worked its way back, Ashley Joens hitting a trey to cut it to 43-39, and Diew getting one to make it 45-42. While the Iowa State offense slowed back down, Creighton continued to roll, going on an 8-2 run to get ahead by nine at 55-46 with 1:09 to play in the third.
Down eight to begin the fourth, Creighton continued to roll and built its advantage up to 13, 66-53, with 7:16 to play. Iowa State got it back to single figures, 66-58, with 5:32 to play, but took over two-and-a-half minutes to get any closer, getting CU’s lead down to four via consecutive Ryan lay-ins at 68-64. Iowa State tested Creighton’s ability at the line, with the Bluejays hitting 6-of-8 from the stripe in the final 54 seconds to wrap it up.
