AMES, Iowa – Opening its set of consecutive games against ranked opponents, USC Upstate women's basketball fashioned a strong second-half effort, improving the team's field goal percentage by over 20 points, as it dropped a road decision at No. 20 Iowa State 92-35 Tuesday evening.
 
Closing out the evening behind its solid second-half effort, USC Upstate owed its performance to the spark it received from its hot-shooting third quarter. Out of the halftime locker room, the Spartans shot 61.5 percent from the floor in the third stanza, putting up 17 of its 35 markers in the period. Upstate ended the night shooting 45.5 percent from the field in the second half, putting up 22 second-half markers.
 
Stoking the Spartans' third-quarter, junior guard Jeni Levine offered six of her team-high nine points in the frame, going 3-of-3 from the floor. She finished the evening with the aforementioned team-best nine points, putting forth her total behind a 4-of-6 shooting night. All-in-all, nine Spartans found the scoring column against the Cyclones with sophomore guard Gracie Barnes and freshman guard Gwen Jenkins following Levine with seven and five points, respectively, with Jenkins' total marking a career-high.
 
On the glass, four Spartans hauled in five or more rebounds as senior forward AC Markham headed the group with eight boards. Tying her career-high, redshirt senior forward Zora Fray-Chinn corralled seven rebounds with redshirt freshman forward Emma Blair and redshirt sophomore forward Vera Soderblom, respectively, pulling in six and five rebounds.
 
Game Information
Score: No. 20 Iowa State 92; USC Upstate 35
Records: USC Upstate (2-8; 0-0 Big South); Iowa State (7-2; 0-0 Big 12)
Location: Hilton Coliseum | Ames, Iowa
 
How It Happened
First Quarter

• Taking the opening tip, Iowa State began the game on a 7-0 scoring run before Jeni Levine knocked down a triple from the top of the key to end the run. The Cyclones responded with the game's longest scoring run, an 18-0 stretch spanning the quarter's media timeout.
• Over the final two-and-a-half minutes of the opening period, Upstate outscored the Cyclones 8-7 after Ava Miller ended the long Iowa State run with a layup. Miller was one of four Spartans to join Levine in the scoring column to close the quarter with Gracie Barnes, Emma Blair, and AC Markham rounding out the quintet with Blair and Markham fashioning a 4-0 scoring run to end the quarter.

 
Second Quarter

• Furthering its advantage, Iowa State outscored Upstate 16-2 in the second quarter, crafting runs of 9-0 and 7-0 in the period. Gwen Jenkins added her name to the scoresheet with the Spartans' lone field goal as her jumper stopped the first lone scoring stretch.

 
Third Quarter

• Out of the locker room, Iowa State offered another scoring run to begin a quarter, reeling off a six-point stretch ahead of a Barnes' three. Shortly after Barnes' triple, Levine added another jumper to her total.
• Off the heels of a 15-2 scoring streak for the Cyclones, Upstate fashioned its first scoring stoked by consecutive field goals as Lele Tanuvasa and Vera Soderblom went back to back. Closing the quarter, the Spartans outscored Iowa State 10-9 heading into the fourth stanza.

 
Fourth Quarter

• In what proved the lowest-scoring quarter of the night, Iowa State scored the first six and final five points of the last period. Between the two Iowa State runs stood Upstate's longest scoring run of the evening, a 5-0 stretch as Jenkins and Fray-Chinn went back-to-back with a triple and layup.

 
Up Next for the Spartans
Wrapping the set of games against ranked opponents and serving as the middle contest in the team's three-game slate west of the Mississippi River, USC Upstate heads to the Little Apple Thursday for a meeting with No. 13 Kansas State. Tip-off from Manhattan, Kan. is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
 
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