KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Megan Taylor drew plenty of attention as
she broke Iowa State's career scoring record.
Six 3-pointers and 28 points – both records for the Big 12
Conference tournament title game – tend to open some eyes.
|  | | Jamie Talbert (45) and Oklahoma did a good job of keeping up with Angie Welle, left, but could not stop the Cyclones center from the line during the game's waning seconds. |
But it would have been easy to miss the play she made to seal Iowa State's (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today, No. 13 AP) second straight tournament championship,
because it happened in a flash.
Taylor deflected an inbounds pass off Stacey Dales' leg and out
of bounds with less than seven seconds left Saturday night, turning
back a late rally by No. 7 Oklahoma in Iowa State's 68-65 victory.
"We figured they'd probably try to throw it to Dales, who was
on my side," said Taylor, who has 1,819 career points. "I just
put my hand up, and it hit my hand and went off her knee."
Center Angie Welle, the tournament MVP, hit a critical late free
throw and added 13 points for the third-seeded Cyclones (25-5).
Iowa State overcame poor early shooting to win the closest
championship game in the conference's five-year history. The
Cyclones were 1-for-8 in the opening minutes.
That was terrific compared to Oklahoma's early shooting. The
top-seeded Sooners (25-5), playing in their first Big 12 final,
missed 14 of their first 15 shots and went almost eight minutes
without a field goal in the first half.
"Our first time down the court, we didn't run the play I'd
called," coach Sherri Coale said. "I knew right then how tightly
wound we were.
"I take full blame for that," said Coale, whose team won the
regular-season conference championship by two games and had won 17
straight. "As a coach, it's my job to have the team ready. I
thought we were ready to play, but I was wrong."
The Sooners rallied in the second half, putting together a 10-0
run – capped by Sunny Hardeman's 3-pointer with two minutes left –
to cut the Cyclones' lead to 65-63.
Oklahoma trailed 67-65 and had the ball in the closing seconds
after Iowa State's Lindsey Wilson missed the front end of a
one-and-one with 25.4 seconds to go.
The Sooners retained possession on a held ball with 6.7 seconds
left, but lost the ball on Taylor's deflection. Welle hit one free
throw after being fouled with 5.1 seconds left, and Hardeman's
last-second 3-point try rimmed out.
"I had a feeling that they were going to make a great comeback
attempt, and they did," Taylor said. "We were just strong enough
to hold on at the end."
Iowa State was aided by a partisan crowd, desperate for a reason
to cheer after the top-seeded Cyclones were upset by Baylor on
Friday in the quarterfinals of the men's tournament.
"I think our fans were a little angry (about the men's loss),
and they got to take some of that anger out today," Welle said.
"They're die-hard fans, and it's nice to have all that energy."
Dales and Jamie Talbert led Oklahoma with 14 points each.
LaNeishea Caufield added 11.
Erica Haugen scored 11 points for Iowa State, which got 12
rebounds – 10 in the first half – from Tracy Gahan.
Taylor, Dales, Wilson and Oklahoma's Rosalind Ross joined Welle
on the all-tournament team.
Coale said she didn't expect the loss to hurt Oklahoma when NCAA
tournament seedings are announced on Sunday.
"I think it does help remind us of how bad it hurts to lose,"
Coale said. "We hadn't had that feeling in a long time, and I know
they don't want to have it again for a long time."
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ALSO SEE
Women's College Basketball Scoreboard
Iowa State Clubhouse
Oklahoma Clubhouse
Big 12 Conference tournament results
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