COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS (AP) — Texas A&M’s Sydney Carter wasn’t haven’t a good game on Sunday.
Still, she was confident she’d sink her free throws with 2.4 seconds left and the game on the line.
“Free throws are like layups for me,” Carter, an 85-percent free throw shooter said. “I know if I can’t make any other shot, I can make a free throw. I knew I could hit them.”
And she did, hitting two to lift No. 14 Texas A&M to a 66-64 win over Iowa State. Carter, who entered the game averaging 12.1 points a game, went 0 for 4 on Sunday and her only points came on the late free throws.
“Thank heavens for Carter,” Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said. “Carter is the only kid we could have gotten down there that fast. She did a good job of making it happen.”
Iowa State’s desperation heave down the court as time expired was grabbed by A&M’s Kelsey Bone.
The Cyclones’ possession before Carter’s free throws ended when Nikki Moody, apparently thinking the game clock was the shot clock, didn’t try to get a shot off as the shot clock expired with 7.3 seconds remaining.
Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said he hadn’t talked with Moody, a freshman, about the play and wasn’t sure what happened.
“We do late-game situation every single day in practice,” Fennelly said. “Maybe she did lose track of it. We wanted to run down the clock as much as we could.”
Carter, who was guarding Moody on the play, also didn’t realize the shot clock was winding down. She was simply focused on keeping her from getting a good shot. She said Adaora Elonu helped out on the play.
“That was all-around team defense right there,” Carter said.
The defending national champion Aggies were coming off a loss to Oklahoma State on Tuesday and Blair felt fortunate to escape with a win in this one.
“We needed this game bad,” Blair said.
Elonu had 19 points and Tyra White added 14 for Texas A&M (14-5, 5-3 Big 12).
The Cyclones (11-8, 2-6) were led by Chelsea Poppens, who had 22 points and nine rebounds.
“We couldn’t make a shot, we couldn’t get a break and they made the plays they needed to make,” Fennelly said.
Iowa State led by two points before a three minute scoring drought by both teams. White finally got the scoring going again with a basket with about 4 1/2 minutes remaining that tied it at 59-59.
Poppens put Iowa State back on top with a layup before A&M took a 62-61 lead after three free throws. Moody gave Iowa State its last lead with a layup with about three minutes left, before A&M regained the lead with a jump shot by Elonu seconds later.
Poppens made one of two free throws with about two minutes left to tie it at 64-64.
Hallie Christofferson had 13 points and Moody added 12 points and had six rebounds, but had eight turnovers for Iowa State.
An 8-4 spurt at the beginning of the second half extended Iowa State’s lead to 47-39. The Aggies responded by scoring eight straight points, including four by Bone who finished with 10, to tie it at 47 with about 12 minutes remaining.
Texas A&M was up by seven points before Iowa State used a 13-6 run capped by a 3-pointer by Lauren Mansfield to tie it at 23-all six minutes before halftime.
A 3-pointer by A&M’s Alexia Standish a couple of minutes later tied it at 28. Iowa State outscored A&M 11-7 fueled by two 3-pointers to take a 39-35 lead into halftime.
The Cyclones made seven of their nine 3-point attempts in the first half, but just two of 11 the rest of the way.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM NOTES
• For the seventh time this season, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Alexia Standish, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Kelsey Bone…The Aggies are 5-2 with this starting lineup.
• Texas A&M improved to 8-14 in the all-time series against Iowa State. In addition, the Aggies have won six of the last seven meetings between the two schools.
• The Aggies are 5-3 against the Cyclones when playing in College Station.
• The Aggies are 5-2 on national TV this season.
• A&M shot a first-half season-best 51.9 percent against ISU.
• The Aggies held ISU to a 37.9 shooting percentage in the second half, after allowing the Cyclones to shoot 56.6 percent in the first half.
• A&M forced 18 ISU turnovers, while only committing 10.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• White has now started in 77 straight games, a streak that started on Jan. 4, 2010 against Lamar.
• White has scored double figures 25 of her last 27 games. Elonu scored in double figures for the 14th time this season and Bone for the 13th.
• Elonu dished out a season-high four assists, one away from her career best.
• White’s eight rebounds matched her season best.
• Karla Gilbert added 9 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair is now 8-5 lifetime versus Iowa State in his 27 years as a Division I head coach. All of his eight career victories against the Cyclones have been while at the helm of the Aggies.
POSTGAME QUOTES
A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
Opening Statement
That is so much different from the team we saw in Iowa. The reason was they went 0-5 (to start Big 12 play) and they have a great coaching staff. They went back to the drawing board and said we’ve got a little bit of pride. They lost on a one-second play to Texas and now a close one to us.
On Iowa State’s offense
In the first half we had to get out of our press because we got into foul trouble. When we didn’t turn them over, they were making threes, hitting threes and killing us with dribble penetration. Give them credit for a great game plan; we had to make adjustments all along.
On Sydney Carter’s game-winning free throws
I was trying to figure out if we make the first, I was thinking about missing the second to try and run another second off of the clock. Thank heavens for Carter. Carter was the only kid that could’ve gotten down the floor that fast.
On Nikki Moody’s turnover on Iowa State’s last possession
Yeah, that’s a freshman. She turned it over ten times (in the last game), but I thought she won the battle today. Her penetration was very good and she was able to set other people up. She’ll be a good one, even when she’s a sophomore.
On Alexia Standish and her lack of turnovers
She’s been safety conscious. 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. The first half, she kept us in it.
On Tyra White’s rebounding and inside play
I think she’s better, and I’m going to look at possibly putting her in the post more…Getting her down low and not letting her settle out on the wing.
On the team’s need for a win
We needed this game badly. Just think about going into Lubbock- they had 10,000-plus in there the other day to beat Texas.
SENIOR FORWARD ADAORA ELONU
What picked the team up in the second half?
The fact that we didn’t want to lose, and the coach got on us for not playing hard. I think it was between us seniors that we needed to wake up and do the things we needed to do to win the game.
On Karla Gilbert’s play
I think she plays that way all the time. She’s a great helper, she has good hands and she can score. She did a great job down the stretch.
SENIOR GUARD TYRA WHITE
On offensive rebounding
They were real big for me. That’s the main key coming into conference, for me to rebound. I get in trouble every day for not rebounding. It’s a big key for me.
SENIOR GUARD SYDNEY CARTER
What was the plan on the last play of the game?
Get to the basket and score. I knew that if I drew the foul, free throws are like layups for me. I know if I can’t make any other shots, I can make free throws with confidence.
On not scoring too much in the game
I think I get my points from getting stops on the defensive end. If I’m getting assists and rebounds, I think I’m doing my job on the court.
Do you feel that you stole a win today?
I don’t think it’s necessarily a steal because it’s a home game. You can’t afford to lose any games in the Big 12 because the league is so balanced this year. 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.
HEAD COACH BILL FENNELLY
Opening statement
Certainly a great college game. Both teams played really hard, I was really proud of our kids’ effort. A&M really got after us at our place, I thought our players played hard and put themselves in a position to get a win on the road against a very good team.
On the last few possessions of the game
We practice those situations all the time, I don’t know. We do late game situations every day, the shot clock is a different color and I don’t know. She made a freshman mistake. We knew how much time was on the clock and we talked about the difference. They defended it very well; she (Nikky Moody) just couldn’t get a shot off.