Senior guard Sydney Carter didn’t make a single field goal attempt in her 24 minutes of action, but in dramatic fashion with 2.8 seconds on the clock and the score tied at 64, Carter stepped to the free throw line and scored her only two points of the game.
Afterward, head coach Gary Blair had this to say: “Thank heavens for Carter.”
Carter’s free throws sealed a 66-64 win over the Iowa State Cyclones, moving the team’s record to 14-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big 12 conference. The Aggies weathered a three-point barrage from the Cyclones and a 22-point outing by junior forward Chelsea Poppens in the process. Carter said she was confident in her free throw ability, even if her shots weren’t falling.
“I knew that if I drew the foul, free throws are like layups for me,” Carter said. “I know if I can’t make any other shot, I can make free throws with confidence.”
Sunday afternoon marked the second meeting between these two teams in the last two weeks. A&M won the first meeting 59-33 in Ames, Iowa — part of five consecutive losses to begin the conference season for the Cyclones — but A&M head coach Gary Blair said that Iowa State has changed since the two teams last met.
“That’s so much different than the team we saw at Iowa State,” Blair said. “The reason is that they went 0-5, and they have a great coaching staff. They went back to the board and said ‘We have a little pride.’ They’ve been playing that way ever since.”
The game was knotted at 64 with two minutes remaining, but neither team scored until Carter’s free throws. The Cyclones had a chance to take the lead as they inbounded the ball with more than 30 seconds remaining, but freshman point guard Nikki Moody dribbled the clock out for a shot-clock violation, giving the Aggies the chance they needed to win the game. Iowa State head coach Billy Fennelly said his team practices late-game situations every day.
“She made a freshman mistake,” Fennelly said. “We knew how much time was on the clock and we talked about the difference. They defended it very well; [Moody] just couldn’t get a shot off.”
Moody accounted for eight of her team’s 18 turnovers, but scored 12 points and had success penetrating the Aggie defense off the dribble.
In a matchup of freshman point guards, Alexia Standish had eight points and zero turnovers. Blair said Standish’s ball protection has been good, but added that there is room for improvement.
“She has been safety conscious,” Blair said. “Sometimes that’s good, but against a zone and in transition, I need her to be a little more creative. She’s not turning it over, and I love her for that. In the first half, she kept us in it with her eight points.”
Senior forward Adaora Elonu scored a game-high 14 points in the prior meeting, and led the Aggies again tonight with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and a team-high four assists. Senior guard Tyra White added 14 points. Blair praised Elonu’s consistency.
“Adaora was solid as usual,” Blair said. “Don’t ever forget about her.”
Poppens, who came into the game leading her team with 13.6 points per game and a Big 12-best 11.4 rebounds per game, made nine of 15 shots and brought down five of her nine rebounds on the offensive glass. Blair called Poppens is one of the best players in the conference.
“Everything is Poppens, Poppens, Poppens,” Blair said. “She’s just a good player whether she gets the ball or not. She takes people away. She’s constantly going hard after the ball. Poppens is one of the five best players in our league and she proved it again tonight.”
The Cyclones made seven three-pointers on nine attempts in the first half, flipping a 17-10 deficit into a 39-32 advantage. Poppens said ball movement was the key to the early perimeter success.
“We just tried to make hustle plays and get the outside shooters open,” Poppens said. “Everyone was moving the ball really well and people were hitting screens, just getting teammates open.”
In a game that could have gone either way, Carter said the team doesn’t consider the victory a “steal.”
“You can’t afford to lose any games in the Big 12 because the league is so balanced this year,” Carter said. “I don’t think it’s a steal; you just have to win at home. It’s all or nothing for these last few games. If it means getting a black eye, a black eye and a win is better than a loss.”