BERKELEY, Calif. – No. 2 Stanford’s Jayne Appel proved too much for Iowa State, as the Cardinal post scored a career-high 46 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a 74-53 victory over the 17th-ranked Cyclones in the NCAA Regional final Monday night at the Haas Pavilion.
The Cyclones could never quite get on track from the outside, making just 7-of-26 shots from 3-point range. The loss ends ISU’s season at 27-9, tying the school record for wins in a season while advancing to the Elite Eight for the second time in school history.
"Our game plan was to not give up too many 3-point shots," ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. "I was not worried about how many points she (Appel) scored. We were more worried about how many offensive rebounds and free-throws she got, which we did not do a very good job of."
"I am so proud of our seniors," Fennelly added. "We have all-world people in our senior class. They have made us a better basketball team and better people just for being around them. This team played together with an amazing amount of cohesiveness. There is something special about basketball when a group has a common bond, and this team had that. They have every right to be proud of what they accomplished this year."
Appel got things rolling for the Cardinal by tallying 15 of their first 18 points to go up 18-9 with 12:16 left before intermission. After Stanford increased its lead to 29-14 at the 7:31 mark of the opening period, Amanda Nisleit sparked the Cyclones with back-to-back treys to cut the deficit to 29-20.
Appel continued to be a force in the paint, scoring buckets on three-straight possessions to counter ISU’s run. The Cardinal went into the half with a 38-25 lead thanks to 27 first-half points from Appel, who made 13-of-19 from the floor. ISU shot just 33.0 percent (10-30 FG) from the field and was 4-of-14 from beyond the arc (28.6 percent) in the first half.
The start of the second half mirrored the first, as Appel scored the first seven points after the break to help Stanford move ahead 45-27 with 16:52 left in the game.
The Stanford lead reached 22 points (53-31) with 12:19 left, but the Cyclones kept fighting. ISU went on a 9-2 run thanks to a pair of treys from Nisleit and Heather Ezell to cut the lead to 55-40 with 9:40 remaining in the game.
After ISU slashed the lead down to 13 points (57-44), Appel scored six-straight points to put the game out of reach at 65-44 with just under five minutes left in the game.
ISU committed just five turnovers, but was outboarded 47-18 in the game.
Nisleit had an outstanding showing in her final game of her Cyclone career, scoring a team-high 17 points behind a career-high five treys. Ezell finished with 10 points and hit one trey in the game. She ends her career with 287 3-pointers, tying the all-time school mark for treys with Megan Taylor (1998-2001).
Nisleit was named to the Berkeley Region All-Tournament team.
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