Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Thursday, January 15, 2004

It was a magical night for Anne O'Neil, who hit the game-winner over Texas Tech.

"After I released, I thought, 'Oh, it's going to hit the rim, maybe it'll have a chance,'" O'Neil said. "Once I started bouncing around a little bit, it went through. It was great. I wouldn't have any words for it. I was breathless."

"That was one of the greatest games I've ever been a part of," Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. ". . . I don't like to say it's the best because we've had a lot of great players here who won a lot of great games. But, I do think takes a little different light, coming off a disappointing year last year."

Tech's free-throw shooting and perimeter offense have been subpar all year, and Iowa State exploited those weaknesses.

"All those jumpers were available at the free-throw line, but we didn't make as many as we should have, and some of them we just didn't take when we should have," coach Sharp said. "Against a zone, you have to penetrate it and shoot it in the hole. I didn't think we were aggressive enough with the ball. We just didn't create enough offense around that."

It was a tight game in almost every respect. Both teams shot exactly 21-51 and exactly 10 turnovers. The Raiders had a slight edge on the boards. From the free throw line, however, Tech missed 11, while Iowa State missed only 4.