For only the third time in school history, the Iowa State women’s basketball team has had multiple players taken in the WNBA Draft. Aplington native Chelsea Poppens went in the middle of the second round last night, taken by the Seattle Storm with the 18th pick.

Poppens says her agent told her the Storm were looking at her and she’s happy to have been picked. With finals approaching and her first venture into pro basketball, this is proving to be a hectic time.

Fellow Iowa State senior Anna Prins was also taken in the second round, going to the Connecticut Sun with the 23rd pick. “We are both happy for each other, to be going through this together, we are both excited to have this opportunity,” Poppens says.

The Seattle Storm also picked Iowa State’s Alison Lacey in the WNBA Draft in 2010. Prins is the second Iowa State player picked by Connecticut, following Lindsey Wilson in 2003.

By Austin Draude KLMJ Hampton

The Iowa State women let a late four point lead slip away in a 65-60 loss to Georgia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Not known for its perimeter shooting, Georgia made 12 three pointers in the game.

Hallie Christopherson says it was kind of a gamble they had to take as Georgia has some good post players and they tried to force them to shoot from the outside. She says Georgia hit the big shots when they needed to.

Christopherson finished with 12 points for the Cyclones who were led by Anna Prins’ 23 points. ISU coach Bill Fennelly says Georgia’s three point shooting was the difference.

“That’s why they are a great team, they had kids step up and make shot,” Fennelly says. He says his three-point shooters went 1 for 10 and that’s what happens sometimes in the tournament.

Iowa State trailed by 14 points midway through the second haslf before staging a furious rally and eventually led by four with about two minutes remaining. Fenelly says Georgia then made a couple of big shots to get back in the game. He says the season ended in a game where the team gave its best effort and he can’t complain about that.

The Cyclones end the season with a record of 24-9.

Heartbreak in Dayton, Ohio, as the season came to an end for Iowa State as Aaaron Craft hit the game winner for Ohio State with half a second to go in the NCAA Tournament. Craft was being guarded by Cyclone freshman Georges Niang as he set up the winning shot.

“I probably could have had a hand up earlier, he made a tough shot — credit to him,” Niang said. He said he was playing Craft to drive as he was not shooting much from the outside, but he pulled up and hit the three.

It spoiled a late rally by the Cyclones that saw them roar back from 13 points down to take a late one point lead but two mistakes in the final minute proved costly. First was an ISU turnover with the score tied then the Cyclones lost a defensive rebound out of bounds which allowed Ohio State to set up for the game winner.

Niang said he feels like they showed in the last six minutes that they are all about winning as they went out and tried to take the game. Korie Lucious led Iowa State with 19 points as ISU lost in the third round for the second straight year.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of our guys…what they’ve done for Iowa State basketball these past two years, making it relevant again, making back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 2000-2001. This group of guys will be remembered for a long time,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said.

The Cyclones end the season with a record of 23-12.

Two teams with plenty of tournament experience collide tomorrow night in Dayton, Ohio, as Iowa State opens the NCAA Tournament against Notre Dame. The Cyclones are making their second straight appearance in the tournament and have a 22-11 record after losing to Kansas in the semifinals of the Big-12 tournament.

“We had guys who played in this event last year and we knocked off a very good team in Connecticut and had an opportunity to play against eventual national champion Kentucky, it was a very good experience,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg.

Notre Dame is 25-9 and this is the fourth straight trip to the tournament for the Fighting Irish. “They defend, they rebound, they don’t turn the ball over and they pose a lot of matchup problems,” Hoiberg says.

Hoiberg says the Cyclones will need to do a good job on the glass as Notre Dame has very physical big guys inside.