By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            For the second time in as many home games, the Baylor women had a nationally ranked team on the ropes and let them off the hook.
            Trailing at the end of regulation and the first overtime, 22^nd-ranked Iowa State got game-tying 3-pointers from Denae Fritz and Lexi Donarski, and then Ashley Joens clinched it with three free throws in the last nine seconds to lift the Cyclones (17-7, 9-5) to an 81-77 double-OT win over the Bears (16-10, 7-7) Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 5,083 at the Ferrell Center.
            "I thought we did enough to win, but when you have a three-point lead and they have the ball, you can't give up a 3," Baylor head coach Nicki Collen said. "You have to put the game away when you have opportunities. We let them hang in there, and they just made one more play than us. . . . We didn't make shots, but that was the story of the night."
            It was a particularly tough shooting night for Baylor's guard trio of Sarah Andrews, Ja'Mee Asberry and Jaden Owens, who were a combined 10-of-46 overall and 1-of-15 from 3-point distance, scoring just 22 points.
            In regulation, Asberry missed a transition 3-pointer that would have extended Baylor's lead to six, then missed two free throws and a runner in the last minute that could have potentially won it. Asberry and Andrews missed a combined three 3-pointers in the last 1:20 of the first overtime, and Owens hit just one of two free throws.
            "It's disappointing," Collen said. "I think Ja'Mee is a really good shooter. She got a couple tonight where nobody was even running at her. You just think those are going in, you do. I believe in her ability to shoot the basketball. The free throws? You've got to make them. You attack, you pick up a foul, you've got to make those."
            After missing seven of their first eight shots and trailing by as many as six, the Bears got a much-needed 3-pointer from Jana Van Gytenbeek and then closed the opening quarter with a banked trey that made it a one-point game, 13-12.
            With Baylor hitting just one of its first nine shots to open the second quarter, Iowa State stretched its lead back to six, 20-14, on a pair of free throws by Emily Ryan, who had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
            The Bears answered with an 11-0 run that included an Andrews 3-pointers and back-to-back layups by Caitlin Bickle and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and took a 25-22 lead into the locker room at the half.
            "I think from the start, we were very locked-in," said Bickle, who recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds despite fouling out with 7:20 left in regulation. "We were very on-point. We didn't start out great offensively, but we were able to keep them to what our goals were defensively, for sure."
            Iowa State closed the third quarter with a 7-1 run and tied it up at 41-41 thanks to a 3-pointer by Nyamer Diew. After scoring a career-high 25 points in a loss to the Bears in Ames, Diew had just 10 points and turned it over four times before fouling out in the fourth.
            Shooting a dismal 5-of-18 overall, including 0-for-3 from outside the arc, Baylor couldn't close it out in the fourth quarter. Fritz tied it up at 59-59 on a 3-pointer from the wing, and then both teams failed to score in the final minute.
            "I think we might have let fatigue hit a little bit," Bickle said. "I think just mental lapses. We're up three, we give them a 3. We're up three, we give them a 3. You can't do that. They were hitting shots that of course they always hit; they're Iowa State. And I think we were settling a little bit down the stretch when our best chance was getting downhill."
            After hitting the game-tying 3-pointer at the end of the first overtime period, Donarski started the second OT period with a scoop shot off the glass, followed by a Jones 3-pointer that put the Cyclones up by five.
            "We just needed one more shot to go," Collen said, "couple more free throws to go."
            Joens had just two points in the first half, but recorded a double-double with 27 points and 11 rebounds. She was 7-of-24 overall, 2-for-9 from outside the arc and 11-of-14 from the line. Winning in Waco for just the third time in 19 trips, Iowa State also got 16 points from Donarski and 12 from Fritz.
            The loss spoiled tremendous performances from Baylor's freshman duo of Littlepage-Buggs and Bella Fontleroy, who both recorded double-doubles. Buggs had her 12^th overall and eighth double-double in league play, matching what Brittney Griner did in Big 12 play as a freshman in 2009-10, while Fontleroy had 19 points and 11 rebounds.
            "I'm super proud of what those freshmen did today," Collen said. "That wasn't easy to be in that kind of game. Iowa doesn't play a freshman. The kids that were making plays (for them) were three-year starters and five-year starters. Buggs getting on the boards and getting and-ones, that was gutsy. They battled."
            While Owens struggled with her shot, hitting 4-of-12 overall and 0-for-2 from distance, the senior guard did all the other things with 10 assists, a career-high 10 rebounds and a game-high four steals to go with nine points.
            Baylor goes back on the road to face last-place TCU (7-18, 1-3) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs won their first conference game by upsetting Kansas State, 75-62, Saturday afternoon, snapping a 13-game losing streak that dated back to a 64-42 loss to the Bears in Waco on New Year's Eve.
 

NOTABLES

• In the league's second double-overtime game of the day, the No. 22 Iowa State Cyclones squeaked past the Baylor women's basketball team, 81-77, in front of the second-largest crowd at the Ferrell Center this season in the team's annual Play4Kay game.
• The overtime outing marked the second time this season, and just the third time in the Nicki Collen era, that a game needed more than 40 minutes. 
• The game marked Baylor's 10th outing against an AP Top-25 opponent, which is tied with Michigan State for the second-most among Division I teams in the country. Only Nebraska has more showings against top-25 foes, sitting at 11 on the year. 
• The dynamic rookie duo of Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and Bella Fontleroy led the offensive charge for the Bears, finishing with 19 points apiece. 
• Littlepage-Buggs logged a season-high six offensive rebounds in part of her 12-board outing for her team-leading 12th double-double of the year and eighth in conference play. 
• With her eighth double-doubles in Big 12 action, she is tied with Brittney Griner for the most in league games by a Baylor rookie dating back to the 2009-10 season. 
• Fifth-year Caitlin Bickle fell a rebound shy of matching a career best in the category, finishing with 12, while adding 13 points with a perfect 6-for-6 showing at the charity stripe for her sixth double-double of the season. 
• Fontleroy's 11 rebounds gave the freshman her third double-double of her career. 
• Littlepage-Buggs, Bickle and Fontleroy became the first BU trio since 2019 to finish in double figures on the glass. 
• Senior Jaden Owens accounted for 10 of Baylor's 16 assists, leading the Bears in the category for the 17th time this season. Additionally, she grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and tallied a game-high four steals.