The run to the Final Four for the Iowa State women came up a game short. Jane Appel poured in 46 points and added 16 rebounds as second ranked Stanford rolled to a 74-53 win over the Cyclones in a regional final in Berkley, California.
Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly says he wasn’t worried about how many points Appel scored, as he says the plan was to score 10 or 11 threes and take away Stanford’s 3’s. He says they tried to double and triple team Appel in Hawaii and got "annihilate."
The Cyclones had lost to Stanford 83-45 at a tournament in Hawaii back in November. The Cyclones close out the season with a record of 27-9 and says a tournament run was a great way for the seniors to end their careers. Fennelly says he always asks the seniors to leave a piece of themselves in the building and he says they did that. He says they don’t have any all-conference or all-world players, but have all-world people.
Iowa State did cut a 21 point deficit to 13 midway through the second half. ISU senior Heather Ezell says they needed to get a couple of stops and then some scores after that point, but couldn’t do that and lost the momentum they had.
Amanda Nislite led the Cyclones with 17 points.