 Cirone made seven field goals in the game, tied for the fourth-most
in ISU NCAA tournament history, and her three 3-pointers were tied
for the most in an NCAA tournament game. Cirone also had five
rebounds and four assists. Cirone's 22 points moved her into sixth
place on the ISU career-scoring list with 1,482 points and gave her
552 points on the season, a personal best and the fifth-highest
single-season mark at ISU.Freshman guard Shala Jackson added 17
points and three assists. Cirone and Jackson combined for 39 points
in the game, the most by a pair of ISU guards in an NCAA tournament
contest. Sophomore forward Kenyatta Shelton led the Redbirds with
nine rebounds. Senior guard Tiffany Hudson had nine points and four
assists in her final collegiate game.
The loss dropped the Redbirds to 1-5 in the NCAA tournament and
was their third consecutive loss in the Big Dance. The Redbirds were
plagued by 18 turnovers, 13 in the first half. ISU had single-digit
turnovers in three of the last four games.
Oklahoma was led by forward Ashley Paris' 13 points. Her twin
sister, Courtney, contributed a double-double with 12 points and 12
rebounds.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle that featured eight
lead changes and five ties. Six straight points by Jackson and a
pair of free throws by senior center Lashawn Johnson, who made her
first start of the season, gave the Redbirds their biggest lead of
the game, 15-10, with 10 minutes remaining in the half. The Sooners
tied the game with five quick points, but ISU maintained the lead
for the next five minutes.
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Oklahoma used an 8-3 run to take its biggest lead of the half,
27-22, with 2:25 left in the period. ISU came right back as
sophomore guard Maggie Krick made a 3-pointer and a jumper, and
Cirone added a layup to put the 'Birds back on top 29-27. The
Sooners made a jumper with less than 10 seconds on the clock and led
31-29 at the half.
The Sooners started the second half with a 13-0 run in the first
four minutes to go ahead by 15, 44-39. OU made five layups and guard
Jenna Plumley canned a 3-pointer, her only field goal of the game,
to cap the run. ISU missed its first eight shots of the half, six of
which were from 3-point range. Jackson snapped the nearly
five-minute scoring drought with a jump shot, but after Jackson hit
another jumper, the Sooners scored six more points to take their
biggest lead of the game, 50-33. The 17-point deficit was the
biggest ISU had faced all season.
Jumpers by Krick and Hudson and a 3-pointer by Cirone in less
than a minute quickly cut the deficit down to 10, 50-40. The
Redbirds continued to stay within 11 points and went on an 11-3 run
to pull within three points, 61-58, with 2:02 left in the game.
Cirone scored seven points during the Redbird run and Hudson added
four, including a three-point play when she was fouled on a
fast-break layup.
ISU was still down by three with one minute remaining. Oklahoma
closed out the game with six consecutive free throws, four by
Plumley.
[Text from file received from
Jimmy Knodel,
assistant media relations director,
Illinois
State University] |
