dem
12-09-2001, 02:13 AM
The news ticker says that Iowa State "cruised" to its victory today over Northwestern. Unfortunately that is completely untrue. After winning at Drake by 30, one could reasonably have expected a blowout over Northwestern, a team that finished 11th last year in the Big 10 by going 0-16 in the conference, winning only 4 games during the entire season.
However, Northwestern's never-say-die attitude, hard physical play, and an outstanding performance by a nationally ranked freshman center (Sarah Kwasinski) led to a rash of ISU turnovers and a constantly shrinking lead. A 17-point margin just before half-time was continually chipped away, eventually sliced down to only four points with about a minute to play. An apparent early rout had turned into a true nail-biter, and the real possibility of a horrendous upset loss. Lindsey Wilson's clutch free-throw shooting and a couple of key plays staved off disaster, and the final 10-point margin disguised the close call. Coach Fennelly had warned that something like this could happen if the team tried to look past this game. Turned out that wasn't just "coach talk." This was way too close for comfort.
However, Northwestern's never-say-die attitude, hard physical play, and an outstanding performance by a nationally ranked freshman center (Sarah Kwasinski) led to a rash of ISU turnovers and a constantly shrinking lead. A 17-point margin just before half-time was continually chipped away, eventually sliced down to only four points with about a minute to play. An apparent early rout had turned into a true nail-biter, and the real possibility of a horrendous upset loss. Lindsey Wilson's clutch free-throw shooting and a couple of key plays staved off disaster, and the final 10-point margin disguised the close call. Coach Fennelly had warned that something like this could happen if the team tried to look past this game. Turned out that wasn't just "coach talk." This was way too close for comfort.