Wednesday recap: Over 12K Iowa State fans show up despite freezing temps, North Texas beats an SEC team for the first time

Iowa State 62, Iowa 54

With subfreezing temperatures outside with a low of eight degrees Fahrenheit, the climate inside Hilton Coliseum was sizzling in Ames as Iowa State (5-2) beat in-state rival Iowa (5-4) 62-54 in front of a crowd of 12,662, more than the plus 12K crowd that attended Monday night’s matchup of No. 2 UConn vs. No. 8 Texas A&M in Hartford, Connecticut.

Iowa State, a perennial leader in attendance in the Big 12 and among the top ten nationally, went into halftime one point behind, 27-26, but triumphed over the visiting Hawkeyes in the end. Senior Lauren Mansfield led the Cyclones with 15 points. Four other Iowa players also scored in double figures.

“I didn’t think we deserved to win this basketball game,” said Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder. “We turned the ball over way too many times – 22 turnovers that resulted in 21 points for Iowa State. It’s hard to win games if you don’t shoot the ball well and you don’t have an opportunity to shoot it.”

Iowa State ranked fourth nationally last season in attendance with an average of 9,370 attendees per game. Attendance average leaders in 2010-11 were Tennessee (12,599), Louisville (10,859) and Connecticut (9,788). Overall, for conferences, the Big 12 led in average attendance at 4,720 attendees per game.

North Texas 69, Alabama 63

With more games in the win column than all of last year less than halfway through the 2011-12 season, North Texas (7-2) continued its winning ways of taking down teams in power conferences with a 69-63 victory over Southeastern Conference foe Alabama (7- 3) Wednesday night. It was the first ever victory for the Mean Green over an SEC team.

Brittney Hudson led UNT with 13 points plus six rebounds. Alyssa Hankins added 10 points and Tamara Torru had nine points and 13 rebounds.

“I feel that we came out yesterday and practiced really well and prepared for this game without fear,” said North Texas head coach Karen Aston. “This was a great opening to a huge stretch of games for us and we’re looking to carry over the confidence that we have to Friday night against a good Tulane team.”

The Mean Green went into halftime leading Alabama 32-30 after Braylah Blakely’s go-ahead layup with three seconds left in the period.

UNT have a three game win streak for the first time since the beginning of the 2008-09 season. They host Tulane Friday at 7:30 p.m. CT.

Top 25 Scores

No. 20 DePaul 69, St. John’s 52
Keisha Hampton, 21 pts

No. 19 Georgetown 82, Pittsburgh 54
Sugar Rodgers 28 pts, T. Magee 12 points, T. Brown 12 pts

No. 3 Notre Dame 95, Marquette 42
K. McBride 19 pts, Skylar Diggins 17 pts, N. Novosel 11 pts, D. Peters 11 pts

No. 18 North Carolina 95, Lipscomb 53
Chay Shegog 26 pts 11 Rebs

No. 23 Vanderbilt 99, Tenn-Martin 84
Jasmine Lister 30 pts

No. 16 Texas Tech 88, TX Arlington 48
Casey Morris 24 pts

Other notable scores

UNC-Wilmington 74, Charlotte 73
Villanova 69, Providence 42
West Virginia 76, Syracuse 72
St. Bonaventure 65, Indiana 45
Virginia 64, Liberty 38
Missouri 56, Eastern Illinois 54
Louisiana Tech 79, Houston 53
Kansas State 60, Wichita State 34
Florida 91, San Francisco 68

Full Results || Wednesday News Digest