Marist Tops Iowa State, 74-64, in NCAA Women's Basketball First Round
Associated Press
DURHAM, N.C. -- Kate Oliver scored 16 points and Marist held on after blowing much of a 20-point lead to beat Iowa State 74-64 Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Brandy Gang added 13 points as the 10th-seeded Red Foxes (31-2) won their 27th straight game and their NCAA opener for the first time in three years.
Marist used a 25-4 run to build its big lead late in the first half, then came up with a couple of timely baskets after the seventh-seeded Cyclones (22-11) pulled within six with 4½ minutes left in the game.
First came a layup from Oliver that pushed the lead to 62-54 with four minutes to go. Elise Caron then took a pass from Erica Allenspach and launched a 3-pointer that made it through just as the shot clock expired for a 67-56 lead with 2:51 remaining.
Anna Prins had 25 points to lead Iowa State, which shot just 35 percent.
Marist advanced to the second round of the Philadelphia Regional to face the Tennessee-Martin-Duke winner Monday night. The Red Foxes had lost by seven to Virginia in the 2009 first round and by 20 to Georgetown in last year's opener, but did enough to protect their lead when the Cyclones tried to claw their way back in this one.
Marist had allowed a national-best 48.6 points per game and ranked third by holding opponents to 32.8 percent from the field. That defense was good enough to frustrate Iowa State in the first half, while the offense kept burying open looks -- and a couple tough ones, too -- in a dominating last 8 minutes before the break.
Iowa State led 16-15 before Marist took over. The Red Foxes led by three before scoring on four straight possessions -- Oliver knocked down two baskets and a 3-pointer while Leanne Ockenden added a 3 of her own -- to push the margin to 31-20 with 3:44 left.
Then came another three-possession spurt, with Gang hitting her third 3, Oliver scoring on a layup and Emma O'Connor following with another layup for the game's biggest lead at 40-20 with about a minute left in the half.
Marist finished the half shooting 50 percent, including 8 for 17 from 3-point range, and scored 17 points off turnovers. And it had that big lead despite the fact that leading scorer Allenspach had two points on 0-for-4 shooting in the half.
Meanwhile, Iowa State had seven turnovers and just one made basket during that critical 5-minute span.
The Cyclones trailed by double figures for the first 13½ minutes of the second half before making a push, pulling within seven on a turnaround shot from Kelsey Bolte before Prins hit a 3 to bring Iowa State within 60-54 with 4:22 left.
Oliver answered by getting behind defender to catch a feed from Corielle Yarde and scoring inside, then Yarde followed with a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 10. Caron followed with an even bigger basket to send Marist on to the second round.