March 17, 2012: Aplington-Parkersburg’s Chelsea Poppens, center, has been a core member of the ISU women’s basketball team. She will be missed.
The basketball gods have come up with a new way to taunt Iowa State: Plunge into a deep deficit in the second half, mount a spectacular comeback that puts ISU in the lead late and gives fans a glimmer of hope, and then … BOOM. It happened twice within 36 hours.
It’s uncanny, really. With 6 minutes left to go in the men’s game against Ohio State, ISU was down by 13 and Melvin Ejim had twice missed the front end of one-and-ones. With 7 minutes left in the second half of the women’s game against Georgia, ISU was down by 10 and Chelsea Poppens had been called for a foul resulting in a turnover for a second time in a row.
The women climbed back from a total of 14 points down after a miserable start to the second half, getting outscored 19-5 in 11 minutes and 23 seconds, then outscoring Georgia 19-1 in the next 6:05, then giving up two quick Bulldog 3s. Similarly, the men’s run was 19-5 until Will Clyburn was called for the charge that wasn’t. In both cases, the end of the run had Iowa State ahead by 1 — ISU 75, OSU 74 (1:41 remaining); ISU 59, Georgia 58 (1:17 remaining).
The only difference in the last minute was that the women’s game ended in familiar fashion — lose lead, foul, free throws, miss shots, foul, free throws, game over — and the men’s game ended … that way. (Since it’s going to be played from now to eternity, I just wish it had been a true buzzer beater.) The only saving grace is that the men’s comeback over Oklahoma in the Big 12 Tournament didn’t end the same way, since that was crucial in earning an at-large bid.
Links: ISU-centric AP story; Georgia-centric AP story; Des Moines Register story; and an ESPN piece about a “Big day for Big 12” because both Kansas and Oklahoma pulled off upsets. Kansas is in the Sweet 16 as a double-digit seed for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, the Cyclones are left out of the party.
Georgia has now defeated Bill Fennelly in the NCAA Tournament three times. The Bulldogs set their season record for 3-point shots Monday, with 12, after averaging 4.4 a game.
Both teams showed tremendous fight during the regular season and into the postseason. Congratulations to the teams and especially the seniors.