Cyclones Dump Sooners, 69-51

Freshman Lyndsey Medders helped Iowa State turn a miserable start into a fantastic finish.

Medders broke out of a long slump with 20 points, and Iowa State upset a ranked team for the second time in seven days, beating No. 15 Oklahoma 69-51 on Tuesday night. The Cyclones (9-6, 2-2 Big 12) broke it open with a big second-half run after needing almost eight minutes to make their first basket of the game.

"We just needed to play defense until our shots fell," Iowa State's Mary Fox said. "I think the emotion was really big-time for us in the second half and the crowd got into it. The big shots we hit really got us going."

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Katie Robinette added 11 points and eight rebounds for Iowa State, which beat then-No. 2 Texas Tech 64-63 last week.

Another upset seemed improbable after Oklahoma took an 11-1 lead, but the Sooners were befallen by a series of turnovers and missed shots and Iowa State broke it open with a 25-6 run at the start of the second half.

"Obviously the game comes down to making shots. We shot the ball well in the second half," Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. "I thought our kids did a great job of managing the game."

No one shot it better than Medders, who had averaged only 4.9 points in the previous eight games. She sparked the game-turning run with two 3-pointers and a layup and had 15 points in the second half on perfect shooting -- 5-for-5 from the field with three 3-pointers and 2-for-2 at the line.

"I shot one and when the first one fell, it really gave me confidence," Medders said. "All I had to do was catch and shoot. Everybody else had to do the dirty work."

Oklahoma, which had been averaging 78 points a game, had just eight field goals and 17 turnovers midway through the second half. The Sooners ended up shooting 34 percent and were 2-for-20 from 3-point range.

"We're the best practice 3-point shooting team I've ever been around in my life," said Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale, now 0-4 in Hilton Coliseum and 1-8 against Iowa State overall. "It's uncanny the number of shots that go in the basket from behind the arc.

"I think shooting the basketball in general is so mental. You can talk yourself into it or talk yourself out of it. That (figure) right there is an aberration. That is us talking ourselves out of making shots."

Maria Villarroel, Oklahoma's leading scorer with a 15.3 average, scored only seven points and committed seven of her team's 23 turnovers.

Only Dionnah Jackson showed any consistency on offense for the Sooners, scoring 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Teammate Leah Rush had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

"They were good and we were lousy," Coale said. "I think we let our poor shooting affect our performance."

Leading 24-21 at halftime, Iowa State got a 3-pointer from Medders to start the second half and took off. The Cyclones made eight of their first nine shots in the half and led 49-27 after consecutive 3-pointers by Fox and Megan Ronhovde.

The lead was never below 16 after that.

Iowa State shot 57.7 percent in the second half, a stark contrast to its start. The Cyclones went scoreless on their first 10 possessions and missed their first nine shots, finally getting the ball to drop when Fox made a jumper at the 12:06 mark.

Turnovers prevented Oklahoma from building a bigger lead and then the Sooners went completely sour. They missed eight straight shots after taking the 11-1 lead, enabling Iowa State to get back in it.

"I said during a timeout we should be up 25-2," Coale said. "It was turnover, turnover, turnover. We didn't capitalize."