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Archive for Sunday, March 11, 2001

Cyclones clip Oklahoma for championship, 68-65

March 11, 2001

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Megan Taylor hit six three-pointers and scored 28 points Saturday night as No. 13 Iowa State beat No. 7 Oklahoma, 68-65, for its second straight Big 12 Conference tournament title.

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 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.

The Sooners rallied in the second half, putting together a 10-0 run capped by Sunny Hardeman's three-pointer with two minutes left to cut the Cyclones' lead to 65-63.

Oklahoma was still within two points, 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 call with 6.7 seconds left, but Stacey Dales lost the ball off her leg on the inbounds pass.

Welle hit one free throw after being fouled with 5.1 seconds left, and Hardeman's last-second three-point try rimmed out after Welle missed her second attempt.

Dales and Jamie Talbert led Oklahoma with 14 points each and LaNeishea Caufield added 11 points.

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.

Iowa State, which broke out to an early 12-3 lead, never trailed in Saturday night's game. The Cyclones led 28-23 at the half and were up by as many as 12 points near the midpoint of the second half.

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