ISU - St. Joe's

[mred]

It's a dogfight. Basically tied with 10 mins left.

They did announce a sellout attendance over the PA (14,092), so it may count.

[This message has been edited by mred (edited 03-25-2004).]

[mred]

ISU is trailing 56-55 with 3:18 left. Medders has 16 for ISU.

[mred]

ISU up 6 with 56 secs to play...

[mred]

Final: Iowa State 66, St Joseph's 58 http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

Medders led the way with 19. She made some HUGE shots in the second half.

[Row6Seat10]

Nice win http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/isu.gif

Now take care of the Runnin' Rebels.

[BenEClone]

Tough call for Fennelly to take Medders over Montgomery. Katie looked good for New Mexico against Utah. Even so, I think the early returns show he made the right choice.

[swok34]

woohoo.....way to go, Twister Sisters....

http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/isu.gif

[This message has been edited by swok34 (edited 03-25-2004).]

[dem]

This game was a hard-fought battle down to the last minute, exhausting and draining from the fans' standpoint. And yes, after halftime Hilton was nearly full. Definitely the largest crowd ever to see an Iowa State women's basketball game: right around 14,000.

After seeing the first week of the NCAA's, and particularly after watching Iowa State's ferocious struggle to put away three mid-major teams even while enjoying a huge home-court advantage, I have to admit I am rather chastened. There are a few other pretty good basketball teams out there besides those in the Big XII (and Big 10 and SEC).

I thought that playing a season full of nothing but low-RPI teams would leave these squads totally unprepared to take on a competitive Big XII team in front of a huge home crowd, on the same court where ISU had taken down Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Baylor. Well, that was wrong. Very wrong. These teams are used to winning [18-8, 22-8, and 22-10, before playing ISU], and they weren't just happy to be here. They came to win, and they never gave up. Iowa State is fortunate to have made the semi-finals, and extremely fortunate that their huge fan base guarantees them home games throughout. They've had to earn it; these have been some of their most hard-fought wins of the season.

Coach Fennelly never took the opposition lightly (he used to coach a mid-major team, after all), and if the players did they didn't do it for long. I guess some fans (me) are a little slower on the pickup.

UNLV has beaten Utah at Utah, lost at New Mexico by only 4, and has beaten Richmond, Mississippi State, Colorado State, Rice and Arizona State. They will be very tough.

If Iowa State makes it to the final game and ends up hosting Creighton (Creighton would first have to beat Richmond), that will be a team that has already had the experience (in years past) of nearly pulling the big upset in Hilton. They would be loaded with confidence and unintimidated. They have already taken SMS to overtime on the Lady Bears' home court in front of 8,000 fans, and played Auburn (lost by 7), at Minnesota (lost by 11), at Kansas State, at Nebraska, at Iowa (won by 12), at Colorado State (won by 11), at Washington (won by 5), and beaten Michigan by 16 and Oregon State by 10.

If Iowa State can manage to win this tournament, it will have been against an entire string of very strong "bubble" teams, many that just missed the NCAA tournament by a key basket here or there. It would really be a major accomplishment, even though all five games would be played in Ames.

[BenEClone]

A Creighton match-up would be fun. Guard play would be something to watch. ISU would seem to have an inside advantage, but, interesting against St. Joe's that Fennelly gave his front line few minutes Wilkins-18, Kreiner-11 and Robinette-15 mins and they accounted for only 14 pts. I thought the CU play against ISU was Yori's doing, but, Flan is proving to be a great coach. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/isu.gif

[catladyok]

Originally posted by dem:
There are a few other pretty good basketball teams out there besides those in the Big XII (and Big 10 and SEC).

No kidding! It's both a blessing and a curse. But from where I stand it's just a blessing, period. What a thrill to see all these great teams/players all over the country. I grew up in an era when the girls were just supposed to watch sports, not play them. So my 60 year-old soul is jumping for joy (even though the body can't jump very high)!

[ChipperF1]

"If Iowa State makes it to the final game and ends up hosting Creighton (Creighton would first have to beat Richmond), that will be a team that has already had the experience (in years past) of nearly pulling the big upset in Hilton.

Now this would be something, an all-Farm Belt WNIT Final. You 'Clone beat UNLV, my lasses in blue will beat Richmond, then take the penthouse at the Hilton.

[carolann]

Congratulations to ISU. I think ISU is in the perfect position to benefit from a strong WNIT showing. This is a team that has improved a lot over the season and brings almost every one back next year.