Denae Fritz opened scoring with a left corner three and provided the dagger on a three from the right corner that put her No. 22 Iowa State Cyclones up 64-57 on the No. 17 Texas Longhorns with 37 seconds remaining Monday night at James H. Hilton Coliseum in Ames.
Behind 24 points, eight rebounds and two steals from Ashley Joens, the Cyclones were able to win 66-61 and snap a skid of losing to three teams not currently receiving votes. A win over a ranked team in Texas (20-7, 11-3 Big 12) is exactly what Iowa State (16-7, 8-5 Big 12) needed and it was the 750th win in the career of head coach Bill Fennelly.
After struggling all night from beyond the arc, Texas made its first two threes of the game at 4:18 (Shaylee Gonzales) and 3:35 (Shay Holle) in the fourth for a 6-0 run that cut its deficit to 57-53. At 2:52, Rori Harmon (19 points, six assists, three steals) made a deep two to cut it to 58-55.
Joens then made a layup while falling down at 2:37 and turned it into a 3-point play that pushed Iowa State’s lead to 61-55. On the ensuing possession, Holle’s 3-point attempt went in and out, but Joens went 0-of-2 from the free throw line at 1:45 to leave the door open. A Harmon mid-range make from the left baseline cut it to 61-57 at 1:24, but Fritz answered with the…
