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Cyclones Grind Out Win Over Missouri In Overtime

Sports

February 22nd, 2012 by Jim Field

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State struggled from the field and at the line but prevailed in overtime against a gritty Missouri squad Tuesday for a 66-59 victory in Hilton Coliseum. The win moves the Cyclones to 8-7 in the Big 12 Conference, 17-9 overall. Missouri falls to 1-14 in the Big 12 and 11-15 overall.

The Cyclones got a huge three-pointer from Hallie Christofferson with 2:32 to go in overtime and held Missouri without a basket in the extra period until the game’s final second.

Poppens led the Cyclones with 25 points and 16 rebounds in 33 minutes of action for her 13th double-double of the season. Poppens attempted a school-record 24 free throws, connecting on 15 of them. The Cyclones might have put the game out of reach earlier, but were inconsistent at the free-throw line, hitting on 25-39 attempts. Christofferson had 13 points and six rebounds. Christine Flores led Missouri with 16 points. Iowa State trailed for nearly 37 minutes of the game, taking a 56-54 lead on a pair of Chassidy Cole free throws with 45 seconds left in regulation. Missouri’s Sydney Crafton hit a three  with 3.4 seconds left in the second half that forced overtime.

By the extra session the Tigers were without three players who fouled out and ISU built a small cushion to claim a key victory in its pursuit of an NCAA Tournament berth. The win was the Cyclones sixth in their last seven league games.

Missouri, which had won its first league game at Kansas Saturday, was hitting its shots early while Iowa State was not. Over the first nine minutes of the first half the Cyclones hit on just 2-12 (.167) field goal attempts and were 1-for-7 (.143) on its shots beyond the three-point arc.  The Cyclones’ only first-half  lead was 3-2 on a Christofferson three-pointer in the game’s first 90 seconds. Missouri outshot Iowa State in the first half hitting on 6-of-13 three-point attempts.  The Cyclones hit on just  4-of-16 three-point attempts. Iowa State hit on just 7-of30 shots (.233).

The Tigers led by 11, at 31-20 with 45 seconds left in the first half. Anna Prins hit on a three just before halftime to make it 31-23 at the break. With Poppens playing just 10 minutes of the first stanza because of foul trouble, Missouri outscored Iowa State in the paint, 10-6 in the first half.

Iowa State plays at Oklahoma State Saturday at 7 p.m.