Jan. 3, 2009
AMES, Iowa (AP) — Alison Lacey scored 20 points, Heather Ezell added 18 and Iowa State survived a long first-half scoring drought to beat Vanderbilt (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 20 AP) 55-51 Saturday.
Iowa State (11-2) went 7:15 without a point and fell behind 12-6, but put together a 23-5 run spanning halftime to open a 29-17 lead. The Cyclones led the rest of the way but had to hold off a late Vanderbilt rally.
The Commodores (11-4), who went 8:36 without a point in the ragged first half, drew to 52-49 on Jennifer Risper’s two free throws with 51.6 seconds left. Lacey answered with two foul shots, then sank another with 6.9 seconds remaining to finish it off after Christina Wirth scored inside for Vanderbilt.
Jessica Mooney’s 17 points led Vanderbilt, which committed a season-high 27 turnovers. Wirth, averaging a team-leading 15.4 points, scored the Commodores’ first five points, then didn’t score again until her bucket with 10.9 seconds left.
